11 IN FORBES’ UNDER 30 ASIA LIST
Malaysians among 300 entrepreneurs from 23 Asia-Pacific nations chosen
SEVERAL Malaysian entrepreneurs are among 300 from 23 Asia-Pacific countries listed in Forbes’ Under 30 Asia list this year.
Forbes said the group of young stars was chosen from more than 2,000 entries, heavily researched by a team of reporters and vetted by an A-list of judges for their work in technological innovations and disrupting age-old industries.
The Malaysian entrepreneurs were Aaron Patel, Bobby Ong, T.M. Lee, Chris Khristie, Michelle Tan, Jin Xi Cheong, Joolin Chuah, Kendrick Wong, Melvin Poh, Sarah Chen and Wen Shin Chia.
Patel is chief executive officer of iHandal Energy Solutions, an engineering and contracting firm specialising in improving the thermal energy efficiency of commercial and industrial buildings.
Ong and Lee are co-founders of CoinGecko, a cryptocurrency data aggregator that tracks price, volume, social and developer stats. The company has collaborated with Western University in Canada and Humboldt University in Berlin to produce cryptocurrency research.
Khristie and Tan are cofounders of digital media group, INFLUASIA, which caters to the English, Malay and Mandarinspeaking communities of Malaysia via their portals, World of Buzz, Lobak Merah and NOODOU.
Jin is the founder of Poladrone, a company that took the drone to the oil palm industry to boost the efficiency in Malaysian oil palm plantations and crop farms.
Chuah, is an associate in Insignia Ventures Partners, who was instrumental in nearly 10 investments last year, including promising start-ups, such as igloohome, CoHive and Sayurbox.
She is known as the go-to adviser for entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia and sits on the board of Finhay, a robo-advisory platform in Vietnam.
Wong, is the co-founder of Omnilytics, a fashion analytics platform that offers real-time market intelligence data across 75,000 brands. Omnilytics’ big data services are used by retailers worldwide and financial market clients.
Poh, 27, is the co-founder of The Asian Entrepreneur, an international publisher and media platform with an active readership in 13 countries.
The Asian Entrepreneur recently partnered with the governments of Malaysia, Macau and South Korea to initiate several start-up communities and events.
Chen is co-founder of The Billion Dollar Fund for Women, the primary goal of which was to tackle the gender funding gap faced by female founders.
The fund hopes to have invested US$1 billion (RM4.08 billion) in start-ups driven by women by next year, and has secured pledges of US$750 million from global investors, including Gobi Partners, Golden Gate Ventures, Rethink Impact, Springboard Growth Capital, Backstage Capital and Different Funds.
Wen is the founder of Green Yards, an eco-products company that makes soaps and candles from recycled cooking oil.
The company, which sources oil from Malaysia’s restaurants and households, sells the products online and in gift shops in the country.