Denise Emille Duque
November 28, 2022

How old should you be to build a successful business? Some may say you need a decade’s worth of experience plus a score of grey hair. These 10 young Pinoy entrepreneurs prove that business success can happen at an early age.

1. Josh “Jhelo” Mojica

Josh Mojica is the youngest entrepreneur on the list. He started his Kangkong Chips when he was 17 years old, when he dreamed of buying a high-end laptop because his family can’t afford it. From starting with P3,000.00 capital, he now has employees and sells 1,500 - 2,000 bags of Kangkong Chips monthly through Shopee and Facebook.  

    2. Georgianna Carlos

Georgianna Carlos is an animal lover that made her name in the pet care industry. She is the co-founder and CEO of Fetch! Naturals, a premium line of 100% natural pet care products.

In the Fetch! Naturals website, they stated that finding a product that could cure the hot spots of their pet dog Khal Drogo. They tried different products such as antibiotics, medicated shampoos, and natural products, but they all failed to cure Khal Drogo. But they were eager and found that using 100% neem extract did the job. Soon after, Georgianna Carlos and her associates founded Fetch! Naturals. By 2016, they distribute her line of pet care products in both the Philippines and the USA.

She also runs MyOffice Philippines and Permitly. The former is the first Filipino-owned and operated virtual office in the Philippines; Permitly is an online solution that helps entrepreneurs register their businesses.

     3. Carl Ocab

Carl Ocab has been using the computer since he was 4 years old. By age 12, he tinkered with the internet and created information websites and forums. He started his personal blog, Carlocab.com, at age 13. It quickly became one of the highest-ranking websites on Google by using the keyword “make money online.”

Fast forward to today, his former personal blog is now one of the most highly sought digital marketing agencies in the country.

     4. Stephanie Sy

Stephanie Sy was a start-up veteran and a former Google employee before returning to the Philippines in 2015 and founded her data science company, Thinking Machines. It was her goal to make the country a global hub for data science.

Since its founding, Thinking Machines grew to be trusted by renowned brands such as Globe, Philippine Airlines, EastWest Bank, ADB, Google Drive, UNDP, The World Bank, and more. Through this pursuit, she has made her goal to make the county a global hub for data science come true.

     5. Leandro Leviste

Electricity bills in the country are among the highest in Asia. Because of that, Leandro Leviste saw an opportunity and founded Solar Philippines when he was still a sophomore at Yale University. Today, his company is South East Asia’s largest and only integrated investor, manufacturer, developer, and procurement and construction (EPC) solar company that sees millions of Filipino households reap the benefit of solar power.

6. Miko Aspiras

Miko Aspiras’ Tasteless Group, a company that owns several restaurants and dessert shops, prides itself on exploring the bounds of food innovation, design, and creativity. Their restaurants include:

• Hanamaruken Ramen
• Scout’s Honor
• PizzaExpress
• Poison Coffee & Donuts
• Champion Hotpot
• The Grid
• Your Local
• Tsuke-men

7. Aya Fernandez

Aya Fernandez is not just a beauty queen, but also a successful entrepreneur! Aya created Project Lily PH, a “Livelihood project-turned-social enterprise” that makes eco-friendly charcoal called “Eco-Uling.” This environment-friendly charcoal comes from water lily and coconut waste. Her business aims to end poverty, save the environment, and empower people by hiring PWDs.

Her Eco-uling helps the environment by squaring up to the quality and sustainability of traditional charcoal, firewood, and LPG.

8. & 9. Earl Patrick Forlales and Zahra Halabisaz Zanjani

This dynamic duo tackles the housing crisis in the Philippines with their business, Cubo. Inspired by bamboo huts Earl’s grandparents built, the company designs and builds bamboo houses in just 4 hours.

The company earned awards for its innovative building technologies, and rapidly renewable engineered bamboo to build smart and sustainable Filipino homes. Forlales and Zaniani’s company is recognized by:

• Forbes
• Fortune
• BBC
• ANC
• Inquirer
• World Economic Forum
• Cosmopolitan
• Etc.

     10. Aisa Mijeno

Aisa Mijeno is an entrepreneur and a scientist that co-founded SALt, a social movement that provides saltwater-powered lamps. Because of her efforts, many rural communities in the country switched from using kerosene lamps to eco-friendly SALt lamps.

In 2014, she was invited as an APEC CEO Summit panel member with former US president Barrack Obama and Alibaba CEO, Jack Ma.

Aisa Mijeno is currently the director of De La Salle Innovation Labs and looks forward to distributing more SALt lanterns across the country and the whole of South East Asia.

      11. Jairus Ferrer

Jairus Ferrer brings innovation in agriculture through technology with his company iFarms and the B2B platform, UMA. Through his innovation, farmers have the freedom to “publish their products, input their own prices, and control their delivery schedule."

These 11 amazing Filipinos prove youngsters can be successful entrepreneurs. If you are someone young with an amazing business idea in mind, don’t be afraid to try it out and who knows, you may end up on our list of successful Filipino entrepreneurs.