Standing out from more than 2,000 candidates from 23 countries and territories in the Asia-Pacific region, four young Vietnamese from four different fields have made the Forbes “30 Under 30 in Asia” list for 2019.

Forbes’ annually-issued list recognizes 300 entrepreneurs and game-changers from ten categories.

This year’s group of young stars are those credit with technological innovation, disrupting age-old industries, demonstrating immense talent, and dominating the world stage.

Among those 300 talented representatives are four Vietnamese: Ly Khanh Hau, Kevin Tung Hai Nguyen, Le Tan Thanh Thinh, and Ngo Hoang Gia Khanh.

Featured for the Finance and Venture Capital sector, Ly Khanh Hau, 28, is the most senior non-partner investor at the Ho Chi Minh City-based micro-fund 500 Startups Vietnam.

Ly Khanh Hau

As a prolific venture capitalist, she has helped the fund invest $3 million across 40 startups, which have since raised over $100 million in follow up rounds.

Hau currently heads the operations of Saola Accelerator, a partnership between 500 Startups Vietnam and South Korean retailer GS Shop.

Kevin Tung Hai Nguyen

Kevin Tung Hai Nguyen, who was honored in the Enterprise Technology category, is a cofounder of JobHop, a Vietnamese recruitment service firm that aims to simplify and streamline the recruiting process for human resource managers.

JobHop uses data and AI technology to sort through applicant profiles across Vietnamese sites in order to recommend top candidates. The company claims it reached 500,000 job seekers and 2,000 companies since its founding in 2016.

Le Tan Thanh Thinh

As the co-founder and CEO of BranBeats – a music marketing agency, Le Tan Thanh Thinh was listend in the Media, Marketing & Advertising category.

BrandBeats connects brand specialists with music producers in order to create emotional communication campaigns for clients such as Pepsi, Unilever, P&G, and Nestle. It was one of three Vietnamese startups invited to join the World Economic Forum 2018.

Ngo Hoang Gia Khanh

Ngo Hoang Gia Khanh, an executive board member and Director of Finance for Vietnamese e-commerce site Tiki was the last to make the list.

Khanh has worked with founder Tran Ngoc Thai Son to transform Tiki from focusing primarily on books to a multi-faceted e-commerce platform that is among the largest in the country. 

The online retailer raised over $44 million from JD.com and VNG in 2017 during a Series C funding drive and has just successfully secured the largest tech investment in Vietnam.

The 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30 in Asia also gives spotlights to individuals from countries that have never before made the list, including Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Laos. 

Well-known celebrities on the list include South Korea’s BlackPink and CL as well as 2019 Japanese tennis phenomenon Naomi Osaka.

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