Twelve resilient Filipinos, including several startup founders and innovators, an environmentalist, and a social change leader, have made it to this year’s Forbes “30 Under 30 Asia” list.
The prestigious annual list recognized outstanding individuals below 30 years of age in the region who have found new ways to innovate and rise up to the challenges brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Filipinos included in this year’s edition released on May 26, 2022, are entrepreneurs and Philippine startup founders Jeth Lorenz Ang, Renz Carlo Chong, and Nicolo Alfonso Odulio of BreederDAO, AcadArena cofounders Justin Banusing, Kevin Hoang, and Ariane Lim, Kevin Zhang, founder of Inteluck, Earvin Ang and Jesse Manalansan, cofounders of Aqwire, and Victor Lim, cofounder of Kraver’s Canteen.
Two honorees were also chosen for their work in social impact, including environmentalist Billie Dumaliang of award-winning conservation project Masungi Georeserve and One Cainta Food Program co-founder Shawntel Nicole Martinez Nieto.
Consumer Technology
Jeth Lorenz Ang, Renz Carlo Chong and Nicolo Alfonso Odulio
Chong, Ang, and Odulio cofounded BreederDAO, a startup specializing in breeding and crafting NFT characters and game items to be used in play-to-earn games like Axie Infinity, Sipher, Cyball, and Crabada.
Justin Banusing, Kevin Hoang and Ariane Lim
Philippine esports startup AcadArena helps student gamers in Southeast Asia to compete in international esports tournaments. Founded in 2019 by Justin Banusing, Kevin Hoang, and Ariane Lim, AcadArena has partnered with more than 600 schools, covering some 100,000 students, to create and support gaming clubs and communities.
Industry, Manufacturing, and Energy
Kevin Zhang
Zhang founded tech-driven logistics startup Inteluck in the Philippines eight years ago, which is accelerating its expansion across Southeast Asia. It entered Thailand last year and plans to launch in Vietnam and Indonesia in 2023. The Singapore-headquartered company that initially provided solutions to help logistics firms track their fleet of vehicles also helps its customers, including Asia Brewery, Coca-Cola, and Nestle, book delivery trucks on-demand from third-party logistics providers registered on Inteluck’s digital platform.
Finance and Venture Capital
Earvin Ang and Jesse Manalansan
Manalansan and Ang cofounded Aqwire, a company that helps real estate developers in the Philippines access foreign investors, including millions of Filipinos working overseas. Through the Aqwire platform, customers abroad could pay property-related payments and fees like monthly amortization with major credit or debit cards.
Retail and Ecommerce
Victor Lim
Lim is the e-commerce entrepreneur behind Kraver’s Canteen, a multi-brand cloud kitchen network he co-founded in 2020. Built on a network of kitchens across metro hubs, Kraver’s serves popular brands like Foodee Group and Pizza Hut alongside private-label restaurants.
The startup raised $3 million in a Series A led by Quest Ventures, following a seed round of 73 million Philippine pesos ($1.4 million). Last July, Kraver’s partnered with Grab Philippines to set up GrabKitchen for restaurants without physical locations, and in March launched Kra-Verse, a meta delivery and dining experience.
Kraver’s Canteen is giving food businesses in the Philippines a boost with its pioneering cloud kitchen model.
Social Impact
Billie Dumaliang
Filipina environmentalist Billie Dumaliang cofounded the award-winning conservation and sustainable tourism project Masungi Georeserve, which covers more than 2,700 hectares in Rizal province.
The conservation park was awarded the 2021 Water Changemakers Award and a special commendation in the 2018 UN Convention on Biological Diversity. Born in Quezon City, Billie studied management at Ateneo de Manila University and launched Masungi in 2015 with her older sister Ann. Billie and her sister, Ann, were hailed “Conservation Starters” by Vanity Fair magazine.
Shawntel Nicole Martinez Nieto
Martinez Nieto helped launch the One Cainta Food Program, which says it’s provided over 1.1 million food hampers to about 400,000 people in Luzon since the beginning of the pandemic. The Ateneo alumna made history as the first-ever Filipino recipient of the Diana Award for her efforts to promote sustainable development and her charity work in marginalized communities.
Nieto also cofounded the Society of Sustainability Practitioners to promote and support sustainability in the Philippines, as well as SustainaRumble Podcasts and Modular Education X, which claims to have delivered food, water, electricity, disaster relief, and supplementary education to over 500,000 people across seven cities in the Philippines. She was also one of the 25 Dalai Lama Fellows named in 2018.
Last year, Forbes Asia honored eight Filipinos on the “30 Under 30 Asia 2021” list, including young entrepreneurs, startup founders, a COVID-19 researcher, a photographer, and a musician.
SEND CHEERS in the comments below to the twelve resilient Filipinos who have made it to this year’s Forbes “30 Under 30 Asia” list!
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