Forbes - Asia (April 2019)

JAPAN’S 50 RICHEST: MIKITANI BETS BIG ON TELECOM


APRIL 2019 • WWW.FORBES.COM































Rashmi
Kwatra

Kenny
Wang
















Anahita
Dhondy Manuri
Gunawardena













Richard
Yim


















300 INNOVATORS IN 10 CATEGORIES
MEET THE CLASS OF 2019





DISPLAY UNTIL MID MAY






AUSTRALIA...............A $12.00 INDIA............................RS 450 KOREA......................W 10,500 PAKISTAN....................RS 800 TAIWAN......................NT $275
CHINA....................RMB 85.00 INDONESIA...........RP 90,000 MALAYSIA...............RM 26.00 PHILIPPINES..................P 300 THAILAND.....................B 300
HONG KONG...............HK $90 JAPAN.................¥1238 + TAX NEW ZEALAND.......NZ $13.00 SINGAPORE..............S $12.50 UNITED STATES........US $10.00

Breguet La Marine
Équation Marchante 5887





























BEIJING CANNES CHENGDU CHONGQING DUBAI EKATERINBURG GENEVA GSTAAD HONG KONG KUALA LUMPUR LAS VEGAS LONDON LOS ANGELES
MACAO MILAN MOSCOW NEW YORK NINGBO PARIS SEOUL SHANGHAI SINGAPORE TAIPEI TOKYO VIENNA XI’AN ZURICH – WWW.BREGUET.COM

ASIA’S 30 UNDER 30 LIST: 300 INNOVATORS ACROSS THE REGION


APRIL 2019 • WWW.FORBES.COM






































































JAPAN’S 50 RICHEST



CLEAR






SIGNAL










HIROSHI MIKITANI AIMS

TO DISRUPT JAPAN’S
TELECOM SECTOR

Breguet La Marine


Chronograph 5527

BEIJING CANNES CHENGDU CHONGQING DUBAI EKATERINBURG GENEVA GSTAAD HONG KONG KUALA LUMPUR LAS VEGAS LONDON LOS ANGELES

MACAO MILAN MOSCOW NEW YORK NINGBO PARIS SEOUL SHANGHAI SINGAPORE TAIPEI TOKYO VIENNA XI’AN ZURICH – WWW.BREGUET.COM

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Senior Manager, Events & Communications Melissa Ng ASIA CONTRIBUTOR NETWORK
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April 2019
Volume 15 • Number 3
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2 | FORBES ASIA APRIL 2019

SIDELINES











Compare and Contrast









here’s a study in contrast between this issue’s two
features, the 30 Under 30 Asia list and Japan’s 50
richest list. The 30 Under 30 Asia highlights some of
Tthe best and brightest of the region’s next generation.
Japan’s wealthiest list is largely old money—the average age of
the top ten richest is 67. Japan’s population, as most know,
is rapidly aging, and the country is suffering a net decline
in population.
Yet as Forbes Asia Chief Economics Commentator Yuwa
Hendrick-Wong notes in his column, Japan’s economy is
doing better than what’s normally portrayed. The country,
for example, is encouraging more women to participate
in the labor force, and creating a fairer system of wages
and employment practices to benefit both companies and
employees.
One more item supporting the idea of Japan’s resilience is
that 30 entries on this year’s 30 Under 30 Asia list are from
Japan, or 10% of the regional total. In fact, Japan’s Under 30
members are the third-largest cohort in Asia after those from
India and China. The lesson is that Japan’s animal spirits are
down but not out. This under 30 generation is taking risks
and finding ways to help Japan move to the next level of
development.
It should be remembered that Japan’s rise to being one of
the world’s most developed economies came in good measure
from the success of its entrepreneurs, such as Kiichiro Toyoda,
who created Toyota Motor, and Akio Morita, who cofounded
Sony. This entrepreneurial tradition is alive and well in
current rich listers such as Masayoshi Son, Tadashi Yanai and
cover subject Hiroshi Mikitani. With this worthy history,
Japan can, and should, do more to support its homegrown
entrepreneurs—and thus help revitalize growth.












Justin Doebele
Editor, Forbes Asia
editor@forbesasia.com










APRIL 2019 FORBES ASIA | 3

CONTENTS — APRIL 2019 VOLUME 15 NUMBER 3





8 | FACT & COMMENT // STEVE FORBES
The insolvent thinking of central bankers.

ENTREPRENEURS



10 | REFRESHING CLOUD APPS
Freshworks is zeroing in on a market dominated by
T PAGE 18 SAP and Salesforce.
BY ANURADHA RAGHUNATHAN

12 | BUILDING A BETTER TESLA
Rivian founder R.J. Scaringe is a mild-mannered entrepreneur
whose battery-powered SUVs and pickup trucks are electrifying
the auto industry.
BY CHUCK TANNERT
16 | THOUGHT LEADERS // YUWA HEDRICK-WONG
Market capitalism under attack.


30 UNDER 30


18 | ASIA’S CLASS OF 2019
Representing 300 entrepreneurs in 23 countries and territories
in the Asia-Pacific region.
EDITED BY RANA WEHBE

19 | LIU LIYUAN & LIAO WENLONG
Cofounders of COWAROBOT, maker of self-driving technologies.

20 | ANAHITA DHONDY
Chef partner at New Delhi’s SodaBottleOpenerWala.

21 | HUSSAIN ELIUS
• A S I
A
Cofounder of Pathao, a ride-hailing service in Bangladesh.

•
22 | NAOMI OSAKA
World’s No. 1 female tennis player.
• 2 0 1 9 •
23 | KENNY WANG
COO of Singapore-based smart lock maker igloohome.

24 | RICHARD YIM
Cofounder of Demine Robotics, maker of landmine-clearing robot.

25 | MANURI GUNAWARDENA
Founder of Sydney-based HealthMatch which matches patients
with medical trials.
26 | RASHMI KWATRA

Founder of hedge fund Sixteenth Street Capital.
27 | STEVEN WONGSOREDJO
Cofounder of Nusantara Technology digital media content.

28 | NEO NIE
Founder of HEYTEA, pioneer of ‘cheese tea’ in China.

29 | BY THE NUMBERS
Get to know this year’s class of 30 Under 30 Asia.

30 | ALUMS ON THE RISE
A look at how some of our previous list members,
COVER PHOTOGRAPH BY ABHISHEK BALI, ANTOINE RAAB AND Ritesh Agarwal and Ryan Williams, are faring.
JING WEI FOR FORBES ASIA




4 | FORBES ASIA APRIL 2019



CONTENTS — APRIL 2019 VOLUME 15 NUMBER 3








JAPAN’S 50 RICHEST


40 | CLOUD CONTROL
Hiroshi Mikitani aims to disrupt Japan’s telecom industry
with Rakuten Mobile.
BY JAMES SIMMS
44 | A MIXED BAG
Fortunes fell for most of Japan’s richest,
but a few bucked the trend.
EDITED BY KERRY A. DOLAN

STRATEGIES


52 | ROBOTS, ROBOTS EVERYWHERE
For 20 years Intuitive Surgical owned its market.
Now the operating room is getting crowded.
BY MICHELA TINDERA

TECH


54 | GADGETMAN // BEN SIN
Unfolding the future.

55 | UBER’S SECRET GOLD MINE
Uber Eats could make up a tenth of the ride-hailing
giant’s revenue this year, but rivals are already trying
to tap the same vein.
BY BIZ CARSON

58 | DATA’S CARTOGRAPHERS
Two philosophers are using machine learning and artificial
intelligence to create a real-time map of the global economy.
BY ANTOINE GARA

FORBES LIFE



62 | BURCH BRANCHES OUT
With Nihi resorts, Chris Burch hopes to build
a world-class luxury hotel brand.
BY CHRISTIAN BARKER

66 | THE SUPER MODELS
Want a vintage Bugatti, a classic Ferrari or a modern
McLaren supercar at a fraction of the cost? Amalgam
Collection will build one—at a fraction of the size.
S PAGE 40
BY CHUCK TANNERT
“USING OUR ECOSYSTEM, WE 70 | HOLD-’EM HERBIE
CAN ACQUIRE CUSTOMERS AT A Florida optometrist has beaten the odds

A RELATIVELY LOWER COST.” to become a buy-and-hold billionaire.
BY MADELINE BERG
—Hiroshi Mikitani, CEO, Rakuten
74 | THOUGHTS
Cashing in.



COVER PHOTOGRAPH BY IRWIN WONG FOR FORBES ASIA


UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED, ALL TOTALS AND PRICES EXPRESSED IN OUR STORIES ARE IN U.S. DOLLARS.




6 | FORBES ASIA APRIL 2019

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C H E M I C A L S P O L Y M E R S F I B E R S

FACT & COMMENT



“With all thy getting, get understanding”





THE INSOLVENT THINKING


OF CENTRAL BANKERS





BY STEVE FORBES, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF



THE UTTER INTELLECTUAL bank- round of futile bank stimulus by the ECB
ruptcy of most modern economic policy- will lead Europe to sustainable growth.
makers was starkly displayed when Eu- Let’s look at the record. What trig-
ropean Central Bank boss Mario Draghi gered the great post-WWII boom in
recently and unexpectedly announced Europe, most particularly in Germany
that the ECB would be making a new and Japan, were stable money and sen-
round of cheap loans to banks this Sep- sible taxes. In contrast, Britain lagged,
tember to help stimulate the Continent’s hobbling itself with a chronically weak
sputtering economies. pound and sky-high tax rates, until Mar-
Despite decades of disappointing data garet Thatcher came along.
demonstrating that central banks cannot The Federal Reserve repeatedly tried
guide the pace of economic activity in the to stimulate the U.S. economy during the
way a thermostat does the temperature of a room, political 1970s by engaging in “loose money,” and the result was a
and economic leaders still persist in pursuing this fantasy. generation of terrible inflation and stagnation.
The cost in forgone prosperity is immense. Had central Again, in the early 2000s, prodded by the Treasury De-
banks and their political masters sought the goal of stable partment, our central bank weakened the dollar, which led
currencies—and had the U.S. dollar remained fixed to to the debacle of 2008–09. After the immediate panic in
gold—the material well-being of the world would probably the fall of 2008 the Federal Reserve engaged in quantitative
be double what it is today. easing, quintupling its portfolio with Treasury bonds and
Central bankers and all too many economists can’t packages of mortgages. Result: the worst economic recov-
grasp this basic truth: Money is not wealth. Printing a ery from a sharp downturn in American history.
bunch of dollar bills doesn’t in and of itself create wealth. Here’s the rub. Under QE the Fed, in effect, seized
It merely means you can use those pieces of paper to pur- nearly $4 trillion in securities from the private sector. The
chase a product that someone else has created. The seller combination of this seizure with regulations that made it
accepts the pieces of paper because he or she can use them extremely expensive for banks to lend to small and new
to buy whatever he or she may want, that is, a product or businesses distorted credit markets and smothered the
service someone has created. economy. Some stimulus!
Money is a claim not for something specific, such as a A few destructive myths must be faced.
coat, but for anything on sale in the marketplace. It allows • Economies don’t “overheat.” The Fed has no business
you to exchange your labor or goods for other things you trying to curb the economy when it’s growing rapidly. The
might want or need. In effect, money is a receipt for the value only time prosperity should be suspect is when it’s been ar-
of goods and services we produce and may wish to sell. tificially engineered by cheapening the dollar, as happened
This is why counterfeiting is illegal. If you print a $100 frequently in the 1970s and again in the years leading up
bill and use it to buy something, you are stealing that to the 2008–09 economic train wreck. Otherwise, leave the
something, because that bogus Benjamin wasn’t the result markets alone. They will quickly correct any excesses.
of a good that was actually made. When governments • Price controls on the cost of borrowing money don’t
engage in excess money printing, the result is inflation, work. Even conservatives seem to buy into the fallacy
which is an invidious stealth tax. that central banks should try to fix the cost of borrowing.
All this is why most of what passes for monetary policy Most economists know rent controls distort the market.
wisdom these days is vastly more harmful than the cow Interest is the “rent” paid to borrow money. Let markets
flatulence that’s worrying a growing number of Chicken work instead of central bank planning.
Little politicians. Central banks and governments do not • Monetary policy cannot overcome nonmonetary
create resources. They take resources from the rest of us for structural barriers to economic progress. The biggest of
their own purposes. It’s preposterous to think that a new these barriers are high taxes and excessive regulations.




8 | FORBES ASIA APRIL 2019

A Genuine Gem: Late Bloomers The book is no Panglossian
guide that guarantees all will
By Rich Karlgaard (Currency, $28) be well, which gives its posi-
tive insights such credibility. In
WHAT YOGI BERRA observed about points await those fact, in one sobering chapter we
a baseball game—it ain’t over till it’s who have been! Sum- are warned there may be times
over—is true about life, and Rich Karl- mer activities must be when an activity we’re passion-
gaard’s new book is the ultimate proof of carefully calibrated to ately engaged in isn’t going to
this. Read it, and you’ll be both relieved impress admissions work out, and despite the “never
and inspired. It’s a keeper. officers as to the social be a quitter” motif of our cul-
There are three big takeaways. consciousness of your ture, we must drop it and move
• We’re destructively overdoing the offspring. Play a sport on. We’ll ultimately be better off.
“You must be on the road to big success just because you like it? Heaven forbid! After all, we’re not endowed with unlim-
when you’re young, or you’ll never re- It must be one that will help you gain ited energy: “We can’t simply apply deter-
ally amount to much” mentality. Today’s that coveted acceptance—and to do that, mination like a jelly spread to everything
culture obsessively glorifies youthful you must relentlessly practice 10,000 we do in our lives—we’ll burn out.”
prodigies and is hostile or oblivious to the hours a year! The theme of Rich’s book is optimis-
basic truth that many of us don’t reach a The scandals erupting over “fixing” tic, very much reflecting the American
productive career rhythm until years after college admission test scores and brib- trait of never giving up the “pursuit of
we leave school. It often takes a lot of trial ing coaches are an ugly symptom of this happiness.” As Rich concludes, “Bloom-
and error to discover our path and then frenzy. Rich cites a Stanford professor ing has no deadline. Our future story is
develop our real talents. Rich, a Stanford lamenting the brittleness of incoming written in pencil, not carved in stone . .
graduate, even did a stint as a nighttime undergraduates. . . As we lose some capabilities, we gain
security guard before he bloomed! This book will help create a collec- others that far outweigh what is lost.” As
But such is the zeitgeist that people tive cry of “Time out!” The happy truth wise employers recognize that produc-
are made to feel inadequate if they’re is that what really counts for a satisfying tive careers don’t follow a rigid trajec-
not quickly in an ostensible success life is what you do after you leave school. tory, they will develop ways to nurture
groove, which, perversely, then stands • We must, as individuals and as a cul- and tap a mother lode of unrecognized
in the way of their breaking away from ture, “celebrate the full range of human and underused talent.
conventional expectations and trying to ability and diverse timetables for indi- • We are wasting immense talent by
find the right path for themselves. vidual success and achievement.” We the way we treat older people. Un-
Or, just as harmful, individuals pursue should embrace the need for “a kinder derstandably, companies always want
careers for which they’re not really suited, clock for human development.” to have open pathways for younger,
trying in workaholic fashion to achieve This brings us to the heart of Rich’s dynamic people and, concurrently, want
success and then finding themselves masterpiece. Skillfully mining a treasure older managers and executives who are
deeply dissatisfied when they reach their trove of informative studies, as well as slowing down and are “past their prime”
goals. Rich cites the case of a brilliant a number of interesting and instructive to make way for those who can better
woman who vaulted to partnership in individual stories, he walks us through do their jobs. So employers try to find
a prestigious, high-pressure law firm. the ways we can actually become “late ways to put “oldies-but-goodies” out to
Shocked at how profoundly unhappy she bloomers” despite cultural prejudices pasture. Yet while these individuals may
was, she made the courageous decision to and obstacles (“when it comes to cultural not be willing to travel a zillion miles a
quit and start over on another career. norms, breaking up is hard to do”), not year anymore or work umpteen extra
A manifestation of this do-it-young- to mention “a near-universal human hours a week, they still possess immense
or-bust mania is the extraordinary pres- trait, our tendency toward conformity.” experience and wisdom that can be
sure parents feel to shepherd their kids Reassuringly he cites a mountain of enormously helpful to younger people.
into the “right” schools. A vast industry evidence that proves we develop many Shouldn’t we work to develop a legal
of consultants has arisen. Woe to the ad- critical attributes as we age, such as wis- and cultural environment in which, if a
olescent who hasn’t been tutored in how dom, insight, curiosity, compassion, cre- person chooses, he or she will take a cut
to do better on the SATs; 50 to 100 extra ativity, dealing with ambiguity and “men- in pay but remain available as a mentor
tal calmness, composure and evenness of and consultant? Their credibility advan-
Introducing
What’s Ahead temper, especially in a difficult situation.” tage is that they’re not competing for
the new podcast hosted Even self-doubt can be a positive catalyst. promotions or expanding their turfs—
by Steve Forbes. It’s no coincidence, myth to the those parts of their career are over—but
Subscribe now on iTunes contrary, that most entrepreneurs are they can still play highly useful roles.
or GooglePlay Store. middle-aged or older. Something to think about. F




APRIL 2019 FORBES ASIA | 9

ENTREPRENEURS


Freshworks at $1.5 billion. Profitability can wait, says Math-
rubootham: “I can be profitable if I want to. But if I am not
Refreshing growing enough it may be a lost opportunity when the com-
petition grabs it.”
Headquartered in San Bruno, California, Freshworks already
Cloud Apps boasts annual recurring revenue of $100 million, almost 2,000
employees across nine offices worldwide, and 150,000 clients,
including Cisco, Toshiba and Zomato—still small in compari-
son with Salesforce’s $13 billion revenue and 29,000 employees.
Freshworks is zeroing in on a market Mathrubootham got into the cloud after completing his

dominated by SAP and Salesforce. engineering degree and getting an M.B.A. in 1998 from the
University of Madras. He held a couple of software jobs and
BY ANURADHA RAGHUNATHAN


Girish Mathrubootham
loud services giant Salesforce
faced an unlikely gatecrash-
er at its annual Dreamforce
Cconvention last September:
a blimp floating above its eponymous
tower in downtown San Francisco em-
blazoned with the slogan #failsforce.
In case anyone missed the message,
a marching band and a “hit refresh”
lounge were stationed at street level
urging customers to look for afford-
able alternatives. The message was also
beamed across billboards, banners as
well as digital and radio ads.
Behind the stunt was nine-year-old
Freshworks, an up-and-coming rival to
Salesforce founded and run by 44-year-
old Girish Mathrubootham. Last May,
the company bombarded rival Service-
Now’s annual convention in Las Vegas
with walking billboards and taxi ban-
ners around the city. It also served free
coffee and breakfast to participants out-
side the venue. “We are on a mission to
put easy-to-use business software in the
hands of the people who need it,” says
Mathrubootham. “It’s time for a change.
You don’t need expensive and bloated
cloud software.”
Already a hit among small and mid-
sized enterprises, Freshworks is out to
grab more of the large companies that
now rely on bigger players such as SAP
and Salesforce in a global market for
cloud application services that market
researcher Gartner says will top $117
billion by 2021. To do that, Freshworks
raised an additional $100 million in July
from existing investors Accel, Sequoia
and CapitalG, a fund run by Google
parent Alphabet, in a deal that valued




10 | FORBES ASIA APRIL 2019

started a computer education company in 2001 before mov- who had worked with him at Zoho at different points in time.
ing that year to network management firm AdventNet, which Freshdesk started out in a 700 square-foot office in a Chennai
later went into cloud computing and was eventually re- suburb that cost the company $100 a month in rent. “We de-
named Zoho. Known to friends by his first initial “G,” Math- cided to give this a shot for two years,” says Mathrubootham.
rubootham spent almost a decade at Zoho developing mul- “This was like a rocket—either you hit escape velocity and
tiple products and learning the nuances of the business. take off or you fall into the Bay of Bengal.”
“He’s always been a very positive and very high-impact guy,” Besides Salesforce and ServiceNow, Freshworks com-
says Kumar Vembu, Zoho’s former president, who recruited petes with more than 600 other companies—including Zoho,
Mathrubootham. “He’s very expressive and articulate.” eGain, SugarCrm and Zendesk—in the crowded market for
Sensing an untapped opportunity in the customer support cloud-based enterprise software. Freshworks is already well
segment, Mathrubootham quit Zoho in 2010 to start Fresh- entrenched among small and midsized enterprises, and gets
works (originally named Freshdesk), along with five friends more than 65% of its revenue from companies with 500 or
fewer employees.
“Freshworks is affordable, reliable and has a great set of
features,” says Avnish Anand, cofounder of Indian jewelry re-
tailer CaratLane, which has been using Freshworks’ customer
support product for the last four years to track merchandise
exchanges, repairs, returns and refunds. Indian billing and
subscription platform Chargebee is another customer. “They
offer an integrated suite of products for sales; customer sup-
port; recruitment management and compliance,” says Krish
Subramanian, cofounder of Chargebee, which uses seven of
Freshworks’ nine products.


“This was like a rocket—either you

hit escape velocity and take off or
you fall into the Bay of Bengal.”



But Freshworks hasn’t had the same traction with larger
companies and their more complex business processes,
Gartner says. To lure them, Freshworks says it plans this
year to incorporate additional artificial intelligence, machine
learning and workflow automation—features already offered
by Salesforce—in its offerings. “This will strengthen their
product portfolio,” says Brian Manusama, a senior director
analyst at Gartner.
Freshworks is also growing through acquisitions. The
company bought nine companies in India and the U.S. for
undisclosed sums over the past three years. With two-thirds
of its business coming from the U.S. and Europe, it’s now rap-
idly expanding across Africa and the Asia-Pacific region.
Freshworks’ help desk software now has an average contract
size of $300 per month—10 times more than what it was back
in 2010—and offers more features to larger businesses. The
average revenue from some customers could also be as high
as $1,000 per month for an integrated customer engagement
suite that offers sales, support and marketing services. Math-
rubootham says his goal is to boost annual recurring revenue
tenfold to $1 billion, though he declines to say how soon.
VENKET RAM FOR FORBES ASIA tors. “G has a very good product understanding from a user’s
It’s that kind of scalability that excites Freshworks’ inves-


standpoint,” says Shekhar Kirani, a partner at U.S. VC firm
Accel, which invested $1 million in 2011 for a 23% stake in
Freshworks. “He has a lot of learning in his back pocket and
F
a clear plan of how he’d win.”



APRIL 2019 FORBES ASIA | 11

ENTREPRENEURS



















































Building a R.J. Scaringe (at the
Rivian tech center
in Irvine, California)
named the company
Better Tesla in honor of the Indian
River Lagoon near
where he grew up
in Florida. Above:
The R1S, a seven-seat
sport utility vehicle,
Rivian founder R.J. Scaringe is a mild- in its natural habitat.
mannered entrepreneur whose battery-
powered SUVs and pickup trucks are
electrifying the auto industry.



BY CHUCK TANNERT


he talk of November’s Los Angeles Auto Show wasn’t Scaringe’s love affair with “things that move,” as he puts
Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, BMW or any of the usual it, began as a child. As soon as he was old enough to handle
luxury car suspects. Rather, the buzz was created by tools, he helped a neighbor rebuild Porsche 356s in his ga-
Ta little-known electric-vehicle builder, Rivian Auto- rage in Melbourne, Florida. In high school he had become
motive, based in Plymouth, Michigan. After nearly ten years obsessed with the idea of building his own automobiles, and
of developing electric vehicle technology, the company un- he gained the knowledge to do so by earning his doctorate in
veiled its first two battery-powered autos: the R1S, a seven- mechanical engineering from MIT’s prestigious Sloan Auto-
seat sport utility vehicle, and the R1T pickup truck. motive Lab.
Designed for people with active lifestyles, the so-called ad- While there, however, the budding automaker became
venture vehicles exhibit a Range Rover aesthetic—rugged, ca- conflicted. “It was frustrating knowing the things I loved
pable and luxurious—and are packed with the latest high-tech were simultaneously the things that were making the air dirt-
amenities such as internet connectivity and autonomous driv- ier and causing all sorts of issues, everything from geopoliti-
er-safety features. “Adventure is life,” gushes Rivian’s CEO and cal conflict to the smog to climate change,” Scaringe says. So
founder R.J. Scaringe, 36. “[Your destination] could be fishing, he changed course, and started to focus on environmentally
it could be golfing, it could be taking the family out for lunch.” friendly electric vehicles.




12 | FORBES ASIA APRIL 2019

from three major investors: the Saudi Arabia-based invest-
ment group Abdul Latif Jameel, which has strong ties to MIT;
Japan’s Sumitomo Corp.; and London’s Standard Chartered
Bank. Rivian employs around 700 people, half at its engineer-
ing center in Plymouth; most of the rest at tech centers in San
Jose and Irvine, California, with a few at an engineering facil-
ity in the U.K. More will be added over the next two years as
the company ramps up manufacturing operations at its facility
in Normal, Illinois, a former Mitsubishi plant Rivian acquired
in 2017 for $16 million.
Technically speaking, the R1T and R1S are similar in using
the same skateboard-style chassis (with all mechanical com-
ponents—battery, drivetrain, suspension—contained in it).
They claim to offer outstanding performance, including more
than 600 kilometers of range, which is at least 120 kilometers
more than any other EV currently on the road or in the pipe-
line for the next two years. They promise exceptional handling
and sports car speed—both will be able to sprint from zero to
100 kmh in 3 seconds. Above all, Rivian promises genuine off-
road ability. Try driving your Tesla on the dunes of a beach or
up a rocky hill.
The pickup will have a base price around $68,000, and the
SUV will be $72,500 (and both come with a tax incentive).
Though Rivian won’t share preorder figures, the company ex-
pects to deliver an ambitious 20,000 units (combined truck and
SUV) in 2021 and 40,000 in 2022, which translates to approx-
imately $1.4 billion and $2.8 billion, respectively, in sales. By
comparison, Tesla sold 22,000 units of the Model S in its first
full year and some 25,000 units of the Model X when it debuted.
Once production starts in Normal next year, the company,
like Tesla, plans to sell directly to consumers, with a few stra-
tegically-placed display shops around the U.S. A five-passen-
ger utility vehicle is also in the works, with more models to
come later, says Scaringe, who is careful not to overpromise:
“I tend to be quiet to outsiders about what we’re doing. Let the
results speak for themselves.”
A potentially more profitable revenue stream will come
from selling Rivian’s technology to others. “We can leverage
our skateboard technology in its entirety or sell pieces of it,
such as the battery pack,” Scaringe says. Although no partner-
A slow-rolling startup, Rivian was founded in 2009 and ships have been announced, Rivian is in negotiations with a
began to develop an electric sports coupe, much like Tesla’s well-known brand that’s not a traditional automaker—but it
Roadster, but shelved that plan within a couple years. Unde- won’t rule out working with one in the near future—and the
terred, he changed directions once again, redefining the com- company expects to get further investments of capital soon.
pany’s mission around the future of mobility and focusing on “R.J. has built a company that can pivot on a dime,” ex-
luxury utility vehicles. So why has it taken nearly a decade to plains John Shook, a member of Rivian’s board and a former
produce any vehicles? “[We’ve been] getting all of the pieces Toyota production manager in the U.S. and Japan. Now that
lined up,” Scaringe says—developing the technology, putting his lifelong mission to become a carmaker is a reality, Scaringe
MIKE BLAKE/REUTERS FOR FORBES setting up a supply chain and a manufacturing system. He’s pany’s direction is clear, the right team is in place and the cul-
believes his priorities as a CEO include making sure the com-
together a strong business plan, building the organization, and

ture allows people to work without bureaucracy. But if push
also spent years building a dream team of engineers and de-
came to shove, the MIT engineer would rather be in the lab:
signers, including Mark Vinnels, Rivian’s executive director of
“I really enjoy working our network architecture, thinking of
engineering, who came from McLaren, and Jeff Hammoud,
our skateboard platform.” In other words, R.J. Scaringe has
the vice president of design and a veteran of Jeep.
just started rolling. F
To fund his electric dreams, Scaringe raised $450 million



APRIL 2019 FORBES ASIA | 13

PROMOTION





WHAT NICOLAS CAGE




THINKS THE WORLD NEEDS




TO BE HAPPY






Last December, the world-famous actor made a guest appearance at the Tokyo Art Foundation (TAF)
Christmas concert, which featured an exhibition of paintings, jewelry and watches. Cage spoke with

TAF Director Haruhisa Handa and shared memories of his late father.






























































“It’s an honor to be invited to such a wonder- film “Wild at Heart,” which also became such standing—a decision that has garnered
ful event by Haruhisa Handa. I respect him for a smash hit in Japan. Five years later at the disapproval from some critics.
running so many charitable organizations, age of 32, he received an Academy Award Cage, however, doesn’t subscribe to Hol-
which support people who have suffered dif- for Best Actor for his performance in “Leav- lywood values and rejects the idea that box-
ficulties throughout the course of their lives. ing Las Vegas,” and has remained a perma- office success and awards are the measure
His spirit has a positive impact on the world,” nent fixture in the world of entertainment. of a performer’s worth. What matters is the
U.S. actor Nicolas Cage said at the December Cage has starred in several major works and belief of the audience, and it’s more impor-
20th opening of the Tokyo Art Foundation blockbuster movies, but in recent years his tant to be able to fully inhabit a character, he
Christmas concert and exhibition. taste in feature films has changed dramati- says, than to star in a major film.
Cage’s own career needs little explanation. cally. Since 2010, he has opted for roles in “When I get a casting offer, I focus on
In 1990, he got his big break in David Lynch’s B-movies over scripts offered to an actor of how the role synchs with my imagination,

PROMOTION





memories of the past or life experiences—
whether or not I can find a little bit of com-
mon ground. Then I ask if I am really able
to play that role at this point in time. In that
sense, appearing in mainstream action films
during the 90s was a rather reckless chal-
lenge,” he explained.
His career has been a series of challenges,
which have introduced him to talented per-
formers and helped polish his art. “Working
with superstars like Meryl Streep and Sean
Connery gave me new motivation. From
Jon Voight I learned that making a movie is
about teamwork rather than individual effort.
These days, I am picky about who I work
with,” he says.
Cage’s philosophy of life was largely
shaped by his late father, August Coppola.
“My dad was a university professor and
very involved with the arts. He was familiar
with the culture of every country and was,
in fact, particularly interested in Japan. He
introduced me to the classic films of Akira
Kurosawa at a very young age. Even now,
my heroes are [legendary swordsman] Miya-
moto Musashi and [actor] Toshiro Mifune,”
he recalled.
A professor of comparative literature, Cage (right) joined Haruhisa Handa (center) on stage at the Tokyo Art Foundation
a film executive and a lifelong advocate Christmas concert and watch exhibition.
of the arts, August Coppola also had a
strong influence on his younger brother,
acclaimed director Francis Ford Coppola, Before designing the Tactile Dome in 1971, has been dubbed “the most subversive film-
who dedicated the coming-of-age drama which is located inside San Francisco’s Explor- maker in Japanese cinema today”—Cage
“Rumble Fish” to his elder brother. August atorium museum, Coppola went about daily answered enthusiastically: “I’m really excited
encouraged members of the Coppola fam- life wearing a blindfold for three months to to work with Mr. Sono.”
ily, including Nicolas and Sofia—Francis’s better grasp the experience of blindness.
daughter who has become a prominent “Sympathy alone is not enough to make this About Nicolas Cage
director in her own right—to embrace other kind of social contribution. My dad and Dr. American actor, director and producer Nico-
cultures and pursue creative endeavors. Handa started with trying to understand the las Cage was born Nicolas Kim Coppola in
“My father and Haruhisa Handa resemble lives of people with disabilities. It’s not about Long Beach, California, in 1964. Raised among
each other closely, in personality and way of just participating in charities and volunteer- a family of artists and entertainers, he is the
thinking,” Cage said. “Both of them are teach- ing, but rather focusing on actions. By spend- nephew of director Francis Ford Coppola
ers, knowledgeable about world literature ing time with one another, we are trying to and actress Talia Shire, and cousin of direc-
and art, who also love sports. However, there find the meaning of life together. It’s a rela- tors Roman Coppola and Sofia Coppola. After
are many people who can’t easily engage tionship of equals. If we as a society could all working with the prestigious American Con-
with these things. Take, for example, the visu- become aware and accepting of diversity, just servatory Theater, he made his film debut in
ally impaired. Both men share deep empathy think how happy the world would be. This is the 1982 film “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.”
for people in these circumstances. Based on what I learned from my father and Dr. Handa,” In 1995, we won the Academy Award for Best
his desire to connect people through sports, Cage said. Actor for his performance in “Leaving Las
Dr. Handa established the International Blind It seems Cage has based his career on the Vegas.” He has appeared in numerous works,
Golf Association, which now operates in 16 mindset that he inherited from his father. “As such as “The Rock,” “Con Air,” “Gone in 60 Sec-
countries. My father August wanted blind society becomes more diverse, the charac- onds” and “Mandy.”
people to be able to experience art, so he ters we as actors portray are becoming more
built a structure [called the Tactile Dome] in complex. I want to be able to play those char-
California where you use your sense of touch acters, whether they’re good guys or bad Contact information:
to appreciate artwork in complete darkness. guys,” he said. Misuzu Corporation
In my opinion, Dr. Handa’s vision overlaps When asked by Handa about his upcom- 81-3-3247-5585
with my father’s.” ing project with Sion Sono—a director who www.misuzu.com

THOUGHT LEADERS YUWA HEDRICK-WONG // ECONOMICS MATTERS






Market Capitalism



Under Attack







arket capitalism is
under attack, com-
ing from two sepa-
Mrate assaults. As an
economic system, it is criticized
for deepening inequality and en-
riching a small group of elites. Si-
multaneously, the corporate sector
is being accused of focusing only
on maximizing shareholder value
while ignoring social and envi-
ronmental challenges. The first attack charges market capital-
ism of a systemic bias favoring owners of capital, the elite, at the
expense of the masses, which Thomas Piketty advocated in his
2014 bestseller Capital in the Twenty-First Century.
The typical solution embedded in this critique is punitive taxes on sector means fewer startups can successfully
the rich to pay the poor. The second attack demands that corporations challenge incumbents, while consumers have
should serve not only their shareholders, but also a broader community of fewer choices and less influence on corporate
stakeholders, to meet challenges ranging from poverty to gender politics behavior. Current complaints against market
to climate change. If corporations are unwilling to serve these worthy capitalism, to the extent that they are valid,
causes, then they must be made to do so by interventionist regulations, stem from a weakening of competition in the
reports Rana Faroohar in her March 2018 Financial Times column The system, not the system itself. Punitive corporate
backlash against shareholder value. tax rates and intrusive regulations are not the
right solutions.
The solution is to reinvigorate market
Market capitalism can truly excel and be competition by enforcing antitrust legislation
superior to all other economic systems combined with innovative financing to level the

when there is intense competition. playing field, ease barriers to entry and exit, and
encourage risk-taking. Vigorous competition
will also address the shareholders versus
stakeholders divide. If consumers and investors
Market capitalism is clearly not perfect. To paraphrase Winston are indeed increasingly concerned with social,
Churchill, market capitalism is the worst economic system except for environmental and governance issues in a
all the others. The beating heart of market capitalism is competition, market economy driven by intense competition,
which empowers businesses that are the most efficient and innovative to entrepreneurs will be motivated to come up
succeed. Businesses are frequently accused of being profit-oriented. Yet with business models that can serve both
profit comes only after businesses have outcompeted their rivals. Market shareholders and stakeholders. Some will get
capitalism can truly excel and be superior to all other economic systems funded and the best of them will succeed. With
when there is intense competition. hotheads on the left clamoring for punitive
But there has indeed been a decline in competition in recent decades. taxes on the rich and conservatives on the right
A few big corporations are increasingly dominating industries as a mutely complacent, market capitalism is being
result of changing technology and misguided policies. The big techs’ challenged. Time to revitalize its beating heart
dominance is merely the tip of the iceberg. A more oligopolistic corporate and encourage more competition. F



Yuwa Hedrick-Wong is Chief Economics Commentator for Forbes Asia. He is also a visiting scholar at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy,
National University of Singapore. Having worked as an economist across the Asia-Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa in the past 25 years, GETTY IMAGES
he regularly writes columns about the global economy for Forbes Asia. Email: yuwa.hedrick.wong@gmail.com.




16 | FORBES ASIA APRIL 2019

JULY 11-13, 2019 | HONG KONG



Forbes Under 30 Summit Asia will bring together some 300 young leaders, entrepreneurs and gamechangers
from Forbes' “30 Under 30 Asia” lists, as well as CEOs, mentors, industry leaders, investors and disruptors. The
summit will feature three days of motivating panels, tech demos, networking, as well as a food and music festival.


Follow us @ForbesAsia | @ForbesUnder30 | #Under30Summit | forbesunder30summitasia.com






SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONS















CORPORATE SPONSOR

F O R B E S A S I A


30 UNDER 30











ASIA’S CLASS OF 2019



Chosen from more than 2,000 entries, researched

by a team of reporters and vetted by an A-list of

judges, we present this year’s Forbes 30 Under 30

Asia list. Representing 23 countries and territories

in the Asia-Pacific region, these 300 entrepreneurs

and game changers stood out for the right reasons.
From innovating technology and disrupting age-

old industries to demonstrating immense talent and

dominating the world stage (cue Naomi Osaka), this

group of young stars shines in more ways than one.

If you’re looking for the next generation of leaders,

this is your definitive guide.



EDITED BY Rana Wehbe

REPORTING BY Pamela Ambler, Ambika Behal, Elaine Ramirez,
James C. Simms II, Yue Wang and David Yin.



THE BIRTHDAY CUTOFF TO MAKE THE LIST WAS DECEMBER 31, 1988.












































18 | FORBES ASIA APRIL 2019

Liu Liyuan, 29; Liao Wenlong, 29 Industry, Manufacturing

COFOUNDERS, COWAROBOT CHINA & Energy
When they cofounded COWAROBOT in Shanghai in 2015, Liu Liyuan, Liao
Wenlong and Tommie He Tao (who at 35 is too old for the list) were aiming Zainab Bibi, 29 Pakistan Young-Jin Kim, 28
South Korea
to develop autonomous cars. For now, though, they are applying basic self- Founder, Pakistan Society Cofounder, TESOLLO
for Green Energy (PSGE)
driving technologies to other products, such as the Rover suitcase. HY William Chan, 29 Advait Kumar, 26 India
Using a scaled-down version of a self-driving car’s control system, the Australia Founder, Swajal
Rover can automatically follow its owner around and avoid obstacles. Architect Kartik Hajela, 24;
Priced at $800 in China and $899 in other markets, COWAROBOT last year Cheong Jin Xi, 26 Akshay Singhal, 25 India
sold 12,000 Rovers. Malaysia Cofounders, Log 9
Founder, Poladrone
Materials Scientific
The company also offers self-driving street cleaners and delivery vans.
COWAROBOT has already deployed 50 such trucks in the Chinese cities Amanda Cole, 28 Abinav Raja, 25;
Shekhar Bhende, 27 India
Indonesia
of Changsha, Chengdu and Wuhu. The vehicles clean city streets and Founder, Sayurbox Cofounders, Lynk
make deliveries along designated routes. The trio has raised $50 million Liu Liyuan, 29; Liao Kaushik Mudda, 26;
in funding, including from Japan’s SoftBank and Beijing-based China Wenlong, 29 China Navin Jain, 27 India
Creation Ventures. Cofounders, Cofounders,
COWAROBOT
Ethereal Machines
“We’ll venture into other markets when our technology gets to a higher Nishant Dalmia, 26 India Satyajit Mittal, 26 India
standard,” says Liao, who is CTO. Liao believes self-driving passenger cars Cofounder, Cogoport Founder, Sanotion
will be on the road in China by 2025. His partner Liu, meanwhile, envisions Sanjay Dasari, 25 India Dauren Nurov, 29
a fully autonomous future, where robot taxis and buses are ubiquitous. Founder, WayCool Foods Kazakhstan
“Autonomous driving will reshape how we commute and a lot of other Harikrishnan Arangali, 24; Founder, Robotron
Aspandau
businesses,” he says. —Yue Wang Karthik Rajasekaran, 26;
Tarun Mishra, 29; Daniel Aaron Patel, 26 Malaysia
Raj David, 24 India CEO, iHandal Energy
Cofounders, Solutions
Detect Technologies
Nidhi Pant, 25; Swapnil
Orchlon Enkhtsetseg, 29 Kokate, 29 India
Mongolia Cofounders, S4S
CEO, Clean Energy Asia Technologies
Tarun Jami, 28; Varun Akira Shimazoe, 29
Jami, 22 India Japan
Cofounders, GreenJams Founder, Yper
Infrastructures
Simarpreet Singh, 28
Huang Di, 27 China
THIERRY COULON FOR FORBES ASIA Taebyeong Jeon, 29 Dhruv Khanna, 28;
India
Founder, Hartek Solar
CEO, Hyperion-Tech
& Hartek India
South Korea
Cofounder, Manna CEA
Ullas Samrat, 28 India
Cofounders, Triton
Hwanmin Gim, 27; Sohae
Foodworks
Lee, 28; Jaeyeon Kim,
27; Joontae Park, 27
Wan Chunfeng, 28
South Korea
Singapore
Cofounders,
JeongYookGak
University of Singapore
Yashraj Khaitan, 29 India Research Fellow, National
Nelson X. Wang, 29
Founder, Gram Power China
Jyotiska Khasnabish, 28 Founder CZAR-POWER
India (Carbon Zero Advanced
Cofounder, KrishiHub Research)
Hyunho Kim, 29
South Korea JUDGES
Researcher, Korea Noni Purnomo, Indonesia
Institute of Science and President Director,
Technology (KIST) Blue Bird Group
Marjorie Yang,
Hong Kong
Chairman, Esquel Group






























APRIL 2019 FORBES ASIA | 19

Anahita Dhondy, 28
• A S I
CHEF PARTNER, SODABOTTLEOPENERWALA INDIA
A

Earning her diploma at Le Cordon Bleu in London in 2013 was a defining moment
•
for chef and restauranteur Anahita Dhondy. It was there that she realized her calling
was Indian cuisine—and not just any Indian cuisine, but specifically the flavors of
her Parsi heritage. When she returned to India later that year, Dhondy collaborated
• 2 0 1 9 •
with veteran Indian restaurateur A.D. Singh to launch SodaBottleOpenerWala in her
hometown of New Delhi.
“The whole idea is to make sure we keep the Irani culture alive,” says Dhondy, now
chef partner at New Delhi’s SodaBottleOpenerWala, which has since opened branches
in Bangalore, Bombay and Hyderabad. Irani, or Parsi, refers to Zoroastrians who
migrated from Persia (now Iran) to India. “It is art, it’s history—there’s so much that
rides on it in terms of people coming to experience the restaurant and the food.”
Dhondy has another food-related passion: she is part of the Chef’s Manifesto, a
community of chefs around the world who support the UN’s goal of zero hunger.
Dhondy promotes various types of Indian millets in dishes in the restaurant and in
social media. “Whether it’s Parsi cuisine or food sustainability, I enjoy educating
people,” says Dhondy. —Ambika Behal
The Arts
(Art & Style,

Food & Drink)


Abhinav Agrawal, 26 India
Founder, Anahad Foundation
Shantanu Anand, 26;
Nandhi Varma, 26 India
Cofounders, Airplane Poetry
Movement
Georgia Branch, 29 Australia
Cofounder, Trichomia Pty
Victoria Chow, 29 Hong Kong
Cofounder, The Woods
Anahita Dhondy, 28 India
Chef-Partner,
SodaBottleOpenerWala
Gao Ludi, 28 China
Artist
Guo Yirantian, 27 China
Founder, YIRANTIAN
Hyun-min Han, 17 South Korea
Model
Shota Itoi, 26 Japan
Chef
Ju Xiaowen, 29 China
Model, IMG models
Ke Ke, 26 China
Founder, Hangzhou YuanPin
Catering Management
Sang Hyeon Kim, 24 South Korea
Executive Chef, Bread Factory Prabhtej Singh Bhaitia, 27;
Ishwaraj Singh Bhatia, 24 India
Jumpei Komashita, 25 Japan Cofounders, Sona Beverages
Cofounder, Lovegraph
Sun Yitian, 27 China
Percy Lau, 29 Hong Kong Artist
Founder, Percy Lau Studio
Florence Van Dyke, 29
Jae Won “Jay” Lim, 29 New Zealand
South Korea CEO, Chia Sisters
Founder, GOPIZZA
Wen “Sabrina” Yang, 29
Liu Wa, 24 China Hong Kong
Artist COO, NOSH
Sahil Naik, 26 India Shohei Yasuda, 27 Japan
Artist Owner chef, Restaurant Kabi
Dastan Omuraliev, 29 Kyrgyzstan Zhang Zipiao, 25 China
Founder, Ecoproduct Asia Artist
Hae Jung “Michelle” Park, 27 Zhou Jun, 29 China
South Korea Cofounder, PRONOUNCE
Illustrator
Charmaine Poh, 28 Singapore JUDGES
Artist
Michael Xufu Huang, China
Abhay Rangan, 21 India Cofounder, M WOODS Museum
Founder, Goodmylk ABISHEK BALI FOR FORBES ASIA
Nicole Warne, Australia and U.S.
Pongcharn Russell, 28 Thailand Fashion designer and founder
Cofounder Ter’Ra of Gary Pepper Girl
Palak Shah, 27 India Janice Wong, Singapore
Founder, Ekaya Banaras Chef and food entrepreneur



20 | FORBES ASIA APRIL 2019

Consumer Technology



Teruaki Aso, 26 Japan
Founder, Jiraffe
Alan Jiang, 29; Deb Gangopadhyay, 29
Singapore
Cofounders, Beam Mobility Holdings
Deep Bedi, 29 Hong Kong
Chief Product Officer, PayMe from HSBC
Chen Beier, 25 China
Cofounder, SeekersVR
Chen Chiyuan, 28 China
Cofounder, QingCheng
Information Technology
Chen Junyu, 28 China
Cofounder, Shixiseng
Erik Cheong, 29 Singapore
Cofounder, Park N Parcel
Tao Li, 27; Hao Xianglin, 29 China
Cofounders, CodePKU Technology
(Shenzhen)
Deng Jianbo, 28 China
Founder, Hangzhou Hutu
Technology (QTShe)
Hussain Elius, 29 Bangladesh
Cofounder, Pathao
Ritu Malhotra, 24; Prateek Malhotra, 28;
Pratik Harde, 29 India
Cofounders, Eventuate Innovations
Keisuke Furuta, 25 Japan
Founder, Payke
Jian Kai “Jake” Goh, 26 Singapore
Founder, RateX
Aruna Harsa, 26 Indonesia
Cofounder, Dekoruma
Huang Guan, 28 China
Cofounder, LIZHIWEIKE
Huang Yiran, 28 China
Cofounder, Zhiwen
Shinichi Kudo, 28 Japan
Founder, Echo
Suji “Susie” Lee, 29 South Korea
Founder, Thingsflow
Daniel Liang, 23 Singapore
Founder, Get
Liu Ziyang, 27 China
CEO, SIA International Art
and Design Education
Xu Chen, 29; Zhang Daoning, 28;
Zhang Jianing, 29 China
Cofounders, NOLO VR
Taiyo Ogata, 29 Japan
Founder, Ookami
Aravind Sanka, 27; Rishikesh SR, 27;
Pavan Guntupalli, 28 India
Cofounders, Rapido
Alex Soulopoulos, 28 Australia
Cofounder, Mad Paws
Ryo Ogawa, 21; Fuke Yoshiki, 21 Japan
Cofounders, Taimee Hussain Elius, 29
Reo Taniguchi,19 Japan
Founder, Wakrak COFOUNDER, PATHAO BANGLADESH
Panupong Tejapaibul, 26 Thailand Hussain Elius cofounded Pathao in 2016 as an on-demand logistics provider for the country’s booming
Founder, Ticketmelon
e-commerce industry, delivering goods purchased online using motorbikes that could slice through
Alyona Tkachenko, 29 Kazakhstan Dhaka’s congested streets. In 2017, Pathao added ride hailing to its delivery services. “We just had a
Cofounder, Nommi (PowerWiFi)
Facebook group and manually matched passengers with drivers as a proof of concept,” says Elius,
Xiong Minglei, 27 China
Founder, ROBOSEA Pathao’s CEO (cofounder Shifat Adnana, at 32, didn’t make the cut for this year’s 30 Under 30 list).
The company—which has raised over $12 million in funding from investors, including Indonesian ride-
Zhang Lin, 29 China
Cofounder, QimengTT hailing giant Go-Jek—now has over 200,000 drivers and, as of last year, 5 million registered users across
five cities in Bangladesh. “We started the culture of motorcycle taxis,” Elius says of the company’s
K M ASAD FOR FORBES ASIA Tak Lo, Hong Kong sharing service to Kathmandu, Nepal.
growth in Bangladesh. “Now it’s synonymous with Pathao.” The company in 2018 expanded its ride-
JUDGES
Founder, Zeroth.ai
Elius plans to expand Pathao even further, transforming it into what he calls a “super app” that serves
Rui Ma, China and U.S.
consumer needs while opening opportunities to Bangladesh’s budding entrepreneurs. Pathao added
Cofounder, Transformative
food delivery last year and already offers deliveries from over 10,000 restaurants. “There’s still a big
Technology Academy
white space in tech and what Pathao can do in Bangladesh,” says Elius. “We want to become a platform
Falguni Nayar, India
for all entrepreneurs.” —David Yin
Founder, Nykaa.com
APRIL 2019 FORBES ASIA | 21

Naomi Osaka, 21 Entertainment & Sports

TENNIS PLAYER JAPAN
Karishma Ali, 21 Pakistan Hou Yifan, 25 China Kang-in Lee, 17 South Korea
In a sport known for divas and superegos, President, Chitral Women’s Professional chess player Soccer player, Valencia
Naomi Osaka—now ranked as the world’s Sports Club Rikako Ikee, 18 Japan Sang-hyeok Lee “Faker”, 22
No. 1 female tennis player—stands out for Bi Gan, 29 China Swimmer South Korea
being neither. Osaka’s humility off-court Film Director Naoya Inoue, 25 Japan Professional gamer,
SK Telecom T1
belies her power and aggressive pace dur- Kim Jisoo, 24; Kim Jennie, 23; Boxer Liu Haoran 21 China
Roseanne “Rosé” Park, 22;
ing matches. She even retweeted a meme Lalisa “Lisa” Manoban, 22 Hyeon-woo Jo, 27 South Korea Actor
contrasting her character as a cute kitten South Korea Goalkeeper, Daegu FC/ Neel Madhav, 25 India
South Korean national team
K-pop band, BLACKPINK
(off-court) and a tiger (on-court). Her abil- Kimbra Lee Johnson Mentalist
ity to maintain that dual nature has earned Chae-rin “CL” Lee, 27 “Kimbra”, 28 New Zealand Ishita Malaviya, 29 India
South Korea
accolades from fellow players and fans, not Singer Singer Professional surfer
to mention lucrative endorsements. Peggy Gou, 28 South Korea Samantha Kerr, 25 Australia George Miller “Joji”, 26 Japan
Osaka’s rise has been nothing short of Musician Forward, Chicago Red Stars/ Musician
meteoric. It was only 2016 when she was Australian national team Niranjan Mukundan, 24 India
named the Women’s Tennis Association’s Lao Khang, 26 Laos Para swimming athlete
Rugby player and coach
“Newcomer of the Year.” That same year, Tae-ri Kim, 28 South Korea Shayna Ng, 29 Singapore
Professional bowler,
Osaka’s idol, tennis legend Serena Williams, Actress Singapore national team
described Osaka’s ability as “very danger- Naomi Osaka, 21 Japan
ous.” Osaka proved Williams right by de- Tennis player
feating Williams last year at the U.S. Open. Nana Ou-Yang, 18 Taiwan
That upset made Osaka, who was born in Cellist, musican and actress
Japan to Haitian and Japanese parents and Dinara Saduakassova, 22
grew up in the U.S., the first Japanese Kazakhstan
Professional chess player
player to win a Grand Slam singles tour- Koharu Sugawara, 26 Japan
nament. Following Osaka’s victories at Dancer
the U.S. Open and Australian Open, the Tash Sultana, 23 Australia
WTA in January singled her out as its Musician
top-ranked player. Aries Susanti, 23 Indonesia
With nearly $11 million in career Professional climber, Federasi
earnings so far, Osaka has been Panjat Tebing Indonesia
on a winning streak off the court, Benjamin Kheng, 28; Narelle
Kheng, 25; Sandra Riley
too, snatching a host of Japanese Tang, 28; Jonathan Chua, 29
and international sponsors such Singapore
as Nike, All Nippon Airways, Band members, The Sam Willows
Nissan, Shiseido and Yonex. She Phoebe Tonkin, 29 Australia
Actress
has nearly 1.3 million followers
on Twitter and Instagram, who Owen Wright, 28 Australia
Professional surfer
thrive on her self-effacing, hu-
morous posts. —James Simms JUDGES
Dick Lee, Singapore
Singer, Composer and
Creative Director
Kei Nishikori, Japan
Tennis player





• A S I
A

•



• 2 0 1 9 •












FRANCO ORIGLIA/GETTY IMAGES















22 | FORBES ASIA APRIL 2019

Enterprise Technology


Chandler Song, 24; Ajay Prakash, 24 Australia
Ryan Fang, 23 China Cofounder, Perlin
Cofounders, Ankr Network
Hanaa Lakhani, 24; Gia Farooqi,
Takashi Ban, 27 Japan 23; Hasan Usmani, 23; Moneeb
Founder, Hachidori Mian, 24 Pakistan
Cofounders, Roshni Rides
Evan Wong, 25; James Han, 25
Australia Xu Chiheng, 28; Xu Bing, 29 China
Cofounders, Checkbox Cofounder, SenseTime
Xuguang “Patrick” Dai, 29 China Fang Shihun, 28; Wang Taizhou,
Cofounder, Qtum Foundation 28 China
Mohammad Danesh, 29 Singapore Cofounders, Shiheng (Shanghai)
Cofounder, Transcelestial Technology Service
Technologies Soravis Srinawakoon, 26 Thailand
Cofounder, Band Protocol
Raunaq Vaisoha, 23; Anil
Dukkipatty, 25; Sahil Kathpal, 27 Elinor Swery, 28 New Zealand
India Senior Solutions Architect,
Cofounders, Elemential Labs Soul Machines
Robbie Ferguson, 22; James Charmain Tan, 29 Singapore
Ferguson, 26 Australia Founder, QuickDesk
Cofounders, Fuel Games
Haryanto Tanjo, 29 Indonesia
Huang Yao, 26 China Cofounder, Moka
Founder, Aqrose
Li Zhan, 29; Chen Kairan, 25
Dou Renyin, 28; Li Jiajun, 28 China
China Cofounders, Tungee Technology
Cofounders, Humanplus Kenny Wang, 29 Singapore
Intelligent Robotics
COO, Igloohome
Jia Yaoqi, 29 Singapore
Cofounder, Zilliqa Research Xu Xin, 28 China
Founder, XSKY
Hyunwook “Luis” Kang, 27
South Korea Zhao Yang, 27 China
Founder, Bepro Company Cofounder, Zaihui
Zhu Yinglun, 27 China
Retsu Kitagawa, 29 Japan
Founder, SmartDrive Cofounder, Shenzhen Zhiyi
Technology
Yuya Kuratomi, 26 Japan
Founder, COCON
JUDGES
Leonard Loo, 27 Singapore Kaifu Lee, China
Product Manager, CEO, Sinovation Ventures
Open Government Products
Yat Sui, Hong Kong
Varun Mani, 29 India CEO, Outblaze
Cofounder, Waypoint Labs
SD Shibulal, India
Kevin Tung Nguyen, 29 Vietnam Cofounder, Infosys and
Founder, JobHop Axilor Ventures
Natalie Nguyen, 29 Australia
Cofounder, Hyper Anna










Kenny Wang, 29

COO, IGLOOHOME SINGAPORE
One day in 2014, Kenny Wang found himself locked out of his apart-
ment while his grandfather lay inside, unconscious on the floor after
falling and breaking his hip. Luckily, his aunt arrived 30 minutes later
with a key and they took Wang’s grandfather to the hospital.
Looking to prevent such incidents, Wang joined Singapore-based
smart lock maker igloohome the following year as its COO. Smart
locks use mainly key codes, fingerprints or biometric scanners to lock
and unlock doors. Advanced versions such as the one from igloohome
generates temporary codes—ideal for use in Airbnb apartments.
Founded in early 2015 by two of his former colleagues at local telco
Singtel—Anthony Chow, 32, and Kelvin Ho, 44—Wang helped grow
JING WEI (STUDIO W) FOR FORBES ASIA investors Insignia Ventures Partners and Wavemaker Partners.
the company from just four members into a team of 60. The startup
has attracted over $10 million in funding, including Singapore-based

Wang sees a big opportunity in working with corporate clients.
Igloohome signed a deal last January with Singtel, which will resell
igloohome’s smart locks equipped with SIM cards to its business
customers. “We hope that in the next five years, almost every
consumer and every industry will see the value in using smart locks,”
Wang says. “It’s really about convenience and peace of mind.”
—Rana Wehbe



APRIL 2019 FORBES ASIA | 23

Social Entrepreneurs • A S I Richard Yim, 25

COFOUNDER, DEMINE ROBOTICS CAMBODIA
A
Zain Ashraf, 28 Pakistan
Founder, Seed Out • Richard Yim is determined to create a future in which Cam-
Byambajargal Ayushjav, 28 Mongolia bodian children can walk and play without fear of tripping
Founder, Faro Foundation Mongolia NGO • 2 0 1 9 • over landmines left over from the country’s civil war. In 2016,
Shabana Basij-Rasikh, 28 Afghanistan he founded Demine Robotics to develop a landmine-clearing
Cofounder, SOLA Afghanistan robot. Yim was born in Cambodia in 1993, the year Cambodia
Arnold Chan, 29 Hong Kong hosted its first election to end a three-decade civil war that left
Founder, Teach For Hong Kong
more than 6 million landmines believed to be still buried across
Chia Wen Shin, 27 Malaysia the country—one of which killed his aunt in 2000 while she
Founder, Green Yards
was working on her farm. Yim and his family moved to Canada
Ken Chua T, 27 Singapore
Founder, (these)abilities in 2006 when he was 13 years old.
Christina Chun, 27 Australia Lim started Demine while studying mechanical engineer-
Founder, 1Scope ing at Canada’s University of Waterloo. One of the biggest chal-
Naman Ahluwalia, 26; lenges in clearing landmines is the lack of affordable solutions
Sajan Abrol, 27 India for digging up the explosive devices without jeopardizing any-
Cofounders, Clothes Box Foundation one nearby. To this end, Demine developed Jevit (“life” in Cam-
(Refresh)
bodian), the world’s first remote-controlled robot that can lift a
Earl Forlales, 23; Zahra Halabisaz
Zanjani, 23 Philippines landmine out of the ground without detonating it.
Cofounders, CUBO Modular With funding from both the Canadian and Cambodian
Deane de Menezes, 25 India governments, Demine started producing Jevit in Cambodia
Founder, Red is the new Green last year. While the company focuses on Cambodia’s own
Aniket Doegar, 29 India mine challenge, Yim hopes to eventually deploy Jevit to other
Founder, Haqdarshak conflict areas, such as Afghanistan, Colombia and Iraq. “It has
Empowerment Solutions
always been my goal to make our robotics solutions more
Abhishek Dubey, 26 India
CEO, Muskaan Dreams accessible to conflict and landmine-infested countries,” says
Gideon Laux, 23; Ronit Kanwar, 21 India Yim. “I truly believe in building a business that will change the
Cofounders, Empower Energy world for the better.” —Caroline Chen
Denica Flesch, 28 Indonesia
Founder, SukkhaCitta
Freshta Karim, 26 Afghanistan
Founder, Charmaghz
Ryosuke Kobayashi, 27 Japan
Founder, HLAB
Noelle Martin, 24 Australia
Law reform campaigner
Yumeno Nito, 29 Japan
Founder, Colabo
Sorawit Paiboonrattanakorn,
29 Thailand
Founder, Saturday School Foundation
Won Nyoung Park, 27 South Korea
Cofounder, ANGELSWING
Abhishek Banerjee, 22; Ankan
Podder, 23; Ustav Bhattacharyya, 24;
Angnimitra Sengupta, 24 India
Cofounders, Qube
Ezekiel Raui, 21 New Zealand
Founder, TuKotahi
Elena Bensawan, 18;
Sabrina Bensawan, 20 Indonesia
Cofounders, Saab Shares
Quan Nguyen, 26; Yeon Jeong “Jenny”
Cho, 26; Yongmin Cho, 26 South Korea
Cofounders, SAY Global
Umang Shridhar, 26 India
Founder, KhaDigi
Monirath Siv, 29 Cambodia
Founder, Teach For Cambodia
Trina Das, 28; Kalyan Kuramana, 27 India
Cofounders, TAI
Kevin Tan, 29 Singapore
Founder, Tri-Sector Associates
Sayaka Watanabe, 27 Japan
Founder, NPO WELgee
Richard Yim, 25 Cambodia
Cofounder, Demine Robotics

JUDGES
Sally Begbie, Hong Kong
Director, Crossroads Foundation
Kishore Lulla, India ANTOINE RAAB FOR FORBES ASIA
Philanthropist and Chairman,
Eros International
Gary White, U.S.
Cofounder and CEO, Water.org




24 | FORBES ASIA APRIL 2019

Health Care & Science


Akhila Adabala, 29 India Aayush Rai, 29 India
Cofounder, Praktice.ai CEO, Inito
Tamana Asey, 26 Afghanistan Kuldeep Singh Rajput, 27
Program Director, Afghanistan Singapore
Fornsic Science Organization Founder, Biofourmis
Bian Lin, 29 China Ren Xiang, 28 China
Assistant Professor, Assistant Professor,
Cornell University University of Southern California
Cao Yuan, 22 China Subhrajit Roy, 29 Australia
PhD. candidate, MIT Research Scientist, IBM Research
Gong Enhao, 28 China Nitin Gandhi, 28; Jatin Sharma, 29
Founder, Subtle Medical India
CEO, COO, Shapecrunch
Praveen Gorakavi, 29 India
Partner, The Phi Factory Roopam Sharma, 23 India
Cofounder, Eyeluminati
Manuri Gunawardena, 25 Australia
Founder, HealthMatch Gourish Singla, 26 India
Founder, Project Shivom
Nitesh Jangir, 29 India
Cofounder, Coeo Labs Kalyan Sivasailam, 25 India
CEO, 5C Network
Yei Hwan Jung, 29 South Korea
Postdoctoral Fellow, Tiffany Robyn Soetikno, 25
Sungkyunkwan University Indonesia
Founder, PT Global Urban Esensial
Michiaki Kamo, 24 Japan
Founder, POL Arjun Vaidya, 27 India
CEO, Dr. Vaidya’s (Herbolab India)
Laila Kasuri, 29 Pakistan
Water Analyst, Global Green Roman Vernidub, 29 South Korea
Growth Institute Founder, Koru Pharmaceuticals
Do Hee Keum, 27 South Korea Yap Hong Kai, 27 Singapore
CEO, BUBBLER Cofounder, Roceso Technologies
Liang Lyu, 28 China Zhao Qiang, 28 China
Founder, SonmolTech CEO, Pearl Care Clinic
Yukiko Ogawa, 28 Japan
Researcher, National Institute JUDGES
for Materials Science Meena Ganesh, India
Cofounder and CEO,
Yuki Okoda, 24 Japan Portea Medical
Student, The University of Tokyo
Snehal Patel, Singapore
Gwanho Yoon, 29; Dasol Lee, 28
South Korea Cofounder and CEO, MyDoc
Ph.D candidates, Pohang University Sonny Vu, U.S.
of Science and Technology President and CTO,
Connected Devices-Fossil Group
Sivareena Sarika, 27; Subhadeep
Mondal, 28 India
Cofounders, PregBuddy
Technologies











Manuri

Gunawardena, 25

FOUNDER, HEALTHMATCH AUSTRALIA
As a medical student at the University of New South Wales, Manuri
Gunawardena learned first-hand the difficulty of finding patients to join in
trials for potentially lifesaving treatments. She also noticed there was no
convenient way for patients to search for alternative treatments for their
conditions. So she started HealthMatch in 2017 to solve these problems.
Sydney-based HealthMatch applies machine learning to clinical data to
help researchers and pharmaceutical companies find patients suitable for
their studies—and vice versa. “We are automating access to clinical trials
globally and dramatically improving the future of healthcare by lowering
JING WEI (STUDIO W) FOR FORBES ASIA to raise at least $10 million later this year. HealthMatch charges research
barriers to research and development,” says Gunawardena.
HealthMatch has raised $1.3 million from investors so far, and plans

institutions and drug companies a fee to use its platform and for every
patient they recruit through HealthMatch for clinical studies. Patients don’t
have to pay to use the platform.
The company is projected to generate $5 million in sales next year,
primarily from clinical trials with two Swiss pharmaceutical giants. “Being
under 30 has meant I have an ability to embrace technology and use it in
new ways,” says Gunawardena. —Rana Wehbe



APRIL 2019 FORBES ASIA | 25

Finance & Venture Capital Rashmi Kwatra, 29

FOUNDER, SIXTEENTH STREET CAPITAL
Yuhao “Tony” He, 26; Huo Junwei, Htet Arkar Kyaw, 24 Myanmar THAILAND
29; Tiantian Kullander, 26; Founder, Giant Pay
Michael Wu, 29 Hong Kong Siyu “Steven” Li, 28 China Rashmi Kwatra has long understood the bene-
Cofounders, Amber AI • A S I
Founder, FutureMoney fits of being an early-stage investor: when she
Gitta Amelia, 23 Indonesia was 12, she liked to eat at KFC, so she bought
Founder, Everhaus Hau Ly, 28 Vietnam A
Manager, 500 Startups Vietnam shares in the KFC franchise owner in Thailand,
Akshay Bajaj, 28 Hong Kong Liu Yuan, 29 China •
Venture Capitalist, Susquehanna Managing Director, ZhenFund Central Pattana. Her investment appreciat-
International Group ed more than 1,700% in 11 years. In 2014, then
Windy Natriavi, 28 Indonesia • 2 0 1 9 •
Adam Bao, 28 China Cofounder, Awantunai 24, she became the youngest-ever partner at
Vice President, Cherubic Ventures Prince Street Capital, a $2 billion hedge fund in
Ellen Nio, 29 Indonesia
Fridtjof Berge, 29 Singapore Investment Associate, New York. “My strength was identifying com-
Cofounder, Antler
Patamar Capital panies that had the potential to be 10 to 20
Jeremy Berger, 24 Singapore Jefriyanto, 28; Hendra Kwik, 28; times larger than they were,” says Kwatra.
Cofounders, Arival Bank
Ricky Winata, 29 Indonesia Kwatra joined Prince Street in 2011 after
Cai Ziwen, 27 China Cofounders, Payfazz graduating with a degree in economics from
Cofounder, InnoVision Capital
Erdenetulga Rentsen, 26 the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton
Cathryn Chen, 29 Singapore Mongolia
Founder, MarketX Ventures Vice President, RVJ Capital School. Last September, she launched her own
Sarah Chen, 29 Malaysia Germaine Tan, 29 Singapore hedge fund in Singapore—Sixteenth Street
Cofounder, The Billion Dollar Head of Corporate Development Capital—with $100 million in assets under
Fund for Women and Innovation, Found8 management. While declining to disclose her
Joolin Chuah, 27 Malaysia Wu Ge, 27 China clients, she says the fund’s anchor investor is a
Associate, Insignia Ventures Vice President, well-known U.S. family office.
Partners Gaorong Capital
Sixteenth Street aims to discover and cap-
TM Lee, 29; Bobby Ong, 29 Stella Zhao, 28 China
Malaysia Investment Vice President, ture substantial returns in frontier Asian mar-
Cofounders, CoinGecko Lightspeed China kets such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and
Benjamin Dunphy, 28 Australia Partners Vietnam that lie far off most international in-
Investment Director, vestors’ radar screens. Increasing smartphone
Blue Sky Funds JUDGES usage and access to broadband technolo-
Youssef El Kaddioui, 28 JP Gan, China gy are allowing companies in these countries
Hong Kong Managing Partner,
Innovation Partner, Mettā Qiming Venture to offer products and services to fast-growing
Partners
Jason Fang, 25 Hong Kong markets. South and Southeast Asia are “home
Founder, Sora Ventures Liu Genpeng, to a third of the world’s population, but up
Singapore
David Gan, 29 China Partner, Vertex until this year, it’s only been 7% of the world’s
Managing Director, Huobi Labs Ventures GDP,” she says. “But that’s growing so rapidly.”
He Tiantian, 28 China Changpeng —Pamela Ambler
Vice President, “CZ” Zhao,
Sequoia Capital China Malta
Koya Imada, 25 Japan CEO,
CEO, Asobica Binance
Rashmi Kwatra, 29 Thailand
Founder, Sixteenth Street Capital
Do Kwon, 27 South Korea
Cofounder, Terraform Labs


























JING WEI (STUDIO W) FOR FORBES ASIA


















26 | FORBES ASIA APRIL 2019

Media, Marketing & Advertising


Morshed Abdulla Al, 25 Aditya Pisharody, 27 India Bruce “Bo” Wei, 27 China
Bangladesh Head of Video, FilterCopy Founder, LetsDraw
Cartoonist, Morshed Mishu’s Melvin Poh, 27 Malaysia Steven Wongsoredjo, 26
Illustration
Founder, The Asian Entrepreneur Indonesia
Yuta Fukazawa, 24; Yuri Matsui, Qi Bin, 28 China Cofounder, Nusantara Technology
24 Japan CEO, Shanghai Wohoney Culture Xu Yan, 27 China
Cofounders, AppBrew
Communication CEO, Yan Chi Culture
Mortaza Behboudi, 24 Zhuang “Annabelle” Qian 28
Afghanistan China JUDGES
Founder, GUITI NEWS
Founder, KnowYourself Chantal Abouchar, Australia
Benz Budiman, 25 Indonesia Founder and CEO, The STUDIO
Cofounder, Pomona Technologies Christel Quek, 28 Singapore
Cofounder, BOLT Patrick Grove, Singapore
Chen Xiaoliang, 27 China Zaure Rozmat, 28 Kazakhstan Cofounder and Group CEO,
Founder, Duiba Group Catcha Group
Founder, The Steppe
Kenn Costales, 29 Philippines Akira Morikawa, Japan
Founder, Monolith Growth Ishaan Sethi, 27 India President of NHN Corporation,
Founder, The Delta App
Consulting Former CEO of LINE
Wang Yuyang, 26;
Ben Forman, 29 New Zealand Wang Zhikai, 29 China
Founder, Wrestler
CEO, COO, Shanghai Goose
Chris Khristie, 27; Michelle Tan, Culture Dissemination
26 Malaysia Charlie Sheng, 28 Hong Kong
Cofounders, INFLUASIA
CMO, MailTime
Thinh Le Tan Thanh, 28 Vietnam
Founder, BrandBeats Archie Carlson, 28;
Sugito Alim, 29 Indonesia
Li Shuang, 28 China Cofounders, StickEarn
Partner, EO Intelligence
Chinmay Jindal, 24;
Eva Mackinley, 28 Australia Ankit Mishra, 25 India
Founder, The Last Straw Australia Cofounders, StoryXpress
Arjun Madhavan, 28 India Sahil Vaidya, 25;
Founder, Assemblage Chirag Gander, 25 India
Entertainment Cofounders, The Minimalist
Mallikarjun Malkiodeyar, 25 India Piyush Ghosh, 23; Tuhin Sen, 25;
Cofounder, Timeblur Studio Tannison Mathews, 25 India
Cofounders, The Optimist Citizen
Taiki Mori 28 Japan
Founder, VAZ









Steven

Wongsoredjo, 26

COFOUNDER, NUSANTARA TECHNOLOGY
INDONESIA
Steven Wongsoredjo returned home to Indonesia after
graduating from Columbia University in 2016 in time to
witness the controversial Jakarta governor election, which
included hate speech and fake news. The experience helped
inspire him to start Nusantara Technology to produce positive and
inspiring digital media content for his generation. “Instead of fake
news,” says Wongsoredjo, “we want to create trusted content for
millennials and speak in their language.”
By focusing on media formats popular with young people, such
as comic strips, infographics and short videos, the company’s
two sites, Keepo.me and YuKepo.com, have quickly captured the
attention of young Indonesians. With over 1 million social media
followers and 35 million visitors to its sites every month, Nusantara
Technology turned a profit its first year in 2017. Last year, the
company was accepted to Y Combinator, a prestigious Silicon
Valley startup accelerator.
Wongsoredjo’s success with Keepo and YuKepo inspired him to
start a third product, PlayingViral, which helps client companies cre-
ate interactive content to attract millennials and improve sales. “I en-
vision it as the Salesforce for Southeast Asia, a marketing platform
that also incorporates media,” says Wongsoredjo. PlayingViral al-
ready counts as customers thousands of small and midsized busi-
WINSTON GOMEZ nesses across Southeast Asia, as well as larger companies such as
Singapore Airlines and Garuda Indonesia. “Companies want to make
products that cater to millennials, and digital media is a bridge for
them to connect to young people,” says Wongsoredjo. —David Yin



APRIL 2019 FORBES ASIA | 27

Neo Nie, 27

FOUNDER AND CEO, HEYTEA CHINA
How do you like your tea? To Nie Yunchen, who goes by the name
Neo Nie, the answer is topping each cup of tea with a layer of
foamed cheese. Founded in 2012 in Jiangmen, China, Nie’s HEYTEA
has taken the country’s younger generation by storm, and has
started to expand outside China. It pioneered a new type of tea
called naigai cha, known in English as cheese tea, which has a
special cheese foam topping on different brews of tea and fruit
drinks. Its special cheese foam is exactly why HEYTEA stands out
from similar milk tea offerings. “We want to upgrade milk tea,” he
says. “We use the best milk to make the cheese topping, and it has • A S I
a sweet aftertaste that works with traditional tea.” A
Today, HEYTEA sells more than 2,000 cups of tea a day in each
of its 170 stores across China, with revenues topping 1 billion yuan •
($150 million) last year. Investors have taken notice, with Longzhu
Capital, the investment arm of Hong Kong-listed Meituan Dianping, • 2 0 1 9 •
investing $60 million into the company last year.
Meanwhile, Nie is branching out, and has started to offer coffee
products. Starting last month, HEYTEA will offer coffee, which also
comes with cheese foam, at selected stores in China. Consumers
can get HEYTEA’s cheese-topped Americano for $3.20 or iced
coffee for $3.70. “We don’t want to make traditional coffee drinks,”
Nie explains. “We want to find new inspirations.” One of its recently
opened outlets in Singapore is also offering alcoholic cheese foam
teas and fruit drinks.
When Nie was still attending university in 2010, he noticed that
smartphone sales were just taking off in China. He tried his luck by
selling phones in his hometown Jiangmen, but closed that shop
upon graduation in 2011 because peddling phones was “boring.”
—Yue Wang



Retail & E-commerce


Aayush Agrawal, 29 India Khanh Ngo, 29 Vietnam
Cofounder, Wok Express Executive Board Member,
TIKI Corporation
Georgianna Carlos, 28 Philippines
Founder, Fetch! Naturals Neo Nie, 27 China
Jaeyoung Choi, 27 South Korea CEO, HEYTEA
Co-President, WINGBLING Lilian Kanemaru, 19; Taiga
Takayama, 20 Japan
Sagar Yarnalkar, 29; Anurag
Gupta, 28 India Cofounders, ONE NOVA
Cofounders, DailyNinja James Prananto, 29 Indonesia
Charlie Ercan, 29 Australia Cofounder, Kopi Kenangan
Cofounder, Unique Muscle Tara Jane Sargent, 24 Australia
Founder, TJ SWIM
Ahmed Rauf Essa, 27 Pakistan
Founder, Telemart Takahiro Sumi, 29 Japan
Yizhe Gan, 25 China Founder, Sumutasu
Founder, Beijing Shell Space Natasha Toh, 28; Ryan Ho, 28
Technology Singapore
Cofounders, The Fun Empire
Chirag Gupta, 26 India
Cofounder, Deyor Camps Karan Virwani, 27 India
CEO, WeWork India
Lewis Gyson, 28 New Zealand
Founder, Ant Agung Bezharie, 29; Sofian
Hadiwijaya, 29; Harya Putra, 24
Jayant Jha, 29 India Indonesia
Cofounder, Yaantra
Cofounders, Warung Pintar
Tanvi Johri, 27 India Angky William, 28 Indonesia
Cofounder, Carmesi
Cofounder, Stoqo
Ye-seul Jung, 28 South Korea Kendrick Wong, 26 Malaysia
CEO, O!OI
CEO, Omnilytics
Sangmin Theodore Kim, 27 Yang Manjing, 27 China
South Korea
Founder, Veluga Brewery Cofounder, Garden Lis Fashion
Zhan Chufeng, 29 China
Jun Ho Lee, 27 South Korea Founder, Souptown
Founder, JIENEM
Delphine Lefay, 29 Hong Kong JUDGES
Cofounder, OnTheList
Zhang Lei, China
Lou Yun, 29 China Founder, Hillhouse Capital
Cofounder, Club Factory
Hiroshi Mikitani, Japan
Kenji Miki, 28 Japan CEO, Rakuten HU KE FOR FORBES ASIA
Founder, Tabinaka
Allan Zeman, Hong Kong
Founder and Chairman,
Lan Kwai Fong


28 | FORBES ASIA APRIL 2019 FOR MORE: WWW.FORBES.COM/UNDER30/LIST/2019/ASIA

•
Kazakhstan 4 Japan • 2 0 1 9 • • A S I A
Kyrgyzstan Mongolia 3
South Korea 30
1
28
China 61
Afghanistan 4
Myanmar Hong Kong
Laos
6 India 1 1 Taiwan
2 1 11
Pakistan 59
Bangladesh 4 Vietnam
2 3 Philippines
Malaysia
Thailand 5
Cambodia
9
23
THIS YEAR’S 30 UNDER 30 ASIA
REPRESENTS 23 COUNTRIES AND 17
Singapore
TERRITORIES IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION
Indonesia
Number of members Australia
Top 5 countries 19

First-time countries
New Zealand

BY THE NUMBERS 6




Get to know this year’s class of 30 Under 30 Asia








Founders 46%
30% 70% Sees scaling up as Most important trait
35% Adventurous or cofounders the next hurdle for entrepreneurs
Ambitious
Grit 41%
20% 61% Vision 20%
Best way Idealistic Supported
to describe 15% by family Passion 16%
your generation Inspired
Fearlessness 12%
Curiosity 11%
Definition
of success
Achieving
your potential 48%

Consider being under 30
80% as advantageous in career Others Liking yourself 45%
and what you do
INFOGRAPHIC BY MIGUEL CAMACHO FOR FORBES ASIA 41% 63% 68 hours Favorite
7%
Dream mentors



Would donate to
superheroes
social causes






Average of
Started business to
work weekly
solve a problem



APRIL 2019 FORBES ASIA | 29

• A
S
I
A




ALUMS ON • •
A
L U M N I •

THE RISE


A LOOK AT HOW SOME
OF OUR PREVIOUS LIST

MEMBERS ARE FARING.












Ritesh Agarwal, 25


FOUNDER AND CEO,
OYO HOTELS & HOMES
30 UNDER 30 DEBUT: 2016





ndian Ritesh Agarwal began his
entrepreneurial journey sell-
ing SIM cards while in the eighth
grade in his hometown in east-
Iern India. The 25-year-old college
dropout now dreams of dominating the
world’s budget hotel industry, spurred
by an early endorsement from PayPal
cofounder Peter Thiel and recent finan-
cial backing from Japanese billionaire
Masayoshi Son.
Founded by Agarwal in 2012 when
he was 19, Oyo franchises and leases
budget hotel rooms pooled from inde-
pendent property owners. The company
has amassed 515,000 rooms, making it
the world’s eighth-largest hotel chain by
rooms under management, according
to hospitality research firm STR.
To finance further expansion, Oyo
has raised over $1 billion in funding –
first from Son’s SoftBank in September
for $800 million, and then Singapore’s
ride-hailing giant Grab in December
for $100 million and China’s ride-hail-
ing major Didi Chuxing in February for
$100 million. Last month, Airbnb also
took a stake in Oyo for an undisclosed
amount. This staggered round valued the




30 | FORBES ASIA APRIL 2019

The company has Gurgaon-based company at $5 billion, allowing says Jesper Palmqvist, Singapore-based area di-
amassed 515,000 Oyo to plan an aggressive expansion to tap Asia’s rector for Asia-Pacific at STR.
rooms, making it
the world’s eighth- fast-growing tourism sector. Oyo will quintu- Despite such growth, Oyo will remain in the
largest hotel chain ple its rooms in the next four years to over 2 mil- red. Last year it had losses of $55 million. Yet its
by rooms under
management. lion—which would be more than the world’s larg- investors are optimistic that Oyo will eventually
est hotel chain Marriott’s 1.3 million rooms. Oyo turn a profit as it scales up. “There’s a huge op-
is tapping into a large and growing market, as the portunity in budget hotels around the world,”
World Tourism Organization projects that tour- says Bejul Somaia, partner at Lightspeed India
ist arrivals in Asia will grow 66% to 535 million Partners, a New Delhi-based venture capital
tourist arrivals by 2030, from 323 million in 2017. firm that’s one of Oyo’s early investors.
Agarwal, who joined the 30 Under 30 list in Agarwal’s business model is to bring un-
2016, came up with the idea for Oyo while stay- branded hotels across the globe under the Oyo
ing in crummy hotels in New Delhi during his umbrella. Once a new hotel signs up as an Oyo
11th and 12th grades. He’d moved to the north- franchisee, a construction crew renovates it
ern Indian state of Rajasthan in 2010 to get within 14 days using Oyo’s designs. Only then is
coaching to enter the prestigious Indian Insti- Oyo’s distinctive red-and-white logo put up out-
tute of Technology and would travel to near- side the hotel. Oyo claims to increase average oc-
by Delhi over the weekends. While he didn’t get cupancy from 25% to 65% within three months.
into IIT (he enrolled in a college in Delhi in- With the rapid growth of Oyo, some hotel own-
stead), the experience inspired him to create an ers across India have been boycotting the com-
affordable hotel brand that would be both clean pany, alleging breaches in contract and price
and safe. He started Oravel Stays—which later gouging. “We can’t afford to do business with
became Oyo in 2012. When his concept won Oyo,” says Gurbaxish Singh Kohli, vice president
him a $100,000 Thiel Fellowship for budding of the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Asso-
entrepreneurs in 2013, he dropped out of col- ciations of India, a trade group. It charged in a
lege to focus on building Oyo. letter to Oyo in December that 40% of the rooms
Today, Oyo’s franchise covers 18,000 proper- on Oyo’s network, some in residential buildings,
ties in 500 cities around the world. Oyo has ear- were operating without proper licenses.
marked $950 million to bankroll a multipronged Agarwal rejects the charge. “We are 100%
expansion across Asia over the next five years. compliant,” he says. “These are vested interests
Of that amount, about $600 million will be who have come up with unsubstantiated claims.”
spent in China, the world’s fourth-largest tourist Oyo also has to contend with intensifying com-
destination and where Oyo already has 270,000 petition around the region from no-frills start-
rooms. The rest of the funds will be spent in In- ups such as Home Inn, Han Ting Express and
donesia, India and the Philippines. 7Days Inn in China; Fab Hotels and Treebo Ho-
Oyo, which operates primarily in the no-frills tels in India; RedDoorz and Zen Rooms in In-
segment with rooms averaging $25 a night, is also donesia and Go Hotels in Philippines.
going upmarket with offerings like Palette Re- “Oyo is underestimating the complexity in
sorts (around $100 per night). It also launched Southeast Asia because these are large compli-
weddingz.in in 2018 to help consumers find ven- cated markets,” says Amit Saberwal, founder of
ues, caterers and events managers for wedding four-year-old RedDoorz, which operates in In-
banquets across 15 cities in India. Its Oyo Home donesia, Philippines, Vietnam and Singapore.
division, launched in 2017, offers short-term leas- “Oyo’s testosterone-driven, high-decibel ap-
es of homes and villas for property owners, while proach will not work here. It has to fight the bat-
Oyo Life is expanding its long-term home rental tle on the ground, city by city. These markets
business in Japan with partner Yahoo Japan. cannot be built sitting in a boardroom.”
To drive Oyo’s growth strategy, the compa- Oyo, however, is led from the front by its
ny has beefed up senior leadership, roping in globetrotting CEO Agarwal, who travels to
Aditya Ghosh from IndiGo Airlines as CEO
five to 20 cities a month, staying in Oyo ho-
NAMAS BHOJANI FOR FORBES ASIA ecutives drawn from Google, Uber and Wanda property owners through hundreds of Whats-
for India and South Asia. In China, senior ex-
tels along the way. He remains connected with
App groups. His focus is clearly on carving a
manage the business. Oyo expects revenues to
triple to $200 million in the year ended March
niche in what he estimates as a $1.2 trillion
global hospitality market. “We want to become
31, 2019 from $65 million last year. “Its pace of
the most-loved hotel chain in the world,” he says.
growth is unparalleled, fueled by the growing
—Anuradha Raghunathan
middle class in markets like India and China,”



APRIL 2019 FORBES ASIA | 31

• U
.
S
Ryan Williams at the .
New York office of
his startup, Cadre. •
He has surrounded •
himself with a team
A
that combines Wall
Street and real estate L U M N I •
veterans with young
tech wizards from the
likes of Square.






Ryan Wiliams, 30


FOUNDER AND CEO, CADRE
30 UNDER 30 DEBUT: 2018






J ust before Christmas, the Asso-

ciated Press published an article
on the ways Ivanka Trump and
her husband, Jared Kushner,
might personally profit from
the generous new “opportunity
zone” tax breaks they had championed
as advisors to their father/father-in-law,
who happens to be the president of the
United States. The very first path cited
in the widely read story: Kushner’s in-
vestment in the real estate startup
Cadre, a stake worth up to $50 million,
according to his most recent federal fi-
nancial disclosures.
“I would be lying if I said the po-
litical angle wasn’t frustrating or con-
cerning,” says Ryan Williams, the CEO
and founder of Cadre. “There are peo-
ple who won’t work with us [because of
the Kushner connection], and we get
that. But we have over 80 investors in
the company. Jared is a passive investor
who has no operational control.” Driv-
ing home the point, he gestures toward
the dozens of employees toiling indus-
triously at their desks in Cadre’s wide-
open office space, maintaining a web-
site where qualified investors can view
detailed information on apartment
and office properties, with video walk-
throughs, maps, lists of tenants and
long memos packed with data points.
“It’s a normal day, and everybody is ex-
ecuting,” Williams insists. “It doesn’t
distract us.”




32 | FORBES ASIA APRIL 2019

Yet the issue surrounds him. The Williams left Tokyo with concerns
office he points across, in the histor- about the amount of control Softbank’s
ic Puck Building in Manhattan’s trendy Vision Fund wanted—but optimistic
Nolita district, is owned by the Kushner they could work something out. Cadre
Cos., run by Jared until he decamped to was about to hit the big time, and Wil-
the White House. Williams developed liams, already worth some $160 million
and incubated the Cadre concept with (Forbes pegs his stake in Cadre at about
Jared and his brother, Josh. Many of the 20%), was poised to become extreme-
big real estate players who adopted the ly wealthy. But within a month, Bloom-
Cadre funding platform came through berg News ran an article emphasizing
Jared’s introductions; Josh’s venture the potential link between Jared Kush-
fund, Thrive Capital, made the key ner, Cadre, Softbank and Saudi money.
early investment. Josh sits on Cadre’s Discussions fell apart soon after.
board—and works two floors above. “It has been a challenge because of
A lot has been written about the the association,” says Michael Fascitelli,
self-enrichment going on with the the head of Cadre’s investment commit-
Trump administration. Ryan Williams, tee and the former CEO of real estate
however, suffers from the opposite giant Vornado Realty—introduced to
problem. He’s the American Dream Williams, yes, by the Kushners. “Jared is
personified. (Mark Cuban, a Cadre not involved, but there is a perception
investor who emails with Williams he is, and that is mostly a negative be-
weekly, describes him thus: “Smart. cause people want to stay clear of that.”
Focused. Learns and reiterates contin- Williams has accumulated a diz-
uously.”) Yet Williams pushes his start- zying array of backers with ties to the
up forward, dragging along his rela- current Trump era. Besides Cuban,
tionship with the White House like a the president’s biggest business-world
two-ton anchor. heckler, there’s Peter Thiel, his biggest
Last April, Williams flew alone to Silicon Valley water carrier, and George
Tokyo to meet Masayoshi Son, the Soft- Soros, the poster boy for right-wing
bank billionaire who has flooded the conspiracy theorists.
startup market with the conglomerate’s But as a policymaker and presiden-
tankers full of Saudi government petro- tial whisperer, it’s Jared Kushner who
dollars. Williams has raised $133 mil- creates Williams’ headaches. “Ryan has
lion to date for Cadre, at a valuation, dealt with it by being transparent and
most recently, of $800 million. Over honest,” Fascitelli says, “and spending
dinner at Son’s palatial Tokyo home, more time than he should explaining it
with its indoor golf range, Son demon- to investors, sponsors and institutions.”
strated his knowledge of Cadre’s model This article marks the first time Wil-
and threw out a $500 million invest- liams has delved deep into the specif-
ment—a figure that would double Cad- ics of this unprecedented balancing act.
re’s current valuation. (Jared Kushner declined to comment.
Josh Kushner emailed an anodyne
statement about Williams and Cadre.)
As Ryan Williams strives for scale, the
Ryan Williams is one 30-year-old also races to ensure that

of the most successful he’s not one of the many brought down
because of their proximity to Trump.
30 Under 30 honorees

ever, a tech founder LIKE MANY YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS,
reinventing real Williams knows how to market him-
JAMEL TOPPIN FOR FORBES Cadre—and building a from Baton Rouge who went from cut-
self. His personal elevator pitch: a kid
estate investing via
ting up worms and selling them as bait
to a teen whose wildly successful em-
$160 million personal
broidered wrist- and headband busi-
fortune in the process.
ness won him top awards from the




APRIL 2019 FORBES ASIA | 33

30 UNDER 30

Goldman Sachs Foundation, the National Association for Jared was already toying with the idea of raising money
the Advancement of Colored People and the National Foun- online for Kushner Cos. deals. But Williams had a broader
dation for Teaching Entrepreneurship. Then came Harvard, ambition: to create a digital syndication system that could be
Goldman and Blackstone, and then the Forbes 30 Under 30, tapped by numerous real estate operators. “He believed there
on the back of Cadre. could be a better way to do things,” Josh Kushner said in an
Yet there are aspects of his background that Williams isn’t email. “A better way to enable access. A better way to provide
as keen to discuss. His father, a paralegal, and his mother, a transparency and liquidity.”
social worker, separated when he was about 6. Williams and
his family lived in rental homes in the northern part of the
city, which has long struggled with segregation, crime and “THAT’S ALL NOISE TO ME,” BILLIONAIRE
persistent poverty. “It was rough” is all Williams will say. AND NOTED TRUMP TROLL MARK
Williams’ big break came right before high school, when CUBAN SAYS OF THE ATTENTION PAID
his mother moved the family to the New York City suburb of TO JARED KUSHNER’S TIES TO CADRE.
Ossining. Williams threw himself into school and his entre-
preneurial ventures. Against the advice of a guidance coun- HE HAS INVESTED IN THE STARTUP AND
sellor, he applied to Harvard where he studied economics. His EMAILS WITH RYAN WILLIAMS WEEKLY.
true major? Networking.
“He is fearless in his outreach and pursuit of relation-
ships,” says Raymond McGuire, a vice-chairman of Citigroup A partnership emerged and Williams left Blackstone to
and one of the most prominent African-Americans on Wall start Cadre with the Kushners. Williams would run Cadre as
Street. Williams recruited McGuire to speak at an early meet- CEO and get it licensed as a broker-dealer. The Kushner Cos.,
ing of Veritas Financial Group, a group he organized to con- run by Jared, would list the initial deals on the Cadre platform.
nect undergrads with Harvard Business School profs. It now Josh Kushner’s Thrive Capital would help Williams recruit
ranks among Harvard’s biggest student groups. tech talent and make VC introductions. And both brothers
At Harvard, Williams met Josh Kushner, two years his se- would put up money and introduce Williams to investors.
nior. The pair became close after Williams’ junior year, when Cadre’s first desk was at the Kushner Cos.’ Manhattan
he snagged a summer internship and worked on an NBA headquarters, and its first two deals were for properties the
team sale at Goldman Sachs, where Josh had already taken Kushners would operate: four Queens apartment buildings
his first job. During senior year, Josh’s dad, Charlie Kushner, purchased for $55 million, and a multifamily property in
was trying to buy the Philadelphia 76ers and brought on Wil- Chat ham, New Jersey, with a $100 million price tag. In March
liams to help on the bid. The Kushners lost the team, but were 2015, Williams raised $18.5 million in a first venture round
won over by Williams. with blue-chip investors such as Thiel’s Founders Fund, Bos-
Around this time, Williams took his first crack at real estate. ton’s General Catalyst, Vinod Khosla’s Khosla Ventures—and
He visited Atlanta in 2009, at the height of the financial cri- Josh’s Thrive Capital.
sis, and saw single-family homes selling at auction for as little “Jared’s contributions early on were critical,” Williams
as $60,000. So he partnered with a classmate who had grown says. “We would not have accelerated to where we are without
up in Atlanta and bought distressed properties with cash raised that help and support. I didn’t have any [other] operators who
from other Harvard students and their parents, including believed in this model.” Slowly, more players came around.
Charlie Kushner, who became one of the biggest investors. Cadre has already worked with 17 real estate operators, who
have tapped a new pool of investors drawn in by the easy in-
terface and attractive fee structure. Cadre charges 1% up
DONALD TRUMP SON-IN-LAW JARED front, plus 1.5% annually on the equity value it oversees and
KUSHNER COFOUNDED CADRE WHILE also claims a small portion of the 15% cut of profits kept by
RUNNING HIS FAMILY’S REAL ESTATE the real estate operating partners. But unlike many traditional

BUSINESS. HE KEPT A STAKE WHEN HE real estate investment managers, it doesn’t grab an additional
20% of profits as a “performance” fee.
WENT TO THE WHITE HOUSE, CREATING In 2015, Williams also struck a key alliance with Soros
HEADACHES FOR RYAN WILLIAMS. Fund Management, the investment operation of George

Soros. Soros took an equity stake in Cadre and provid-
ed a $250 million financing backstop: If a real estate opera-
Upon graduation in 2010, Williams joined Goldman as a tor agrees to do a project with Cadre and Williams can’t raise
technology analyst and then jumped to Blackstone, the world’s enough equity online to fund it, Soros will step in. So far Wil- JAMEL TOPPIN, MITCH HAASETH/GETTY IMAGES
biggest real estate investment firm, two years later. When Con- liams hasn’t had to tap the backstop.
gress passed the Jobs Act, which allowed online portals to “Far from being ignorant of the investment-manage-
crowdfund real estate, in 2012, Williams thought there was a ment issues, Williams showed he actually thought about
massive opportunity in the convergence of real estate and tech. them and came up with solutions,” says Matthew Botein, an




34 | FORBES ASIA APRIL 2019

alum of BlackRock and Blackstone who has personally in- to quiet the noise so long as Jared Kushner retains his stake.
vested in Cadre. In short order, Williams had Cadre posi- For instance, Cadre recently launched an investment pro-
tioned for startup greatness. This, however, was all before gram to take advantage of the opportunity-zone tax breaks,
November 2016. which the White House put in motion. And the headaches
are just getting bigger: On January 4, the group Citizens for
JOSH KUSHNER, WHO SAYS he did not vote for Trump, has Responsibility & Ethics in Washington formally asked the
previously told Forbes about how he experienced election Justice Department to investigate Ivanka Trump’s involve-
night 2016—midair, on a flight to California, realizing that he ment with the implementation of opportunity zones as a
had a lot of work to do to calm his employees. The next week possible violation of the federal conflict-of-interest laws. She
he met with 100 of them to assure them that Jared Kushner in had promised to recuse herself from issues that “would have
the White House would not sink the ship. a direct and predictable effect on Cadre” because of her hus-
Williams, who diplomatically declines to say whom he band’s ownership position.
voted for, followed the same game plan, calling an all-hands Cadre nonetheless keeps moving forward. So far, Wil-
meeting the following morning after election night. “My mes- liams’ platform has raised more than $500 million in equity
sage was we have core values irrespective of what is happen- to finance the acquisition of $2 billion worth of property from
ing in Washington, and I will be transparent about Jared’s New York to San Diego in 22 separate deals. Cadre is shoot-
plans and role,” Williams says. He then conducted some 25 ing for annual returns in the low to mid-teens; its only real-
one-on-ones with employees, many of whom he had person- ized deal netted a 16% internal rate of return.
ally recruited from Goldman and other secure jobs. In October, it launched a managed portfolio product
Still, he felt blindsided. “I realized things were going to that lets clients commit as little as $25,000 per deal, across
ten projects. In other words, they can get a diversified com-
mercial real estate portfolio with just a quarter-million dol-
VENTURE CAPITALIST AND LIBERTARIAN lars and no heavy lifting when it comes to screening assets.

PETER THIEL IS DONALD TRUMP’S Goldman Sachs has committed $250 million from its private
MOST PROMINENT SILICON VALLEY wealth clients to the managed portfolios.
At the same time, Williams’ secondary market finally
BACKER. HIS FOUNDERS FUND WAS AN launched, allowing Cadre clients to sell their stakes in real es-
EARLY INVESTOR IN CADRE. tate assets with the click of a button. So far there have been 40

secondary trades at an average 3% premium to the last valu-
ation. Buyers and sellers each pay Cadre a 1.5% commission.
change,’’ he says. But “I did not expect the level of scruti- But Williams’ biggest practical challenge is getting enough
ny that would come.” As it became clear that Jared Kushner good inventory, since top real estate developers don’t need
was heading to the White House, Williams came to an ar- websites to raise money. Has the Kushner connection perhaps
rangement with him: Jared would step down from Cadre’s scared some away? “Where this noise has the greatest impact
board of directors and relinquish a substantial portion of is probably in areas I don’t know,’’ Williams responds.
his equity. But Jared still kept between 3% and 6% of Cadre It raises the largest question surrounding Cadre. Why
and his inadvertent failure to disclose his stake on initial hasn’t Jared Kushner simply divested and spared his proté-
federal financial forms put the startup under a microscope. gé (and his brother) such an incredible hassle? Williams won’t
Williams found himself repeatedly having to explain the re- address the question directly. “I can’t force anybody, really, to
lationship in crucial meetings—for example, when he went sell their equity,” he says.
out in 2017 to raise a new $68 million venture round led by As for the political noise, “I try not to take it personally,”
Andreessen Horowitz. Williams says. “But I am a human being, and I think the team
Yet the stumbles keep occurring. Last year the Associated would tell you they sometimes feel bad.” The media and the
DAVID PAUL MORRIS/BLOOMBERG, SEAN GALLUP/GETTY IMAGES
Press reported that Kushner Cos. had filed paperwork with rest of the country may be obsessed with Trump and his fami-
New York City falsely stating there had been no rent-regulat- ly, he adds, “but I live, eat, breathe Cadre.” —Nathan Vardi F
ed tenants living in the Queens apartments listed on Cadre
when applying for construction permits in 2015. Bloom-
berg News followed up with a suggestion that the resale of HEDGE FUND MANAGER GEORGE
the improved apartments in 2017—the only exit so far on SOROS IS THE BILLIONAIRE THE RIGHT
Cadre’s platform—might have been less profitable had there LOVES TO HATE. HIS SOROS FUND
been proper disclosure. Cadre said it didn’t know about the MANAGEMENT IS A SHAREHOLDER
issue and that administrative filings were the responsibility IN CADRE AND PROVIDED A CRUCIAL
of Kushner Cos., which said its filings were prepared by third
parties. Cadre hasn’t bought assets with Kushner Cos. since $250 MILLION BACKSTOP FOR ITS
those two initial proof-of-concept transactions in 2015. CROWDFUNDED DEALS.
New deals or not, there are limits to what Williams can do




APRIL 2019 FORBES ASIA | 35

PROMOTION
A SWEET TWIST









TO CLASSIC










TIMEPIECES
















Richard Mille’s

Bonbon collection

brings a playful

spirit into the


world of horology.






It’s hard to miss a Richard Mille timepiece.
With their cutting-edge designs, audacious
use of color and extreme technical sophisti-
cation, the watchmaker’s creations stand out
in a sea of cookie-cutter offerings. Its new
Bonbon collection is no exception. Released
in January at the Salon International de la
Haute Horlogerie in Geneva, it proves yet
again the brand’s willingness to break new
ground in the world of luxury watchmaking.
The daring but elegant collection features
10 models, each limited to just 30 pieces, that
inject a dose of playfulness from our child-
hood. Their designs are inspired by the colors
and tastes of candy, and would be at home in
the wild and wacky world of Willy Wonka and
his chocolate factory.
The Bonbon collection took more than
18 months to develop, and follows the spirit
of Richard Mille in its willingness to upend
convention to push the boundaries of
creativity. All the watches in the collection
use the construction of previous Richard
Mille timepieces as their base. Recognizable
models such as the RM 07-01, the RM 016
and the RM 037 have been completely
transformed and sport a refreshed aesthetic.
These creations are the brainchild of Cécile
Guenat—the daughter of Richard Mille’s

PROMOTION

PROMOTION




founding partner Dominique Guenat—who watches use Carbon TPT® or Quartz TPT®—
served as the artistic director for the series the same layering materials found in popular
and has brought the carefree spirit of child- Richard Mille models, such as Rafael Nadal’s
hood into the world of serious craftsmanship. RM 27-03 Tourbillon.
“’Bonbon.’ Just saying the word is enough to
make you smile. It manages to convey a com- Sweets
bination of pleasure, openness and sharing all Meanwhile, the Sweets line features four
at once. This collection is disruptive, elegant, models inspired by Sucette (Lollipop), Cup-
daring and playful. In a word: creative!” says cake, Réglisse (Licorice) and Marshmallow.
Guenat, who set herself the goal of reinvent- Each is crafted from two-tone ceramic that
ing classic sweets such as marshmallow, lico- evokes a creamy, melt-in-your-mouth surface.
rice and gelato with a horological twist. Shaped like giant sweets, the dials of the
She adds: “For me, it was truly an oppor- RM 37-01 the Sucette, the RM 07-03 Cupcake
tunity to let loose and have fun revisiting and the RM 07-03 Marshmallow have
childhood. Nonetheless, it was an ambitious, been made with one of the most complex
daring project entailing 18 months of devel- decorative techniques in watchmaking: the
opment, and entirely faithful to the spirit of grand feu enamel. This technique involves
Richard Mille, a serious brand that’s not afraid creating shallow depressions that outline the
to break with tradition.” desired motif for each model in plates of rose
or white gold, which are then filled in with
A Sugary Inspiration powdered enamel.
The Bonbon collection’s 10 releases are Beyond mere decoration, however, the
divided into either the Sweets line (four Richard Mille team has used the technique
models) or the Fruits line (six models). Some to enable the creation of green, yellow and
of the timepieces feature miniature fruits and pink shades that evoke the sense of playful-
candies across the dial, while the crowns and ness that is at the heart of the Bonbon col-
case bands on others have been crafted in lection. The firing and glazing skills used to

the shape of cupcakes and bowls of gelato. produce the artisanal confectionery are also

For Guenat, the outrageous idea of cre- different from traditional methods. On these
ating a watch collection around the theme elegant canvases, the motifs of the Sweets
of confectionery was not a totally surpris- line stand out and enhance the variations in
ing one. She explains: “It was quite a natural texture. These creations are certainly objects
step, you see. The crown of the RM 07-01 is of desire to be savored slowly and intensely.
reminiscent of a bonbon, and so is the texture Much like a kid enjoying a lollipop, it is a child-
of the ceramic. For its part, the case of the hood dream come true.
RM 016 made me think of a licorice roll-up.
It was also an opportunity to revisit existing An Explosion of Color
collections from a new perspective and give The extravagant use of color is not new to the
them a bit of a twist, make them fun.” Richard Mille family, and is indeed one of the

brand’s signature design flourishes. Beyond
Fruits the use of titanium, gold and Carbon TPT®,
From gumdrops and swirling gelato to marsh- Richard Mille has continuously introduced a
mallows and barley sugars, the Fruits line’s six wide and vibrant palette of shades to express
models are each adorned with eight, 12, or an adventurous vision that is ever-evolving.
16 miniature depictions. Every model comes The Bonbon collection boasts its own

with a different piece of decorative confec- burst of vibrant colors, including cherry red,
tionery that is unique to that timepiece. kiwi green, the lavender TZP ceramic of the
All the miniatures are machined from Marshmallow and an unprecedented tur-
sheets of solid titanium, and can be a mere quoise shade.
two milimeters in thickness. They are entirely Guenat explains that the combination of
painted by hand to give the look and feel of a Quartz TPT® and Carbon TPT® in the Fruits line
sugar coating and feature hues that embody “makes it possible to create nuance in some
mouth-watering flavors. Whether it’s the pretty flashy colors.” For instance, alternating

Litchi (Lychee) and the Myrtille (Blueberry) black and bright hues produces cases that
RM 07-03, the Citron (Lemon) and the Fraise sport the look of Neapolitan ice cream. The
(Strawberry) RM 16-01, or the Cerise (Cherry) technology used to create these effects is
and the Kiwi RM 37-01, these timepieces are not unlike the science behind baking, where
vibrantly colored and irresistibly delightful. a delicate balance of ingredients, proportion
Simply put, each miniature is a work of artis- and cooking time is key to success.
tic craftsmanship in its own right. All the Fruits Aurèle Vuilleumier, Research and Design

PROMOTION

















































































THE BONBON
Manager at Richard Mille, says a new color sophisticated level of technicality as well as
takes a year of development to perfect before exquisite artistic craftsmanship. For instance, COLLECTION
it can be used. “Every new color is the out- it takes about 45 minutes for an experienced
come of innumerable tests. We use prepreg craftsman to paint just one of the candies by
The Fruits line consists of
quartz filaments to observe interactions hand. In all, 3,000 hours of work were required
the following 6 models:
between the constituents and the resin. We to apply the acrylic paint and complete qual-
RM 07-03 Litchi
evaluate the visual appearance after firing,” he ity control on 3,000 components.

RM 07-03 Myrtille
explains. “Each pigment, all of which are natu- With this new collection, Richard Mille
RM 16-01 Citron
ral, has a unique set of chemical reactions.” has proven yet again that his unorthodox
RM 16-01 Fraise
It is the exacting and rigorous process that methods and his ability to surprise with each
RM 37-01 Cerise
has enabled the launch of a new color, Quartz new release continue to fuel demand for his
RM 37-01 Kiwi
TPT® Turquoise, which was created especially timepieces. This time around, Guenat and her
for the RM 07-03 Myrtille. team has done so by successfully refreshing The Sweets line consists of
previous generations of Richard Mille watches the following 4 models:
Pushing the Boundaries of with her whimsical take on classic pieces. In RM 07-03 Marshmallow
Creativity the process, she may also succeed in bringing RM 07-03 Cupcake

Underlying the playful designs of Rich- out the child in even the most serious watch RM 16-01 Réglisse
ard Mille’s Bonbon collection is a highly collector. RM 37-01 Sucette

Japan’s 50 Richest





R akuten CEO Hiroshi Mikitani doesn’t shy away from





risks. His $5.5 billion bet is his biggest one to date: a
startup using a new technology to disrupt the nation’s
entrenched, three-way mobile phone oligopoly. Rakuten
wants to build a new telecom network in Japan in as little
as half the time and at a cost of up to 40% less than what
it would take to build a conventional system.
The new service, Rakuten Mobile, aims to attract about 10 mil-
lion customers over nine years—and 15 million over a longer
period—by providing what it claims will be a cheaper, faster and
more reliable network. That $5.5 billion capital outlay is roughly
the equivalent of what Japan’s two largest incumbent players, NTT
Docomo and KDDI, each spend in a single year. “Exactly. That is
the point,” says Mikitani, 54, who ranks No. 5 on this year’s list,
with a net worth of $6 billion.
Mikitani plans to leverage the 100 million customers in Japan
already using Rakuten’s e-commerce, credit cards, internet bank-
ing, online trading and content to also sign up for the mobile
service, which will start initially in October in major Japanese
cities and then expand nationwide. “Using our ecosystem, we can
acquire customers at a relatively lower cost,” Mikitani says. “Our
operation is much leaner than our competitors, and we can enrich
the service using the existing Rakuten ecosystem. And I don’t
think people really care whether it’s NTT, SoftBank or Rakuten
that much. It’s primarily about connectivity, speed, price and what
kind of extra services we can provide.”
While Rakuten’s initial public announcement to build the
network dates to December 2017, the first trial run of the service
wasn’t conducted until February, with Mikitani on hand to test it.
While Rakuten rolls out the service, KDDI will provide coverage
in areas where it’s not yet present, and the company already has a
virtual mobile service with lines leased from incumbent carriers
NTT Docomo and KDDI.
CLOUD KIM KYUNG HOON/REUTERS/NEWSCOM




















HIROSHI MIKITANI AIMS TO DISRUPT

JAPAN’S TELECOM INDUSTRY

WITH RAKUTEN MOBILE.



B Y J A M E S S I M M S





40 | FORBES ASIA APRIL 2019

Mikitani in front of
a server room for
Rakuten Mobile.




















































































CONTROL
























APRIL 2019 FORBES ASIA | 41

Japan’s 50 Richest







“WE DARED TO MAKE

THE IMPOSSIBLE,

POSSIBLE.”





One major technology behind the network is called a
virtualized radio access network (vRAN), which simplifies
base stations that connect handsets to the network. Using
this and other know-how, Rakuten Chief Technology Officer
Tareq Amin says its cloud-based network can slash operating
and maintenance costs by at least 30%. Rakuten is building its
4G service to easily convert to 5G, a change that he says can
be done as a software upgrade, rather than through expensive
new hardware outlays. 5G, which Rakuten plans to start in
2020, promises real-time connectivity, including for AI servic-
es and autonomous driving, and download speeds a hundred
times faster than today through greater capacity—something
especially crucial in Japan’s congested urban networks.
Mikitani isn’t the first tycoon to shake up Japan’s telecom-
munications industry. Billionaire Masayoshi Son made a
similar bet. Rather than starting from scratch, as Mikitani is
doing, Son entered by acquiring an existing carrier, Vodafone’s
Japan operations, for nearly 1.8 trillion yen ($15 billion) in
2006, which is now known as SoftBank Corp. Son thus set a
precedent that a driven newcomer could become an estab-
lished company in the sector, expanding its share to about
26% from 16% over six years.
While Rakuten is optimistic about being able to make its
service work in time for its commercial launch in October,
some investors remain skeptical—the company’s share price
today hovers near where it was in December 2017 when it February. CLSA forecasts Rakuten’s net profit will drop 59%
first said it would go into telecom. “We feel it is too early to 58.9 billion yen in 2019 and fall another 38% to 36.4 billion
to be investing into a mobile network operator success, so yen next year because of mobile capital outlays and separate
we maintain our cautious view,” Oliver Matthew and Shinji costs for improving its e-commerce logistics. The brokerage
Yoshida, Tokyo-based analysts at CLSA, wrote in a report in expects Rakuten’s mobile service to incur losses through at
least the next three years.
To be sure, no telecom company has attempted what
Rakuten Mobile’s Rakuten is planning, to build from scratch the world’s first
network base station
end-to-end cloud-based vRAN network. Rakuten acknowl-
edged the challenge in a presentation in February: “They
said it would be impossible…we dared to make the impos-
sible, possible.” In February, Rakuten said it wanted to take
a “strategic investment” in one of its main partners to build
the network, U.S. telecom software firm Altiostar Networks,
for an undisclosed sum (the deal still needs U.S. regulatory
approval to close).
Some worry if Rakuten can roll out its network on sched-
ule. “It’s very difficult to know whether things will go entirely KOICHIRO MATSUI FOR FORBES ASIA
to plan in terms of timing,” says a top ten Rakuten sharehold-
er who asked not to be named. “You know these things are
often more complicated than when they first appear.”




42 | FORBES ASIA APRIL 2019

Yet others believe Rakuten’s mobile service will give it an
edge over e-commerce rivals in Japan, especially Amazon. Rising Tones
Last year, Amazon took a 26% share of Japan’s total e- SMARTPHONE USERS ARE
A GROWING MARKET IN JAPAN.
commerce revenue of $87 billion, outpacing Rakuten’s share
of 17%, according to London-based market research firm
Euromonitor. 2021 75.3 million
Apart from competing with Amazon, Rakuten will have to
contend with Japan’s entrenched and well-funded incumbent 2020 74.1 million
carriers. NTT Docomo accounts for a lion’s share at 38% of
the subscriber market of 178 million, KDDI has 28%, while 2019 72.5 million
SoftBank has 23%, with the rest being circuits leased from the
three carriers used for discount mobile services, including 2018 70.8 million
those operated by the incumbents. The big three’s domi-
nance—they hold a combined 89% market share—has been 2017 68.7 million
scrutinized by regulators, who are pushing them to slash rates
and allow customers to easily switch providers. This regula-
tory stance bodes well for Rakuten Mobile. (2018-2021 FIGURES ARE ESTIMATES)
“The magic ingredient is Rakuten,” says Q Motiwala, a Source: eMarketer
managing director at Tokyo- and Silicon Valley-based ven-
ture capital firm DNX Ventures and former Qualcomm wire-
less and chip engineer. “It’s like a perfect storm—they are able mindset to these different components and demonstrate a
to marshal the global trends in cloud and virtualization, with new 5G network architecture to the world.” The next step is
a Japan flavor, and bring their cloud- and services-oriented to get Japanese consumers to dial into the service as well. F







FROM PROBLEM TEENAGER him to think hard about the Buddhist term mujo
TO BILLIONAIRE or the “transiency” of life, according to Mikitani’s
2009 book Principles for Success.
The next year, Mikitani left IBJ, not knowing
Mikitani’s early resume doesn’t scream “disrup- exactly what he would do next. In 1997, he start-
tor.” In fact, it suggests someone averse to taking ed Rakuten with one other partner, Shinnosuke
risks and shows an elite career trajectory: Hitot- Honjo, who is no longer at the company, and in-
subashi University, the blue-chip Industrial Bank vested over a half a million dollars in profit from
of Japan (now part of Mizuho Financial Group) a post-IBJ consulting business. A cross between
and Harvard Business School. Amazon and e-Bay, annual revenues of the online
That was true in the late 1980s and until market climbed to nearly $30 million in revenue
the mid 1990s, but it also hid his penchant for when Rakuten listed in 2000.
thumbing his nose at convention—something Mikitani was on the forefront of Japan’s in-
that might be traced back to his formative years. ternet revolution along with the likes of Soft-
As a teenager, he skipped school, smoked cig- Bank’s Masayoshi Son. And he’s been pushing the
arettes, played pachinko and bet on the horses boundaries of Japan Inc.’s hidebound corporate
but finally turned himself around in his final years culture—such as making English Rakuten’s official
of high school, according to Problem Child: How company language in 2010 and making an unso-
Hiroshi Mikitani Was Raised, a 2018 book written licited bid in 2005 (a no-no in Japan even today)
by Kenichi Yamakawa based on interviews with Mikitani in 2006 for major TV network Tokyo Broadcasting System.
Mikitani, his father Ryoichi and others. Yet, the After the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear di-
DNA for his later success can also be traced to saster, Mikitani broke ranks with the nation’s cor-
his upbringing: Ryoichi was a well-known Kobe porate bluebloods. Three months later, he quit
University of Commerce economist. the influential business lobbying organization, Keidanren, over its con-
At the buttoned-down IBJ, he became the first person in his co- tinued support of nuclear energy. The following year, Mikitani started
hort to earn a company scholarship in 1991 for an MBA. (Big Japanese the Japan Association of the New Economy or JANE. His new organiza-
firms then—and to a certain extent even today—prefer to hire hundreds tion, made up mainly of internet and IT firms, has been promoting ag-
to thousands of fresh graduates each April over job hoppers.) However, gressive reform policies such as easing rules for immigrants in Japan;
the 1995 earthquake, which wrecked his hometown of Kobe and killed allowing ride-sharing (Rakuten has a stake in Lyft); as well as reducing
over 6,000 people, including an aunt, an uncle and friends, prompted corporate, personal and inheritance tax levels.
ALAMY






APRIL 2019 FORBES ASIA | 43

Japan’s 50 Richest





EDITED BY KERRY A. DOLAN










A Mixed Bag







Fortunes fell for most of Japan’s richest, but a few bucked the trend.




sensors firm, Keyence, has witnessed steady
growth in China, where its sensors are used
to monitor the performance of machines and
robots in factories.
Nobutada Saji and family registered the
biggest drop in net worth, falling $7.2 billion
to an estimated $10.8 billion. Part of the
decline resulted in new information clarify-
ing that some of the Suntory stake previously
attributed to the Saji family is owned by chari-
table entities and thus excluded from their net
worth. The Saji fortune was further weighed
down by weakness in global beer sales.
Four newcomers join the list. Takahisa
Takahara debuts with a $5.2 billion fortune
after he and his two siblings inherited the
Masayoshi Son family stake in diaper firm Unicharm; his
father Keiichiro, who founded the company,
died at age 87 in October 2018. Takahisa has
t was a mixed year for Japan’s superrich. Despite a 5% been running Unicharm as CEO since 2001. Other newcom-
uptick in the Nikkei index, 31 of the 50 list members ers include Shintaro Yamada, whose online auction firm
have smaller fortunes than a year ago. Altogether the Mercari went public in June 2018; Masaaki Arai, founder of
Icountry’s 50 wealthiest are worth $178 billion, down Tokyo-listed real estate firm Open House; and Toshio Mo-
from $186 billion a year ago. toya, founder of budget hotel chain APA Group.
Last year’s No. 1, Masayoshi Son, fell to second place Notable drop-offs include Yoshiko Shinohara, Japan’s first
despite gains in SoftBank stock that lifted his fortune by self-made female billionaire. Shares of Persol Holdings, the
$2.1 billion to $24 billion. Son was outpaced by Tadashi temporary staffing company she founded, lost more than
Yanai, founder of Fast Retailing, parent of clothing chain a third of their value in the past year. A 50% plunge in the
Uniqlo, who moved back into the top spot for the first time shares of robot maker Cyberdyne knocked founder Yoshiyuki
since 2016. Yanai was the biggest gainer in dollar terms, add- Sankai from the ranks.
ing $5.6 billion to his wealth since last year to $24.9 billion.
Son has made headlines for the big bets that his $100 bil- Reporting by James Simms with Angel Au-Yeung and
lion SoftBank Vision Fund has been making. The Vision Fund Chloe Sorvino.
has raised $45 billion from Saudi Arabia‘s Public Investment
Fund, plus smaller amounts reportedly from Abu Dhabi’s METHODOLOGY
Mubadala fund, Apple, Qualcomm and Oracle’s billionaire The list was compiled using information from the individuals, stock exchanges,
analysts, company filings and other sources. Net worths were based on stock
cofounder Larry Ellison, among others.
prices and exchange rates as of the close of markets on March 22, 2019. Private KIYOSHI OTA/BLOOMBERG
Another gainer this year was Takemitsu Takizaki, whose companies were valued by using financial ratios and other comparisons with
fortune rose $1 billion to $18.6 billion, making him the third similar publicly traded companies. Fortunes often include assets owned by
other family members.
richest on the list, up from No. 4 last year. His Tokyo-listed




44 | FORBES ASIA APRIL 2019

THE LIST



1.
TADASHI YANAI
$24.9 BILLION S
FAST RETAILING
AGE: 70


2.
MASAYOSHI SON
$24 BILLION S
SOFTBANK
AGE: 61


3.
TAKEMITSU
TAKIZAKI
$18.6 BILLION S
KEYENCE
AGE: 73



4.
NOBUTADA SAJI
$10.8 BILLION T
SUNTORY HOLDINGS
AGE: 73


5.
HIROSHI MIKITANI
$6 BILLION S
TADASHI YANAI: THE ART OF RETAIL RAKUTEN
AGE: 54
Tadashi Yanai, 70, created and runs Tokyo-listed global apparel giant Fast Retailing, parent of
the Uniqlo chain. He and his family own a 44% stake in the company, giving them a net worth of 6.
$24.9 billion, up 29% from last year and pushing Yanai past Softbank’s Masayoshi Son to top this YASUMITSU
year’s list of Japan’s 50 richest people. SHIGETA
For decades, companies such as Inditex’s Zara, H&M and Gap have dominated the fast fashion $5.4 BILLION S
industry. However, Yanai’s aggressive expansion enabled Fast Retailing to surpass Gap’s annual HIKARI TSUSHIN
sales in 2016, making it the world’s third-largest clothing retailer, behind No. 1 Inditex of Spain AGE: 54
and H&M from Sweden. In the fiscal year through August 2018, Fast Retailing had revenues of
2.13 trillion yen ($19.4 billion). The company’s stated goal is to become the world’s largest apparel 7.
retailer (by sales). TAKAHISA
To meet that goal, Yanai is making widespread investments, especially in celebrity sponsorship TAKAHARA
deals to raise the company’s profile. He has also engaged athletes as brand ambassadors, including $5.2 BILLION Ì
Japanese tennis star Kei Nishikori, Australian golfer Adam Scott and British wheelchair tennis player UNICHARM
Gordon Reid. The company also asks athletes to give advice on product development. AGE: 57
Fast Retailing is collaborating as well with art museums. It is an official sponsor of New York’s
Museum of Modern Art, the Tate Modern in London and Barcelona’s Museum of Contemporary Art.
The company’s relationships with museums are strategic, allowing it to network with famous artists. 8.
AKIRA MORI
One strategy driving Fast Retailing’s growth has been Yanai’s ability to work with innovators $4.7 BILLION T
in the retail field. Two decades ago, Yanai hired American designer John Jay to run the company’s
IRWIN WONG/FORBES JAPAN year. In October 2014, Jay became the company’s global creative director. Yanai also convinced ÌNEW TO LIST 3RETURNEE
MORI TRUST
fleecewear campaign. It was a huge success, with the company selling 26 million pieces the following
AGE: 82
Kashiwa Satoh, a renowned Japanese graphic designer, to join the company. Satoh changed the
company’s logo in 2006 and played an active part as creative director of its flagship store in New York.
SUP TDOWN WXFLAT
—This article was adapted from Forbes Japan, a licensee edition of Forbes Media.




APRIL 2019 FORBES ASIA | 45

Japan’s 50 Richest






THE LIST
YUSAKU MAEZAWA

9. Fickle Fashion
SHIGENOBU NAGAMORI
$4.5 BILLION T
NIDEC PUBLISHING THE MOST RETWEETED
AGE: 74 tweet of all time hasn’t paid off for Yusaku
Maezawa, the billionaire founder and CEO
10. of online fashion retailer Zozo. In January,
HIDEYUKI BUSUJIMA he clinched the distinction of 4.8 million
$4.45 BILLION T retweets when he offered on Twitter to dole
SANKYO out 100 million yen ($900,000) in prize
AGE: 66 money to some lucky winners to celebrate
record New Year’s sales of 10 billion yen on
11. Zozo. Zozo’s stock has tumbled 26% in the
KOBAYASHI past 12 months, which erased $700 million
BROTHERS
$3.9 BILLION T of Maezawa’s $2.7 billion net worth last year.
KOSE His rank dropped as well from No. 18 last
year to No. 22 this year.
Maezawa, who holds a 36% stake in Zozo,
12.
MASATOSHI ITO is a self-made billionaire who got his start sell-
$3.8 BILLION T ing CDs and LPs of his favorite bands by mail
SEVEN & I HOLDINGS from his kitchen table in Tokyo in the 1990s.
AGE: 94 In 1998, he launched Zozo (originally named
Start Today) and found a niche distribut-
13. ing fashion brands previously available only
MASAHIRO MIKI at upmarket department stores. Today, the
$3.79 BILLION T company’s Zozotown is one of Japan’s largest
ABC-MART online fashion retailers, with latest reported
AGE: 63
annual revenue of more than 98 billion yen. stretch fabric. Launched in 2017, customers
Twitter isn’t Maezawa’s only pastime: the could order one for free, put it on, and then
14.
AKIO NITORI 43-year-old made headlines last September connect the Zozosuit to an app that would
$3.4 BILLION T when he paid an undisclosed sum for all send body measurements of the customer
NITORI the seats aboard the first lunar flight of Elon to the site. With the data, the site could au-
AGE: 75 Musk’s SpaceX rocket, scheduled in 2023. tomatically select clothes for customers that
Maezawa is also an avid art collector, spend- “fit them perfectly,” according to a Zozo press

15. ing $110 million in 2017 to buy Jean-Michel release. The Zozosuits were a flop, however,
TAKAO YASUDA Basquiat’s 1982 painting “Untitled.” and Zozo said in October 2018 that it would
$2.7 BILLION S Some analysts say Maezawa’s fondness for discontinue them after sending out roughly
DON QUIJOTE communicating with the public has hurt con- 3 million units. In January, Zozo cut its net
AGE: 69
fidence among investors. “Credibility in the profit forecast by 12% for the full year to
company has steadily declined,” says Dairo March 31 to 17.8 billion yen, which would
16. Murata, executive director at JPMorgan in mark the first annual decline since Zozo went
MINORU &
YUJI OTSUKA Tokyo. In February, Maezawa tweeted that public in 2007.
$2.6 BILLION T that he would stop tweeting for a while so he A new discount program has also been
OTSUKA could focus on running his company. problematic, with some apparel makers
AGES: 96, 65 “He tends to have strong personal views,” threatening to leave the site because they
says Lisa Holden, a Zozo spokesperson. “But were unhappy with the price cuts. Despite
17. opinions of our investors are extremely impor- such challenges, JPMorgan believes Zozo can
CHANG-WOO HAN tant to us, and we will reflect these valuable capitalize on its strong market position to KIM KYUNG-HOON/REUTERS
$2.4 BILLION T opinions in our business moving forward.” bounce back. Zozo still accounts for almost
MARUHAN Zozo’s biggest misstep may have been the 22% of online fashion sales in Japan, accord-
AGE: 88
Zozosuit, a polka-dotted bodysuit made from ing to the brokerage. —Grace Chung




46 | FORBES ASIA APRIL 2019