New York: Tennis star Sania Mirza, Indian batting mainstay Virat Kohli and top-seeded badminton player Saina Nehwal lead the pack of over 50 Indians in Forbes’ inaugural list of top “promising young leaders and game changers” under the age of 30 in Asia.
The Forbes ’30 under 30 Asia’ list includes 300 “young and driven entrepreneurs and game-changers” from countries including India, Indonesia, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Pakistan, Vietnam and Australia who are contributing to their industries in a significant way.
As many as 56 Indians feature in the list with 27-year old Kohli, Mirza and Nehwal and 26-year old actress Shraddha Kapoor leading the pack.
“At the top of India’s cricket culture is batting prince Kohli, who led India to clean sweep in their Twenty 20 series against Australia in January,” Forbes said of Kohli, who was named among India’s highest earning celebrities in 2015 at USD 11.3 million.
Forbes said from the moment 29-year old Mirza turned pro at age 16 in 2003, she has been the “most successful female Indian tennis player ever” and one of the highest paid and highest profile athletes in the country.
She is currently the world’s number one female doubles tennis player with partner Martina Hingis.
Describing 25-year old Nehwal as a “role model” and “Indian badminton queen”, Forbes said the number one ranked women’s singles player in the world is one of 24 top sportspersons from around the world standing for election for the International Olympic Committee’s Athletics Commission during the Rio Games this August.
With 10 categories in total, the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list highlights inspiring young leaders in various fields covering consumer technology, enterprise technology, arts, healthcare and science, media, social entrepreneurship, finance, industry and retail.
The entertainment and sports category also includes 27-year old Arunima Sinha, who is the first female and first Indian amputee to climb Mt Everest in 2013 and 28-year old Chaitanya Tamhane who is the writer and director of the critically acclaimed movie ‘Court’.
The retail and e-commerce category features 29-year old Raghav Verma, who co-founded Indian tea chain ‘Chaayos’ with IIT-Mumbai alumnus Nitin Saluja.
Forbes said Chaayos, which also sells chai in disposable kettles via an app, has received at least USD 5.3 million in venture capital and is expected to end 2014-15 with revenues of about USD 1.5 million.
The category also includes 29-year old Mehul Agrawal, cofounder of automotive e-commerce site ‘Cars24’ and online furniture store ‘FabFurnish’. Forbes said he is a “serial entrepreneur with a passion for putting technology to use”.
Kanika Tekriwal, 27, cofounded and heads ‘JetSetGo’, an India-based private jet concierge service that links passengers to planes through an online marketplace.
“She defied the odds first by breaking into a male-dominated profession as a woman and again by starting the company in 2013 after a bout with cancer,” Forbes said.
Ritesh Agarwal, 22, founder and CEO of “disruptive hospitality business and app” ‘OYO Rooms’ leads the consumer tech category. According to CB Insights research’s findings, his company is among those tipped to become the next start-up unicorns.
Ankit Bhati, 29, cofounder and Chief Technology Officer of mobile app for personal transportation ‘Olacabs’ is also on the list.
The arts category includes 29-year old Pooja Dhingra, owner and executive chef of ‘Le15 Patisserie’ who is dubbed as the “Macaron Queen and a celebrity in the culinary world”.
It also features 29-year old photographer Vicky Roy who rose from being a rag-picker to winning a fellowship to the prestigious MIT Media Lab.
The media and marketing category includes Advait Gupt, 29 and Akshat Gupt 25, cofounders of ‘Supari Studios’, which produces content on the internet through live action and animated films.
Also on the list is Sattvik Mishra, 28, CEO of ‘ScoopWhoop Media’, an online news service for India.
The finance and venture capital category includes 29-year old Manju Bhatia, joint Managing Director of ‘Vasuli Recovery’, a loan recovery company that employs only female agents and 29-year old Anshulika Dubey, cofounder and Chief Operating Officer of ‘Wishberry.in’, India’s first crowdfunding platform for creative projects.
The entreprise tech category features 28-year old Paras Chopra, founder and CEO of software company ‘Wingify’, 26-year old Dinesh Goel, founder and CEO of ‘AasaanJobs’, a jobs portal that specialises in entry level work.
In the social entrepreneurs category is featured 27-year old Faith Gonsalves who founded ‘Integrated Development Education Association’ out of “concern for issues of poverty, education and gender equality” and 25-year old Smriti Nagpal, the founder and CEO of ‘Atulyakala’, an organisation that commercialises products made by deaf designers such as bags, mugs and journals.
Chinmay Malaviya, the 25-year old cofounder and vice president of ‘Foodpanda’ features in the manufacturing and energy category. He helped start the regional online food delivery platform in 2012.
The healthcare and science category features 29-year old Arun Chandru, cofounder and managing director of ‘Pandorum Technologies’ that designs and makes human tissues for use in testing drugs and vaccines with limited animal trials and 29-year old Neha Sinha, cofounder and CEO of ‘Epoch Elder Care’, which manages a chain of assisted living facilities for dementia care in India.