Two Filipinas rose through Forbes’ latest list of Asia’s Powerbusinesswomen of 2020 for their drive to lead their companies towards success and commitment to push for excellence amid the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
On the list are Filipino-Australian Canva CEO and co-founder Melanie Perkins and Olivia Limpe-Aw, Chairman and CEO of Destileria Limtuaco.
Design magnate
33-year-old Perkins found success when she launched Canva, a free-to-use website for amateur designers to create eye-catching graphic designs.
“Canva started out as a free-to-use website offering design tools. It has since expanded to offer paid, premium packages for professionals and enterprises, helping it turn profitable in mid-2017 and putting it in competition with the likes of Adobe,” as per the report from Forbes.
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With her drive to help people of all skills create beautiful designs, Perkins states that it’s finding solutions for everyday problems that would inspire individuals to create platforms that will help propel themselves towards greater heights.
“I think that’s the most important thing because once you found a problem that you want to solve passionately, there’s gonna be so many barriers – every single barrier you can possibly imagine. But I think once you really got a crystal clear pitch of the problem you want to solve, that’s step one,” said Perkins in an interview with 60 Minutes Australia.
Canva currently has over 30 million monthly users across 190 countries.
Iron Lady of Liquor
Meanwhile, Olivia Limpe-Aw began a legacy as the first woman to lead Destileria Limtuaco, the country’s oldest distillery that dates back to 1852.
Forbes estimates that the company provides over 40 products spanning wines, liqueurs, spirits and other tropical fruit blends and exports towards Asia and the United States.
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Limpe-Aw showed her company’s flexibility and adaptability during the COVID-19 pandemic as when liquors were banned, they shifted to creating disinfectants and hand sanitizers to keep up with the market demand.
With decades-long proven track record of leadership and innovation, Bloomberg has dubbed Limpe-Aw as the ‘Philippines’ Iron Lady of Liquor’.
“If you’re a woman in a man’s world, you have to work harder,” Limpe-Aw told Bloomberg in a 2019 interview.
