Page 28 - Forbes - Asia (April 2019)

Social Entrepreneurs • A S I Richard Yim, 25

COFOUNDER, DEMINE ROBOTICS CAMBODIA
A
Zain Ashraf, 28 Pakistan
Founder, Seed Out • Richard Yim is determined to create a future in which Cam-
Byambajargal Ayushjav, 28 Mongolia bodian children can walk and play without fear of tripping
Founder, Faro Foundation Mongolia NGO • 2 0 1 9 • over landmines left over from the country’s civil war. In 2016,
Shabana Basij-Rasikh, 28 Afghanistan he founded Demine Robotics to develop a landmine-clearing
Cofounder, SOLA Afghanistan robot. Yim was born in Cambodia in 1993, the year Cambodia
Arnold Chan, 29 Hong Kong hosted its first election to end a three-decade civil war that left
Founder, Teach For Hong Kong
more than 6 million landmines believed to be still buried across
Chia Wen Shin, 27 Malaysia the country—one of which killed his aunt in 2000 while she
Founder, Green Yards
was working on her farm. Yim and his family moved to Canada
Ken Chua T, 27 Singapore
Founder, (these)abilities in 2006 when he was 13 years old.
Christina Chun, 27 Australia Lim started Demine while studying mechanical engineer-
Founder, 1Scope ing at Canada’s University of Waterloo. One of the biggest chal-
Naman Ahluwalia, 26; lenges in clearing landmines is the lack of affordable solutions
Sajan Abrol, 27 India for digging up the explosive devices without jeopardizing any-
Cofounders, Clothes Box Foundation one nearby. To this end, Demine developed Jevit (“life” in Cam-
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bodian), the world’s first remote-controlled robot that can lift a
Earl Forlales, 23; Zahra Halabisaz
Zanjani, 23 Philippines landmine out of the ground without detonating it.
Cofounders, CUBO Modular With funding from both the Canadian and Cambodian
Deane de Menezes, 25 India governments, Demine started producing Jevit in Cambodia
Founder, Red is the new Green last year. While the company focuses on Cambodia’s own
Aniket Doegar, 29 India mine challenge, Yim hopes to eventually deploy Jevit to other
Founder, Haqdarshak conflict areas, such as Afghanistan, Colombia and Iraq. “It has
Empowerment Solutions
always been my goal to make our robotics solutions more
Abhishek Dubey, 26 India
CEO, Muskaan Dreams accessible to conflict and landmine-infested countries,” says
Gideon Laux, 23; Ronit Kanwar, 21 India Yim. “I truly believe in building a business that will change the
Cofounders, Empower Energy world for the better.” —Caroline Chen
Denica Flesch, 28 Indonesia
Founder, SukkhaCitta
Freshta Karim, 26 Afghanistan
Founder, Charmaghz
Ryosuke Kobayashi, 27 Japan
Founder, HLAB
Noelle Martin, 24 Australia
Law reform campaigner
Yumeno Nito, 29 Japan
Founder, Colabo
Sorawit Paiboonrattanakorn,
29 Thailand
Founder, Saturday School Foundation
Won Nyoung Park, 27 South Korea
Cofounder, ANGELSWING
Abhishek Banerjee, 22; Ankan
Podder, 23; Ustav Bhattacharyya, 24;
Angnimitra Sengupta, 24 India
Cofounders, Qube
Ezekiel Raui, 21 New Zealand
Founder, TuKotahi
Elena Bensawan, 18;
Sabrina Bensawan, 20 Indonesia
Cofounders, Saab Shares
Quan Nguyen, 26; Yeon Jeong “Jenny”
Cho, 26; Yongmin Cho, 26 South Korea
Cofounders, SAY Global
Umang Shridhar, 26 India
Founder, KhaDigi
Monirath Siv, 29 Cambodia
Founder, Teach For Cambodia
Trina Das, 28; Kalyan Kuramana, 27 India
Cofounders, TAI
Kevin Tan, 29 Singapore
Founder, Tri-Sector Associates
Sayaka Watanabe, 27 Japan
Founder, NPO WELgee
Richard Yim, 25 Cambodia
Cofounder, Demine Robotics

JUDGES
Sally Begbie, Hong Kong
Director, Crossroads Foundation
Kishore Lulla, India ANTOINE RAAB FOR FORBES ASIA
Philanthropist and Chairman,
Eros International
Gary White, U.S.
Cofounder and CEO, Water.org

24 | FORBES ASIA APRIL 2019