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Information technology (IT) is all about innovation. Vish Iyer can’t agree more.

Mobility, social media and big data are all hot-button topics. Cloud computing frees up people from the desk, so an IT system can be managed even on the road. “For a bank, it could be payment via Internet banking or mobile phone,” says the high-flying corporate executive, dapper in a light purple shirt.

Ganesh Kumar Bangah turned 23 in true techpreneur style. He listed a company, entered the Malaysian Book of Records as the youngest chief executive officer of a public-listed company, and pocketed his first 1 million ringgit ($328,812).

That was in 2002. Just a few years earlier, he had merely been an ambitious engineering undergraduate. He had been managing cybercafés and peddling a proprietary cybercafé management system, having developed it with a business partner.

George Quek is a hard man to pin down, given his jam-packed schedule of meetings and traveling. Weeks and several postponed meetings later, China Daily Asia Weekly finally sits down with the man behind one of the biggest food and beverage (F&B) empires in Singapore.

Despite his hectic schedule, Quek has a Zen-like aura, not unlike the art masters he admires. Running his business empire takes up most of his time these days.

When major fashion players such as designer Giorgio Armani or photographer Mario Testino arrange visits to China, the first name on their list usually is Melvin Chua, celebrity event organizer extraordinaire.

Philippines-born Chua has built up a business that specializes in helping major fashion brands put on shows and exhibitions, usually extravagant and expensive affairs such as the recent Louis Vuitton show in the port city of Shanghai, where models alighted from a full-size replica steam train shipped in from Paris.

Tahir sits cross-legged on the sofa in his office in Jakarta’s central business district. He is chatty and booming, infusing much life into the office with his high spirits.

He is feeling gratified because he was among the six alumni of Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU) honored by Heng Swee Keat, Singapore’s minister for education, on Oct 13.

He was chosen as an outstanding alumnus with major achievements.

The reason why Adi Godrej’s current favorite in his stable of cars is an Audi is because his own business empire, the Godrej Group, doesn’t manufacture cars, yet.

The Indian billionaire — Forbes magazine estimates his net worth to be $9.24 billion, making him the 6th richest man in India — makes it a point to personally use all the consumer goods his 115-year-old conglomerate makes: From the locks that laid the foundation of the group’s fortunes in the 19th century, to fridges, washing machines and even the Godrej hair colors.

Pankaj Mishra believes though the East won a decisive battle against the West more than a century ago, it has proved to be a Pyrrhic victory today.

This is the somewhat depressing conclusion of his new book From the Ruins of Empire: The Revolt Against the West and the Remaking of Asia.

The battle in question was the Japanese victory over Russia in 1905, which he believes was the first instance of an Eastern nation striking back against colonial domination.

Tatsumi Maeda has an uncomplicated perspective on the geopolitics of energy: “You can find oil (only) in certain places,” he says, “but the sun is there for everyone.”

A champion of solar energy, Maeda is executive vice-president at Kyocera Corporation and president of the newly formed Kagoshima Mega Solar Power Corporation. The latter position puts him in charge of the largest solar energy project Japan has ever undertaken.

Real estate tycoon Rudy Margono’s life and career is far from being a rags-to-riches story. He is from a well-to-do Chinese-origin family in Jakarta.

His birth was greeted with jubilation as after four daughters, his traditional parents were relieved a son and heir would continue the family line.

The young heir was sent abroad to be educated, first to the Telok Kurau Primary School in Singapore — the alma mater of Singapore’s first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew — and then to Los Angeles.

When Sermkhun Kunawong was studying Communication Arts at Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University, he could not afford a ticket to the much-talked-about sound and light show produced in the royal palace by Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, the third child of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, to mark Bangkok’s 200th anniversary.

The resourceful Sermkhun got up to the top floor of the Silpakorn University close to the palace to catch a glimpse of the celebrations and the then 22-year-old was enthralled by what he saw.

Ahead of the most important tourism economy event Macao has ever hosted, Pansy Catalina Ho Chiu-king says experience is useful but to be truly successful, the industry has to take changing attitudes into account.

Ho, managing director of Shun Tak Holdings, is also secretary-general of the Global Tourism Economic Forum, which is to be held in Macao on September 9-11 and is set to become an annual event.