Community

The Forum of Young Global Leaders is a community of innovators from diverse backgrounds and experiences. Search current members and alumni by year awarded, sector or region.

Toshiki Abe

Chief Executive Officer, Ridilover Co., Ltd., Japan

Toshiki Abe is a prominent social entrepreneur in Japan, representing Ridilover, the country’s largest platform connecting social issues with companies, organizations and individuals. As the editor-in-chief of Ridilover Journal, he plays a key role in shaping public discourse. Regularly featured on popular Japanese news programmes, including the highly-rated Morning Show, Abe actively engages with production teams, influencing programme content and setting public opinion agendas. His insightful commentary reaches approximately 12 million viewers weekly, contributing to the understanding of complex societal challenges. Recently, the company has been involved in the management of a $86.6 million fund, including the conduct of social impact assessments. Abe is a key player in building an impact economy in Japanese society through this fund. He also operates three other businesses at Ridilover. One is the educational tour business that provides trips to sites of social issues for junior high and high school students. The project provides students with physical learning about social issues through educational tours and has produced behavioural changes in 10,000 people a year (equivalent to 1% of the Japanese population of that generation) who have experienced the tours. There is also a training programme to develop corporate leaders who can learn across boundaries, from within the company to social issues. The third is companion business development support, in which projects are developed in partnership with companies, ministries and local governments to solve social issues.

Rina Akimoto

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Vivid Garden Inc, Japan

Rina Akimoto is Founder and CEO of Vivid Garden Inc., a start-up founded in 2016, operating Japan's largest online farm-to-table marketplace, Tabechoku. The company's mission is to recognize the dedication of producers for their products, inspired by the experience of her family's agricultural business closure in her youth. Since its launch in 2017, Tabechoku has grown into a trusted platform with over 10,000 socially driven producers and over 1 million users across the country. The service has empowered producers in farm, fishery and other sectors to set fair prices and deliver rich stories, by directly connecting with users. Such connections foster customer loyalty and reduce food waste by adding value to non-market standard yet unique crops and products. Akimoto graduated from Keio University. In addition to the work as CEO, Akimoto is a regular commentator on several news programs, and also serving as a member of the Cabinet Office's Regulatory Reform Committee aiming to solve regional social issues.

Iwao Aso

Group Chairman, ASO Corporation, Japan

Iwao Aso is President of the Aso Corporation and Group Chairman of the Aso Group, with interests in the fields of infrastructure, environmental solutions, healthcare, education and lifestyle services. He is also a Director of Dwango Co. Aso started his career in the family business as auditor at Aso Cement. He also served in the Aso Group as a director, executive director, senior managing director and vice-president. Prior, Aso worked as a trainee in Hongkong Land, Colliers Jardine in Hong Kong and the financial instruments development division in Shinsei Bank. Aso completed his undergraduate studies at Keio University with a BA in Economics. He also majored in international relations at the University of Cambridge.

Mitsuru Claire Chino

Audit & Supervisory Board Member, ITOCHU, Japan

Claire is President & CEO of Itochu International Inc. and Managing Executive Officer of Itochu Corporation, a Fortune Global 500 company, headquartered in Japan. In 2013, she became the first female executive officer of any major trading company in Japan. Prior to joining Itochu, she was a partner of an international law firm.

Claire has received several recognitions, including from the World Economic Forum (Young Global Leader), Yale University (Yale World Fellow), Asia Society (Asia 21) and the U.S. Japan Leadership Program. She has also been recognized in the in-house community as a “Top 25 In-House Counsel in Asia” (Asia Legal Business), “Asia Pacific’s Innovative Lawyer” (Financial Times) and “FT Global General Counsel 30 (Financial Times). She is a graduate of Smith College (B.A. cum laude) and Cornell Law School (J.D.), where she serves on the advisory board.

Nobuo Domae

President and Representative Director, Ryohin Keikaku Co. Ltd, Japan

Nobuo Domae is the President of Ryohin Keikaku, whose business is known as MUJI. Before joining Ryohin Keikaku/ MUJI, he was with Fast Retailing / UNIQLO as the Executive Vice-President. Before that, he was a Consultant at McKinsey and Company. Nobuo has a BSc and an MSc in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Tokyo.

Ken Endo

Chief Executive Officer, Xiborg, Japan

BSc and MSc in Mechanical Engineering, Keio University in Japan; 2012, PhD, MIT. 2005, started to work on human biomechanics and development of transtibial prosthesis as a PhD student, Biomechatronics group, MIT Media Lab; concurrently, taught a course to develop orthopaedic devices for developing countries as an instructor of MIT D-lab. After getting Ph.D he became a senior researcher, Sony Computer Science Laboratories, working on human physical augmentation with robotic technology. In 2014, he founded Xiborg, a tech startup to develop a running blade for para athletes as well as any amputees. Named one of the world's most outstanding innovators under the age of 35, Technology Review, TR35 (2012).

Kumi Fujisawa Tsunoda

Chairperson, Institute for International Socio-Economic Studies Ltd, Japan

Kumi Fujisawa is Chairperson, Institute for International Socio-Economic Studies, Ltd. (IISE); and she is assigned Member of Board of several companies and associations as following, The Shizuoka Bank, CellSource Co., Ltd., Toyota Motor Corporation, Japan Dealers Association and so on. She used to be one of the youngest woman entrepreneurs in financial sector in Japan. After her company was acquired by Standard & Poor’s, She established Think Tank SophiaBank and her business field spread various sectors. Now she is board of director of some companies and business associations and advisor to some governors, mayors and CEOs. She published more than twenty books. She supports and leads a lot of kinds of projects by using her wide networks such as public, private, business, sports, culture and so on. Her interest is socio incubation by changing knowledge paradigm.

Chikara Funabashi

Project Director, Public-Private Joint Project for Overseas Education Promotion, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan, Japan

Formerly: worked on a subway development project in Jakarta; for Itochu Corporation on an airport construction in the Philippines; and at a major trading firm in Japan. 2000, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Willseed, a company that offers consulting and training services to more than 350 major companies and 600 schools in Japan. Co-Chairperson, Beyond Tomorrow, an organization which was established by several Japanese Young Global Leaders after the tsunami, 3/11. It offers scholarships and provides leadership training to young people to enable them to pursue their dreams and become leaders of tomorrow. Adjunct Professor, MBA programme, Waseda Business School. Member, Structural Reform Committee, responsible for the promotion of special economic zones. Member, Asia Society.

Keisuke Goda

Professor of Physical Chemistry, University of Tokyo, Japan

Keisuke Goda is a Professor of Chemistry in the School of Science at the University of Tokyo and an Adjunct Faculty Member of Electrical Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles. His group focuses on technology development and entrepreneurship in green energy and medicine. He is also a Programme Manager of the ImPACT programme run by the Cabinet Office, Government of Japan. Goda has been awarded numerous awards, including the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award, Konica Minolta Imaging Science Award, MEXT Young Scientist Award, and IEEE Photonics Society Distinguished Lecturers Award. He obtained a BA in Physics (summa cum laude) from the University of California, Berkeley, and a PhD in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Miku Hirano

Chief Executive Officer, Cinnamon, Japan

Serial Entrepreneur. MSc, in Artificial Intelligence, from Tokyo University. Engaged in research on Recommendation Engine, Complex Network, Clustering. Won the Innovative Software Creation Program (Super Creator Award) under Information-technology Promotion Agency Japan (IPA) in 2005 and 2006. Started her first business to create the middleware which enables to develop iOS / Android / Feature Phone simultaneously, and sold the company to mixi.inc. Founded Cinnamon in Singapore in 2012. She has received various awards, including St. Gallen Symposium Leaders of Tomorrow, Forbes Japan "Entrepreneur Ranking 2020" BEST10, Woman of the Year 2019 Innovative Entrepreneur Award, and Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award 2019 New Generation Award. She has also been a keynote speaker at AWS Summit 2019, Milken Institute Japan Symposium, 45th Japan-ASEAN Management Conference, Bloomberg The Year Ahead Summit 2019, and etc. She was appointed to a member of the IT Strategy Office, Cabinet Secretariat and a special member of the Tax Commission, Cabinet Office in 2020. She has been an expert member of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, Cabinet Office; a member of the New Economic and Industrial Policy Subcommittee, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry; and an expert member of the Council for Realizing New Capitalism, Cabinet Secretariat in 2021. She is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Tokyo. She is the mother of three children.

Kentaro Ichiki

President, UNIVERSITY of CREATIVITY, Creative Capital, Inc, Japan

Creative Director based in Japan, Asia, and North America.

Founder & President, UNIVERSITY of CREATIVITY, 2019-Present.
Director, "WHERE ART and SCIENCE FALL IN LOVE", 2011-Present.
Senior Creative Director, HAKUHODO Inc., 1998-2021.
Former Juror at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Clio Awards, Spikes Asia, Asia Pacific Advertising Festival.
Master of Fine Arts from Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music.

Internationally repped by CREATIVE CAPITAL Inc.
https://creativecapital.world/
https://uoc.world/

Daisuke Iwase

Chief Executive Officer, Japan, Animoca Brands Japan, Japan

Daisuke Iwase is the CEO of Animoca Brands KK, a strategic subsidiary in Japan of Animoca Brands Corporation Limited, a leading global Web3 company based in Hong Kong. Prior to that, he was Group Chief Digital Officer for AIA Group and served on its Group Executive Committee. Before AIA, he co-founded and served as Representative Director and President of Lifenet Insurance Company, a publicly listed digital life insurance company in Japan. He currently serves as Vice Chairman of the Board for Benesse Holdings, and as a Non Executive Director at Kakaku.com. Daisuke graduated as a Baker Scholar from Harvard Business School and was named as Young Global Leaders 2010 by the World Economic Forum.