Top 12 Asian Business Leaders to Follow on Twitter in 2014

While there are a great many lists of business leaders from Asia, it seems that not many Asian leaders have a presence on or are using Twitter. For example, you won’t find the heads of some of Asia’s biggest companies such as Toyota, Samsung or Lenovo, tweeting. Therefore, it is with painstaking attention that I’ve compiled this list of Asian business leaders who are not just on Twitter but also actively tweeting, building their following, providing thought-leadership content, and engaging with people.

Since less than a third of the world’s top CEOs are on Twitter, it was challenging to compile a list from an even shorter sub-set, namely top CEOs and business leaders from Asia who actively tweet and are worth following. Here was our criterion for inclusion in this list:

–       Must be Asian and also currently based in Asia.

–       Must be active on Twitter and engaged with followers

–       Tweet about business, leadership and life lessons

–       Tweets must be in English (or mostly English)

Here, then are my top picks for Asia’s top business leaders to follow on twitter in 2014:

1. Tony Fernandes, Malaysia

@tonyfernandes

Whether he’s tweeting about football or airports, Malaysian airline AirAsia’s GCEO Tony Fernandes, is a positive force to be reckoned with. His tweets reflect his big teddy bear-like personality and he’s warm and welcoming while engaging with his followers. He regularly tweets industry news and expresses his opinions on it.

2. Anand Mahindra, India

@anandmahindra

Not only is the Chairman and Managing Director of one of Asia’s most renowned auto companies, Mahindra, on Twitter but this Mumbai man loves to frequently engage with his over 1 million followers. He regularly tweets, curates, answers and retweets inspirational words, news from India’s auto industry, pics from his world travels and so much more.

3. Umar Saif, Pakistan

@umarsaif

Recognized by MIT as one of its Innovators Under 35, Dr. Umar Saif is the force behind Pakistan’s leading tech incubator, Plan 9, which provides technology and support to the country’s budding entrepreneurs. He is also the Chairman of the Punjab IT Board and a Professor at Lahore University of Management Sciences. His tweets reflect the problems of his country, his efforts at finding tech solutions to those problems and his humorous outlook on his life’s work.

4. Jamshed Wadia, Singapore

@JamshedWadia

Based in the entrepreneurial hub of Singapore, Jamshed Wadia (or Jam as he wants to be called) is the Head of Social Media at Intel Asia Pacific. His tweets reflect his love for storytelling, keeping abreast of the digital media landscape and technology trend watching in Southeast Asia.

5. Vineet Nayar, India

@vineetnayar

Vineet Nayar is the former CEO of HCL Tech and current founder of Sampark Foundation. He is the author of the book “Employees First, Customers Second” and is widely regarded as being the driving force behind turning HCL into a major technology leader. His tweets are very honest, transparent and he is highly engaged with his followers. His leadership and inspirational tweets make him a favorite follower of the region.

6. Kristie Lu Stout, Hong Kong

@klustout

Perhaps best known for being an anchor on CNNi, Kristi Lu Stout is an emerging market leader who tweets from Hong Kong. Her communication covers the stories she’s reporting on as well as a healthy mix of inspirational and thought-leader content. She is also engaged with her fans and followers and often tweets pictures of her life events.

7. Hendy Setiono, Indonesia

@HendySetiono

While older CEOs shy away from social media, Asia’s young and upcoming entrepreneurs are using Twitter to gain a competitive advantage. One such leader is Hendy Sentiono, who was named one of Asia’s Top 10 Young Entrepreneurs as well as earning the prestigious Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Hendy is the founder of Kebab Turki Baba Rafi, Asia’s largest kebab franchise, spanning most of Southeast Asia. His tweets are often inspirational and visionary, almost as if he’s egging himself and his followers on.

8. Sairee Chahal, India

@Sairee

Sairee Chahal is the driving force behind Fleximom – an endeavor to connect Asia’s talented female workforce with companies offering flexible work options. She is also the convener of the SHEROES conference as well as a TED speaker. Her tweets are fun, insightful and full of casual conversations. She engages actively with her followers and maintains a community vibe.

 9. Murat Yesildere, Turkey

@MuratYesildere

Murak Yesildere is the managing partner of human resources company Egon Zehnder, a leading and established global executive search firm. His work centers on keeping pace with Turkey’s growing business industries and providing “specialist executives” versus “generalist leaders”. He tweets about leadership, productivity and cultural trends in Turkey as part of the emerging countries bloc.

Even though Twitter is blocked in China, we want to give a special shout out to these courageous and inspirational business leaders who tweet from China against the odds:

10. Kai-Fu Lee, China

@kaifulee

Kai-Fu Lee is a Taiwanese IT venture capitalist, who is currently based in China where he heads Innovation Works, a tech incubator. His previous accolades include working at Apple Microsoft and Google. He helped establish the search engine “Google China” and is widely regarded as one of the most-followed and tweeted about people in China. His tweets (both in Chinese and English) are opinionated and sometimes controversial, which helps him attract even more followers.

11. William Bao Bean, China

@williambaobean

William Bao Bean is the Managing Director at Singtel Innov8 Ventures and tweets about technology, business, leadership and working in China. His tweets will help you see what life as a venture capitalist is really like in China and how the region fares in terms of innovation and leadership.

12. David Feng, China

@DavidFeng

David Feng is the founder of Civitology, a mass transit network. He is also a linguist, tech watcher, and self-proclaimed Swiss-trained rail addict who speaks over 10 languages. He tweets a lot of interesting links to curated articles that discuss technology trends and Asian living.

Start 2014 by taking a look at your follower lists on twitter and adding in these inspirational business leaders, while culling those whose accounts have gone dormant or those you’ve outgrown. I’ve included all these awesome people in a special twitter list which you can automatically subscribe to for one-click following. Also, take a look at some inspiring quotes from these 12 leaders in the following presentation. 

[slideshare id=31747233&doc=topasianleaders-140227233043-phpapp01]

I’m sure there are many business leaders across Asia that I’ve missed, so I’d love your help extending this list and adding to it. Please write in your recommendations in the comments below.