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This article was first published 10 years ago

Meet Asia's 25 most enterprising entrepreneurs

Last updated on: May 10, 2013 06:31 IST

Image: Qiangdong Richard Liu.
Photographs: Courtesy, jd.com.

Asia is a growing hub for innovators and entrepreneurs. Fortune magazine rates 25 young and enterprising Gen Next leaders as the 'hottest people in business'.

Fortune says these executives are playing a vital role in transforming the business environment and creating an impact in Asia and globally.

Take a look at Fortune's hottest entrepreneurs in Asia...

Qiangdong Richard Liu
CEO and Founder, 360buy.com
China

Qiangdong Richard Liu loved computer programming since his college days and spent most of his time learning programming.

He developed several programs by himself and earned money, which helped him start his own business.

He founded 360buy Jingdong Mall in 2004. Today, it is among the biggest online retailers in China.

...

Meet Asia's 25 most enterprising entrepreneurs

Image: Naveen Jindal.
Photographs: Courtesy, PIB

Naveen Jindal
Chairman and MD, Jindal Steel & Power
India

A successful entrepreneur, Naveen Jindal transformed Jindal Steel & Power Limited (JSPL), into one of India's biggest steel companies.

JSPL is a part of the $18 billion O.P. Jindal Group, which is the fourth largest business entity in India.

Naveen Jindal is also a Member of the Parliament.

...

Meet Asia's 25 most enterprising entrepreneurs

Image: Jennifer Li.
Photographs: Courtesy, Baidu.

Jennifer Li
CFO, Baidu
China

Jennifer Li joined Baidu as the chief financial officer in March 2008.

Li is in charge of finance and accounting, human resources, marketing and communications, purchasing and corporate development.

Prior to this, Li served as controller of General Motors Acceptance Corporation (GMAC)'s North American Operations from 2005 to 2008.

...

Meet Asia's 25 most enterprising entrepreneurs

Image: Ratan Tata (R) and Cyrus Mistry attend the launch of a new website for tech superstore Croma, managed by Infiniti Retail, a part of the Tata Group, in Mumbai.
Photographs: Vivek Prakash/Reuters,

Cyrus P Mistry

Chairman, Tata group
India

Cyrus Pallonji Mistry took over as the chairman of the Tata group after Ratan Tata retired in December 2012.

He is the youngest son of Indian construction magnate Pallonji Mistry.

...

Meet Asia's 25 most enterprising entrepreneurs

Image: Inset: G S Sareen.

G S Sareen
President and CEO, Omni United
Singapore

Founded just nine years ago, OMNI registered a stellar performance with sales reaching over $180 million in 2011.

OMNI's vision for the next few years is to become a truly eco-friendly tyre company.

...

Tags: OMNI , CEO , Asia

Meet Asia's 25 most enterprising entrepreneurs

Image: Inset: Hae-Jin Lee.

Hae-Jin Lee
Chairman and chief strategy officer, NHN
Korea

Hae-jin Lee serves as Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer of NHN Corporation. Lee served as Chief Executive Officer of NHN Corporation (formerly Navercom).

...

Meet Asia's 25 most enterprising entrepreneurs

Image: Gree Chief Executive Officer Yoshikazu Tanaka poses at his company's lobby.
Photographs: Yuriko Nakao/Reuters,

Yoshikazu Tanaka
Founder and CEO, GREE
Japan

Yoshikazu Tanaka is a Japanese entrepreneur, who developed Social Networking Service GREE.

Tanaka started developing SNS GREE as a hobby when he was just 26 years old. In February 2004, Tanaka opened SNS GREE to the public.

In December 2004, Tanaka established a company, GREE, Inc to offer the service for more users.

He was ranked as 'Asia's Youngest Self-Made Billionaire' under the age of 35 in 2010.

...

Meet Asia's 25 most enterprising entrepreneurs

Image: Sung-Joo Kim.
Photographs: Courtesy, Richter Frank-Jurgen/Wikimedia Commons

Sung-Joo Kim

Chairperson, Sungjoo Group and MCM Holding
Korea

Sung-Joo Kim is the Chairwoman and CEO of Sungjoo Group and MCM Holdings AG.

The Wall Street Journal ranked her among the 'Top 50 Women to Watch' in 2004. She was ranked as one of the 'New Century Leaders' by CNN in 2003.

She takes interest in promoting women's leadership, supports humanitarian causes and fights against corruption.

...

Meet Asia's 25 most enterprising entrepreneurs

Image: Charles Chao.
Photographs: Courtesy, Sina.

Charles Chao
President and CEO, Sina
China

Charles Chao joined Sina in 1999 as vice president of finance.

A former journalist, he was instrumental in introducing micro blogging in China with Sina Weibo that has over 368 million registered accounts.

...


Meet Asia's 25 most enterprising entrepreneurs

Image: Sachin Bansal (Inset).

Sachin Bansal
Co-founder and CEO, Flipkart

Binny Bansal
Co-founder and COO, Flipkart

Flipkart was founded in 2007 by Sachin and Binny Bansal, both alumni of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

Flipkart started off with the online sales of books, later introduced electronic goods and a variety of other products.

...

Meet Asia's 25 most enterprising entrepreneurs

Image: Olivia Lum.
Photographs: Courtesy, Hyflux

Olivia Lum
Executive chairman and group CEO, Hyflux
Singapore

Olivia Lum started her career as a chemist with Glaxo Pharmaceutical and left in 1989 to start up Hydrochem (S) Pte Ltd.

Managing the Group for more than 20 years now, Lum is the driving force behind Hyflux's growth and business expansion.

...

Meet Asia's 25 most enterprising entrepreneurs

Image: Victor Koo.
Photographs: Courtesy, Youku.

Victor Koo
Chairman & CEO, Youku
China

Victor Koo is the founder of Youku. Koo has served as the chairman of the board of directors and chief executive officer since the inception in September 2005.

He has over 12 years of experience in Internet and media-related industries in China.

...

Meet Asia's 25 most enterprising entrepreneurs

Image: AirAsia chief executive officer Tony Fernandes.
Photographs: Daniel Munoz/Reuters

Tony Fernandes
CEO, AirAsia
Malaysia

Tony Fernandes is a Malaysian Indian entrepreneur.

Founder of the budget airline, AirAsia, Fernandes managed to turn AirAsia, a sinking commercial airline, into a highly successful public-listed company.

...

Meet Asia's 25 most enterprising entrepreneurs

Image: Inset: Steve Zhang.

Steve Zhang
President and CEO, AsiaInfo-Linkage
China

Steve Zhang is the President, CEO and a member of the Board at AsiaInfo-Linkage.

Steve joined AsiaInfo in December 1999 as VP of Software. He has held several prominent positions in the company. 

...


Meet Asia's 25 most enterprising entrepreneurs

Image: ASUS MeMO Pad, Jackie Hsu (Inset).

Jackie Hsu
General Manager, Asus
Taiwan

Jackie Hsu's responsibilities include the computer maker's motherboard business, which shipped a record 23.3 million units last year, says Fortune.

...

Meet Asia's 25 most enterprising entrepreneurs

Image: Judy Leissner.
Photographs: Courtesy, Grace Vineyard.

Judy Leissner
Chairwoman and CEO, Grace Vineyard
China

One of Asia's most successful businesswomen, Judy Leissner, at the age of 24, took over the wine venture founded by her father.

She is involved in wine-making, sales and marketing as well as finance and overall strategy.

...

Meet Asia's 25 most enterprising entrepreneurs

Image: Inset: James Hiroshi Nakagawa.

James Hiroshi Nakagawa

CEO, chief care architect, Mobile Healthcare
Japan

James Hiroshi Nakagawa founded Mobile Healthcare Inc. (MHC), a Tokyo-based company that offers unique real-time mobile solutions for preventing and managing lifestyle-related chronic diseases.

...

Meet Asia's 25 most enterprising entrepreneurs

Image: Udhayan Challu (L) and Vishal Dhar.
Photographs: Courtesy, iYogi.

Udhayan Challu
Co-founder, chairman, and CEO

Vishal Dhar
Co-founder and president, marketing, iYogi

Udhayan Challu and Vishal Dhar co-founded iYogi, a technical support firm based in Gurgaon, India.

It has customers in the United States, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, Canada, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia.

In 2010, Deloitte ranked iYogi as one of the three fastest growing Indian companies in the technology space.

Red Herring rated the company as one of the 100 most innovative global private companies in 2008.

...

Meet Asia's 25 most enterprising entrepreneurs

Image: Cher Wang.
Photographs: Courtesy, HTC

Cher Wang

Chairwoman, HTC
Taiwan

The co-founder and chairperson of HTC Corporation, Cher Wang has been hailed as the pride of Taiwan and is considered one of the most successful women in the technology space.

...

Meet Asia's 25 most enterprising entrepreneurs

Image: Garibaldi Thohir.
Photographs: Courtesy, Adaro Energy.

Garibaldi Thohir
President director, PT Adaro Energy
Indonesia

King of a coal mining business, Garibaldi Thohir has come a long way. He started out by taking a big risk, acquiring a minority interest in a small coal joint venture in South Sumatra.

Today he co-owns and runs a $2.9 billion coal and energy group with nearly 3.5 billion tonnes of coal reserves and resources.

...

Meet Asia's 25 most enterprising entrepreneurs

Image: Nisa Godrej.
Photographs: Courtesy, Godrej.

Nisa Godrej
President, human capital and innovation, Godrej Group
India

Nisa is the President, Human Capital and Innovation for Godrej Industries and associate companies.

She plays a key role in developing outstanding talent and making the work culture more agile and innovative.

Nisa instituted a design and innovation cell in 2010 and is working very closely with the Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL) team on the innovation strategy.

...

Meet Asia's 25 most enterprising entrepreneurs

Image: Jungju Kim (Inset).

Jungju Kim

Representative director, NXC
Korea

Kim Jung-Ju, the founder of online gaming company Nexon, is one of the richest persons in South Korea.

Kim assumed office as the Representative Board Member of NXC Corporation in June 2005 and director of Nexon in September 2010.

...

Meet Asia's 25 most enterprising entrepreneurs

Image: Inset: Junko Nakagawa.

Junko Nakagawa

Former CFO, Nomura Holdings
Japan

Junko Nakagawa served as Nomura Holdings's chief financial officer for two years.

Nakagawa is now a senior managing director and in charge of the internal audit group.

...

Meet Asia's 25 most enterprising entrepreneurs

Image: Rajiv Bajaj.
Photographs: Courtesy, Bajaj Auto.

Rajiv Bajaj

Rajiv Bajaj started working at Bajaj Auto in the manufacturing and supply chain segment from 1990-95.

He worked on the research and development, engineering for five years (1995-2000).

He supervised the marketing and sales from 2000-2005, and has been its managing director since April 2005. His vision is to make Bajaj one of the world's leading motorcycle manufacturers. 

...

Meet Asia's 25 most enterprising entrepreneurs

Image: Robin Tan Yeong Ching.

Robin Tan Yeong Ching

Chairman, CEO, Berjaya Corporation Berhad
Malaysia

Tan Yeong Ching Robin has been the chief executive officer of Berjaya Corporation since January 1, 2011. Tan serves as the CEO of Berjaya Assets Bhd.