5 Filipinos on Forbes Asia’s “30 Under 30” roster

Five young Filipinos landed on Forbes Asia magazine’s “30 Under 30 Asia” list for 2020, described as a cohort of bright and innovative leaders under the age of 30 who are “challenging conventional wisdom and rewriting the rules for the next generation.”

The honorees from the Philippines are: Francis Plaza, founder of payments processing platform PayMongo; Louise Mabulo, founder of The Cacao Project; Breech Asher Harani, multimedia artist at Alexandrite Pictures; gymnast Carlos Yulo and Margielyn Didal, skateboarder.

“This year’s Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list-makers inspire optimism in what is promising to be a tough year ahead. They are a resilient and energetic bunch who are facing challenges head-on and actively working for a future that matches their aspirations,” Forbes 30 under 30 Asian editor Rana Wehbe said on Thursday.

Among those featured on this year’s list are: K-pop girl group Twice and actress So-dam Park—best known for her role in Oscar-winning film Parasite—from South Korea; the current world No. 1 female tennis player Ashleigh Barty and the founder of MyraSwim Bianca Anstiss from Australia; 14-year-old racing prodigy Juju Noda from Japan; Bain Wu, CEO of AI startup, INFIMIND, from China; Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Kyaw Soe Oo from Myanmar; Justin Lim, co-founder of Fish & Chicks from Singapore; Ajeesh Achuthan, co-founder of Open from India and sisters Isabel and Melati Wijsen, cofounders of Bye Bye Plastic Bags from Indonesia.

Wehbe added: “Young women under 21 especially stand out in our 2020 list: From Malaysia’s hijab-wearing wrestler to Bangladesh’s first female comedian and a social entrepreneur helping farmers in the Philippines improve their livelihoods – these fierce gamechangers are shattering gender, age and cultural stereotypes across industries.”