The 30 under 30 Asian content creators and influencers of 2023, educating and entertaining the public

SImran Kaur And Sonya Gupthan call their journey an “unlearning process” as they overcome the uncertainty that they don’t have the right background, education or experience to make investments. The two Aucklanders, friends since they were five, started their podcast girls who invest based on talks at university about investing in stocks, funds and real estate.

Kaur and Gupthan are among them this year Forbes 30 under 30 Asia Prize winners in the Media, Marketing and Advertising category. who use their platform for both education and entertainment.

“We’re two young South Asian women talking about things you wouldn’t expect someone in the financial industry to talk about.”

According to the audio-streaming platform, the duo’s podcast was in the top 1% of the world’s most shared shows on Spotify late last year, two and a half years after the first episode. Kaur attributes his success to their sympathy as hosts. “We’re two young South Asian women talking about things you wouldn’t expect anyone in the financial industry to talk about…we’re talking about Birkin bags, we’re talking about it.” love island‘ says Kaur. “It gives[the audience]the impression, ‘If they can do it, so can I.’”

Kaur sees the podcast – which promotes content “without the financial brothers, without the technical jargon and without the condensed tones” – as an entry point into investing. She and Gupthan have added a six-week investment course three times a year that aims to create a roadmap to financial freedom. Kaur wrote a book (also ” girls who invest), which was released last August and is now #15 on Amazon’s best-selling stock market investing list.

Gupthan says their own investment barrier has been a fear of failure, and being honest about their difficulties has helped them reach their loyal audience. “When we explain things, we think, ‘How can we make it fun?’ How can we ensure that the language remains inclusive for our peer group? And that really worked,” she says.

Financial literacy is an issue that worries India Sharan Hegde also tackles on its platform. The former management consultant began uploading content related to personal finance during the pandemic. His Finance with Sharan social media account has attracted more than 3.5 million people on YouTube and Instagram. By combining comedy and costumes, Hegde aims to make personal financial information fun and easy to understand. Hegde also launched 1% Club last year, an online subscription that offers tutorials and tools to help people with financial planning; it has more than 10,000 users. Last year he was one of the first influencers in India to launch his own NFT.

Influencers on the rise

Several influencers on this year’s list that focus on entertaining content have seen rapid follower growth in just a few short years. An example is a South Korean influencer Wonjeong Seo. In just one year, Seo has amassed 30 million followers on TikTok. After uploading his first video in October 2020, Seo, who is known as @ox_zung, has now exceeded 50 million followers, making him the second most followed TikTok account in South Korea after K-pop sensation BTS. His rapid rise earned him a spot on the social media giant’s first global list of 50 Notable TikTokers. Seo also posts content on YouTube where he has 6 million followers. His content usually consists of parodies of viral videos and includes his catchphrase “mom”.

Meanwhile in Thailand, YouTuber Nutticha Namwong, better known as Kaykai Salaider, creates videos about fashion and everyday life. She was reportedly the first person in Thailand to reach 10 million YouTube subscribers. She currently has 16.3 million YouTube subscribers and 8.7 million followers on TikTok. Her popularity also earned her a starring role in the Thai film The Rocket Angelswhich was released last year.

Artificial intelligence

When it comes to digital marketing, entrepreneurs on this year’s 30 Under 30 Asia list are making sure they stay ahead of the competition by using artificial intelligence.

Singapore’s Joshua Wong And Lin Hui Low say their artificial intelligence-based content startup Hypotenuse AI takes a more targeted approach than ChatGPT. The service specifically supports brands in the creation of marketing materials such as blogs and product descriptions. According to the company, its HypoChat bot pulls real-time information from the internet and can also check facts to ensure accuracy. Since its launch in 2020, Hypotenuse AI has attracted investors like January Capital and Y Combinator.

in Bangladesh, Tasfia Tasbin And Rubaiyat Farhan Co-founder of Markopolo.ai. The startup provides digital marketing solutions for small and medium-sized businesses, allowing businesses to quickly create ad copy and seamlessly post it to social media. The company’s subscription-based app uses machine learning models that can recognize patterns to make predictions about an ad’s performance and peak publishing conditions. It also has a rich consumer dataset that helps businesses automate and optimize social media ads, create content, and reach open-minded audiences.

In India, Mobavenue is a marketing and advertising technology solutions provider that helps brands grow through its range of proprietary products, including an AI-based media buying platform and data-driven marketing intelligence. Founded by Tejas Rathod And Kunal Kothari In 2017, Mobavenue is a bootstrapping company that’s growing without the help of outside capital. The company serves 300 customers worldwide, has annual sales of more than $20 million and is profitable. Rathod is an angel in the Indian startup ecosystem with 50 investments in technology, AI and new media companies.

niche content

30 under 30 Asian entrepreneurs are also providing new platforms to meet the growing demand for niche content. With his startup STAGE Parveen Singhal wanted to create Netflix for Bharat, a streaming service aimed at Indian audiences across the country and its cultures, including films in dialects such as Harvanyi and Rajasthani. Since its inception two years ago, Noida-based STAGE has more than a million downloads on Google Play and co-founder Singhal claims to have gained more than 200,000 paying subscribers. Singhal originally co-founded the company with Shashank Vaishnav as Wittyfeed, a viral content platform like Buzzfeed, but then switched to video. Since then, a total of $9.7 million in funding has been raised.

in singapore, Kai Yuan Ng, Matthew ChewAnd Wengqi Cheah co-founded Our Grandfather Story (OGS) with Carine Tan. Originally a photojournalism project, OGS is now a digital publisher publishing timeless and overlooked stories from Singapore and Southeast Asia. The quartet also founded parent company UNFOLD Asia, a media group dedicated to entertaining and enlightening Southeast Asian audiences through creative storytelling. Its media brands – OGS, Something Private, Ribbit (formerly O+) and nOm – collectively reach over 10 million viewers each month. His UNFOLD studio produces original, factual, unscripted and animated programs for international networks and brands. Its UNFOLD Creators are a curated creative network that brings together content creators in the region.

Additional reporting by Danielle Keeton-Olsen

To learn more about these young creatives, influencers and media entrepreneurs, read our full list on media, marketing and advertising Here — and be sure to check out our full Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2023 coverage Here.