Malaysian Nadiah Wan is youngest to make Forbes 2021 Asia’s Power Businesswomen list

PETALING JAYA: TMC group CEO and executive director Nadiah Wan (pix) is the youngest to make Forbes 2021 Asia’s Power Businesswomen list.

The list which was announced today recognises 20 female business leaders in the Asia-Pacific region. It will be published in the November issue of Forbes Asia.

Nadiah took on the role of group CEO and executive director of TMC Life Sciences in 2019. She is also CEO of its flagship Thomson Hospital Kota Damansara, a position she has held since 2017.

The Malaysian introduced a Covid-19 task force at the hospital and launched a mobile app, providing remote end-to-end patient care.

“Businesswomen across the Asia Pacific region continue to break barriers and, in many cases, expand their businesses despite the lingering pandemic,” Rana Wehbe Watson, editor of the 2021 Asia’s Power Businesswomen list, said.

“Forbes Asia’s Power Businesswomen list this year recognizes 20 outstanding leaders who managed to adapt and thrive in industries including technology, healthcare, banking and manufacturing. They are leading the way as the world struggles with the post-Covid reality.”

All the businesswomen highlighted this year are newcomers to the list, further expanding Forbes Asia’s network of prominent businesswomen in the region. They have been selected for their achievements in managing either a business with sizable revenues or a start-up valued at over US$100 million.

Among the women on the list is Thailand’s Wallapa Traisorat, president and CEO of real estate company Asset World Corp. (AWC). In late 2019, AWC went public and raised nearly US$1.6 billion. Amid the pandemic, AWC has signed new hotel partnerships with InterContinental and Nobu Hospitality, adding to existing ties with Marriott and Hyatt.

Another notable listee is Converge ICT Solutions cofounder and president Maria Grace Y. Uy, who helped grow her company into one of the largest fixed broadband operators in the Philippines. Converge went public in late 2020 in one of the country’s largest-ever IPOs, raising US$522 million. Its shares have since risen over 70%, pushing the company’s market capitalisation to US$4.6 billion.

Helen Wong is the first woman to helm the 89-year-old Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. (OCBC), Singapore’s second-largest bank by market value. She started in banking at OCBC in 1984 and became its first China desk manager in Hong Kong a year later, before joining other banks.

In February 2020, Wong returned to OCBC as deputy president and head of global wholesale banking based in Singapore. She was appointed group CEO of OCBC this April.

In January last year, South Korea’s Lee In-kyung became a partner at MBK Partners, one of the largest homegrown buyout firms in Asia with US$24 billion in assets under management, headed by billionaire Michael Kim.

Lee is MBK’s first female partner in the firm’s 16-year history and has the additional responsibilities of being chief financial officer and head of limited partner relations at MBK.

Also featured on the list is serial entrepreneur Meena Ganesh, who cofounded Portea Medical, India’s largest home healthcare company by revenue. Prior to taking over as chairperson in August, Ganesh had been running the eight-year-old Bangalore-based company as managing director and CEO.

Keiko Erikawa, executive chairman of Koei Tecmo, cofounded the company with her husband Yoichi and built it into one of Japan’s largest video-game developers over four decades. The listed company now has a market capitalization of US$8.5 billion.

In June this year, Erikawa became an outside director–and the only woman on the board–of SoftBank Group. She also manages Koei Tecmo’s US$1.1 billion in assets across Japan, Hong Kong and the US.

Marina Budiman is cofounder and president commissioner of DCI Indonesia, the largest data centre operator in Indonesia with over 50% market share. It is also Southeast Asia’s first Tier IV data centre, the industry’s highest rating for reliability and resiliency.

At around US$7 billion, DCI is now one of Indonesia’s most valuable public companies.

For the complete Forbes Asia’s Power Businesswomen list, visit www.forbes.com/asiapowerbusinesswomen2021