Malaysia Boleh!
4 young Malaysians under 30 made our country proud recently after they were named in the Forbes’ 30 under 30 Asia List for 2024 for their noteworthy achievements in their respective fields.
These include national squash player Sivasangari Subramaniam, The Hive Southeast Asia’s principal Angel Low, animator Erica Eng and Eat and Cook co-owner Lee Zhe Xi.
Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Asia 2024 list
In case you’re not familiar, Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Asia list, issued annually by Forbes, an American business magazine, lists 30 notable people under 30 years old in 10 industries.
For the Asia list, Forbes showcases 300 young entrepreneurs, leaders and trailblazers, defining those leading industry transformations and pioneering innovative business approaches.
According to Forbes Asia, the candidates list was sourced by its reporters and editors, who comb through thousands of online submissions and tap industry sources and alumni for recommendations.
Furthermore, candidates are evaluated by the Forbes Asia team and a panel of independent, expert judges on various factors. These include funding and/or revenue, scale, inventiveness, and potential.
As the list’s name suggests, all final listers must be 29 or younger as of 31 December 2023. Malaysia had 3 entries on the list last year, 8 the year before, and 7 in 2021.
Here are the 4 Malaysians who made the list this year and their profiles:
1. Sivasangari Subramaniam
24-year-old Sivasangari Subramaniam is the new squash star setting the sports alight internationally, currently ranked 13th globally.
In 2022, she was in a car accident that left her with facial fractures and a C1 vertebrae injury and against all odds, Subramaniam won 2 gold medals at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou in 2023 just 7 months later.
In April 2024, she won the Professional Squash Association (PSA) GillenMarkets London Classic tournament in London by beating three of the top five players in the world. She claimed the win after an 81-minute final match.
2. Lee Zhe Xi
Fueled by childhood memories of cooking with his grandmother, 26-year-old Lee Zhe Xi always wanted to be a chef.
Unemployed during the pandemic, Lee teamed up with a university schoolmate to open Eat and Cook in 2021. Serving Malaysian cuisine omakase-style, Eat and Cook was originally a 6-seater space in a mall.
Within a year, it relocated to a 32-seater venue, was recognised as number 79 on the 2023 Asia’s 100 Best Restaurants list and clinched an American Express One To Watch Award.
In 2023 and 2024, it was named a Michelin Recommended restaurant. Lee is now also co-Chef/Owner of Bar.Kar KL.
3. Erica Eng
After her dreams of leaving her small town for the U.S. were dashed, 25-year-old Erica Eng turned her disappointment into an award-winning webcomic and, in February, made it into a graphic novel.
Hailing from Batu Pahat, Johor, the animator launched ‘Fried Rice’ in 2019. The tale centres on an aspiring young artist named Min and is based on Eng’s own experience of seeing her application to study in America rejected.
In 2020 it won an Eisner Award, the comic industry’s equivalent of an Oscar. Eng completed the adaptation of her webcomic in 2022, after earning an online bachelor’s degree in animation and visual effects from the Academy of Art University, San Francisco.
The book, which has 30 pages more content than the webcomic, was rejected by multiple publishers before she self-published 3,000 copies, now selling in some Malaysian bookstores and online.
She is now working on a new webcomic, called ‘Beloved’, about “growing up in the Christian faith and what it means to hold onto that faith as I grow older.”
4. Angel Low
26-year-old Angel Low serves as a principal at The Hive Southeast Asia, a USD50 million (RM234.3 million) fund created by Tuas Capital Partners, Sunway Group, and Palo Alto-based The Hive to invest in startups in Malaysia and the ASEAN region.
Low is also the general manager of AI Nusantara, an initiative by Selangor Digital School and one of The Hive Southeast Asia’s investments that helps students prepare for the digital future through AI and machine-learning education.
Previously, she was an investment analyst at Malaysia Venture Capital Management and a project analyst at Huisheng Consulting Group.
Awesome! So, what do you guys make of these young Malaysians’ amazing achievements in their respective fields? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!
Also read: Joe Biden Awards Michelle Yeoh the US Presidential Medal of Freedom for Being 1st Asian to Win Oscar
