The Forbes Asia April 2020 issue cover features Louise Emmanuelle Mabulo, one of the five Filipinos who made it to the list. Image: courtesy of Forbes Asia
MANILA, Philippines— Five Filipinos, including world class gymnast Carlos Edriel Yulo and skateboarder Margielyn Didal have been recognized for their brilliance and innovation in various fields and made it to this year’s Forbes “30 Under 30 Asia,” a list of “leaders ready and equipped to adapt to whatever the future may hold.”
“This year’s Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list-makers inspire optimism in what is promising to be a tough year ahead,” Forbes “30 Under 30 Asia” editor Rana Wehbe said.
“They are a resilient and energetic bunch who are facing challenges head-on and actively working for a future that matches their aspirations.”
“Young women under 21 especially stand out in our 2020 list: From Malaysia’s hijab-wearing wrestler to Bangladesh’s first female comedian and a social entrepreneur helping farmers in the Philippines improve their livelihoods – these fierce gamechangers are shattering gender, age and cultural stereotypes across industries,” Wehbe added.
Filipinos in sports
Carlos Yulo in the still rings of the men’s all-around Final of the 2019 SEA Games at the Rizal Coliseum. Image: INQUIRER/August Dela Cruz
Yulo and Didal were honored for their achievements in gymnastics and skateboarding, respectively, earning prestige not only for the Philippines but for the whole of Asia.
Yulo became the first male athlete in Southeast Asia to capture a gold medal at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.
His debut appearance at last year’s Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) meanwhile earned him two gold and five silver medals.
For all his achievements, the 20-year-old gymnast was bestowed the President’s Award by the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) last month.
Margielyn Didal. Image: AFP
Didal meanwhile gave the Philippines one of the four gold medals in the most recent Asian Games in 2018, bagging top honors in the women’s skateboarding event.
And in March, took bronze medal honors at the first-ever Women’s Open at the annual Tampa Pro competition in Florida.
The 20-year-old skateboarding ace was likewise recognized as Athlete of the Year in 2019 by the PSA.
Last month, Didal was again named Athlete of the Year by the Sportswriters Association of Cebu-San Miguel Brewery Cebu Sports Awards, which is considered the “Oscars of Cebu sports.”
The two athletes will be representing the Philippines at the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Finance and Venture Capital
At 26 years old, Francis Plaza is already the CEO of PayMongo, an online payments processing platform, which he co-founded.
In September 2019, just a few months after launching, the startup was able to raise $2.7 million (around P137 million) in seed funding from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, San Francisco-based VC firm Founders Fund and fintech unicorn Stripe.
Before starting PayMongo, Plaza was a software engineer at Oracle and cofounded the online marketplace Muber. Plaza graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and engineering.
Filipino social entrepreneurship
Through The Cacao Project, 21-year-old founder Louise Emmanuelle Mabulo has already helped more than 200 farmers plant around 80,000 trees, aiding reforestation efforts and helped revive two water sources from increased water retention in soil.
The Cacao Project is an initiative that provides farmers in the Philippines with cacao plant seedlings and teaches them how to responsibly and sustainably produce cacao. Other than cacao, the project provides farmers with crops such as bok choy, okra and pumpkins to intercrop with the cacao and maintain soil fertility.
For her efforts as a social entrepreneur, Mabulo was recognized as a Young Champion of the Earth 2019 by the United Nations Environment Programme.
Filipino in the arts
Through photography, filmmaking and digital art, 28-year-old Breech Asher Harani aims to raise awareness on various social issues, including diversity, migration, environment and culture.
He founded Alexandrite Pictures, an independent studio that produces multimedia works for advocacy, commercial and on a commission basis.
Harani has received multiple awards for his work, including the JCS International Young Creatives Award 2019 bestowed by the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
The 2020 list features a diverse set of 30 Under 30 honorees, with 22 countries and territories represented across the Asia-Pacific region.
Other than the five Filipino honorees, likewise on the list are: K-pop girl group Twice and actress So-dam Park—best known for her role in Oscar-winning film Parasite—from South Korea; the current world No. 1 female tennis player Ashleigh Barty and the founder of MyraSwim Bianca Anstiss from Australia; 14-year-old racing prodigy Juju Noda from Japan; Bain Wu, CEO of AI startup, INFIMIND, from China; Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Kyaw Soe Oo from Myanmar; Justin Lim, co-founder of Fish & Chicks from Singapore; Ajeesh Achuthan, co-founder of Open from India and sisters Isabel and Melati Wijsen, cofounders of Bye Bye Plastic Bags from Indonesia.
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