Seven Pinoys make it to 2023 Forbes' '30 under 30 Asia' list
Forbes has released its annual “30 under 30 Asia” list, featuring young entrepreneurs and leaders in various fields from across the Asia-Pacific region.
According to the American Business magazine, over 4,000 candidates were evaluated based on social impact, funding and/or revenue, scale, and potential, among others.
The list was divided into ten categories, namely Entertainment and Sports; Media, Marketing, and Advertising; The Arts; Finance and Venture Capital; Retail and Commerce; Industry, Manufacturing, and Energy; Enterprise Technology; Healthcare and Science; Social Impact; and Consumer Technology.
This year's list includes seven notable honorees from the Philippines also made it to this year's batch, they are listed under finance & venture capital, retail and commerce, the arts, and industry, manufacturing, and energy.
Other notable honorees on the list include fourth-generation K-pop girl groups Le Sserafim and NewJeans, and Thai actor Metawin Opas-iamkajorn—who is known for his role in the hit Thai BL series 2gether.
Isabel Sicat
Driven by her passion in fashion, Isabel Sicat established Toqa—a sustainable high fashion brand highlighting the aesthetics of an island life which also promotes slow fashion as their pieces are made to order.
Their pieces are made from “deadstock fabrics” to create new life to common fashion pieces like sheer slip dresses, high-cut metallic swimwear, and vibrant island prints.
Toqa’s “Midnight Smoothie” collection was part of the 2022 Hawaii Triennial exhibition, which has landed on pages of premiere magazines such as Vogue Philippines and L'Officiel.
Aaron Villegas
Aaron Villegas is the CEO and co-founder of finance tracker app Lista, an app that allow its users to track their spendings and finances and set payment reminders. It was founded in 2021 and currently has over 1.6 million downloads.
According to Forbes’ write-up, the app garnered $5.8 million from investors like OpenSpace Ventures East Ventures, Saison Capital and 1982 Ventures.
David Marquez
David Marquez is a co-founder of Manila-based delivery platform, Shipmates. During the height of the pandemic in August 2020, Shipmates was created to cater to the rising demands of courier services amid high usage of e-commerce platforms.
The startup company was selected for Y Combinator's 2022 summer cohort, where it raised $2.2 million in a seed round.
Marquez also established a t-shirt printing startup Shirt.ly and supply chain and storage startup Xpanse.
Rui Aguilan, King Alandy Dy, Jeff Tan, Jig Young of Expedock
With his knowledge of their family business that concerns cross-border shipping, King Alandy Dy along with his partners Rui Aguilan, Jeff Tan, and Jig Young founded Expedock—an AI-powered automation service in the international freight industry.
According to their write-up, Expedock utilizes AI “to read paperwork and invoices, before categorizing and visualizing P&L insights for supply chain businesses.”
Some of the large corporations across the globe, like Michigan-headquartered logistics company Ascent, France's CEVA Logistics, and Jusda (a spinoff from Taiwan's Foxconn) use its services.