World Of Forbes: Stories Of Entrepreneurial Capitalism Across Our 43 International Editions

BULGARIA

Hristo Borisov cofounded and heads Bulgaria’s only unicorn company, Payhawk, which allows corporate finance teams to streamline and remotely manage employees’ expenses. The London-based fintech—which started in 2018 in a business incubator in Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital, and still maintains an office in the city—raised $100 million at a $1 billion valuation in 2022. Borisov has been using that money to expand in new markets—it’s currently in 32—and integrate its services with American Express, Microsoft and more.

ECUADOR

After working for two decades in the U.S., Luis David Moncayo returned in the 1990s to his family’s dairy farm in Ecuador’s Andean valley. He now heads the $100 million (2023 revenue) business, called Nutri, which he has expanded. Its 430 employees process 79,000 gallons of milk per day from its own cows and about 15,000 suppliers, including subsistence farmers. Moncayo has invested $20 million into building a new plant, which will increase daily output by two-thirds, with hopes of eventually selling in foreign markets.

HUNGARY

Vanessa Axente has modeled for major brands such as Prada, DKNY and Calvin Klein. The native of western Hungary is expecting her first child in August and plans to continue walking the runway—helping to fund Essa World, the nascent wellness brand she cofounded in 2022. The business ships made-in-Hungary vitamins and supplements across Europe and is carried in local pharmacies.

INDIA

In March, Sunil Gupta and his Mumbai data-storage startup, Yotta, received India’s first batch of AI chips from Nvidia after the chip design giant’s CEO, Jensen Huang, promised last year to prioritize orders from the nation that he predicts will be the world’s biggest AI market. Gupta’s company is spending $1 billion over three years for 16,000 chips that Yotta will then offer to clients for AI computing.

ITALY

Paolo Di Grazia cofounded Fineco in 1999 and today is deputy general manager of the Milan-based financial institution, which earned a spot on Forbes’ 2024 list of the World’s Best Banks. A focus on innovation—including frequent improvements to financial advisory tools—has resulted in 25 years of uninterrupted growth, according to Di Grazia. Fineco now serves 1.6 million customers and is adding more than 10,000 new accounts per month.

SLOVAKIA

Roman Berger took over his family’s $250 million (revenue) sports betting business, Niké, after his father died at age 85 last August. The younger Berger has focused on inking professional sponsorships and has hopes of fulfilling his dad’s dream of expanding beyond Slovakia.

SOUTH AFRICA

Forbes Africa published its inaugural Small Giants list of 25 notable small businesses on the continent. Founders of three South African ventures appear on a series of covers: Portia Mngomezulu (left), who runs an eponymous skin care line with more than 4,000 stores across 14 nations; Theo Baloyi (center) operates 31 Bathu stores selling 250,000 pairs of sneakers per year; and Brett Thompson runs a lab-grown meat startup, NewForm Foods, with operations split between London and Cape Town.

SOUTH KOREA

“Don’t treat your employees like servants. Treat them like owners and family.”