Forbes Asia - May 2018

44 | FORBES ASIA MAY 2018

BY MARY E. SCOTT

W

hat do Joanne Kua, a 33-year-old scion of a wealthy

Malaysian family who is transforming her father’s

staid insurance and inance business, and Indone-

sian grandmother Nurhayati Subakat, 67, who has

pioneered halal beauty products, have in common

with Miki Ito, a Japanese scientist who plans to scrub the cosmos clean

of space junk, and Vietnam’s Dang Minh Phuong, who founded and runs

a logistics company? hey are on Forbes Asia’s irst Emergent 25 list of

women making their recent mark in regional enterprises.

hese listees relect the broader impact women are having in the Asian

business world, even as the number of women in senior business posi-

tions globally retreated over the past year, according to consultancy Grant

hornton. Its 2018 “Women in Business” report says APAC irms gained

gender diversity but notes that results across the region were patchy: a

strong uptick in India, with the number of women in senior roles rising

to 20% from 17%, but disappointment in Japan as the rate there remains

stuck around 5%.

his group of 25, chosen for the money they generate, the inluence

they wield and the ideas and trends they are advancing, bring fresh per-

spectives to Asia-Paciic’s growing business world.

RESEARCH AND ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY: CAROLINE CHEN, RON GLUCKMAN, JANE HO,

JOYCE HUANG, SUNSHINE LICHAUCO DE LEON, LAN ANH NGUYEN, JANE A. PETERSON,

ANURADHA RAGHUNATHAN, ELAINE RAMIREZ, JENNIFER SCHULTZ WELLS, JAMES SIMMS.

FORBES ASIA