Young Entrepreneurs Of Asia

Asia has been the world's economic powerhouse in recent years, driven by strong growth in China and India. Both economies have had a tendency to central control, government intervention, and big business conglomerates, with financing difficult for small entrepreneurs to obtain.

Recently, though, a new group of start-ups have wowed the region. This new generation of young entrpreneurs is globally aware, extremely Internet savvy, and willing to work hard and take considerable financial risk in their teens and twenties.

The Internet, mobile software applications, and other digital technologies have allowed smaller, more mobile businesses to appear and snatch significant market share in record time. Many young business owners barely out of college are running serious enterprises they started with a relatively tiny amount of capital. Some were trying out business models and making serious consulting incomes before graduating from high school.

Divyank Turakhia, of Bombay-based Directi Group, was doing Internet consulting at age 14. At 25, together with his 27-year-old brother, he runs a profitable company with more than 250 employees and clients around the world.

Arif Ayub, 23, is the founder and CEO of Softflux, which started out as a one-man shop in Pakistan in 2000. Today the company has about 70 employees and development associates all over the world, including Silicon Valley.

Nguyen Minh Hieu, 25, wants nothing less than to create the best Internet company in Vietnam with DreamViet.

Victor Lang, 22, wants to change the face of politics. His company, Global Future Educational Consulting, provides educational materials on international conflict resolution and diplomacy, and creates simulated U.N. meeting where students role-play negotiations.

In Indonesia, Ario Pratomo in Jakarta runs his own logistics company that sells cargo space for a unit of Etihad Airways, while Hendy Setiono runs a chain of kebab sandwich shops.

Then there is Kentaro Iemoto, founder and CEO of Clara Online, which leases out Linux-based servers and other IT services to corporate clients in Japan.

David Lee started selling oranges on the streets of Hong Kong, and he now runs an IT service company, Team & Concepts, which provides online applications for event planners.

And Vishal Sampat started in his teens with streaming online radio, and now operates Convonix, an internet marketing services firm.

Keep your eye on this bunch over the next ten years - they are the future of the region's powerhouse economies.