Playing Video Games Got This Filipino College Student into Forbes 30 Under 30
Philippine Esports startup AcadArena recently found itself on a Forbes list earlier this week with its founders making the “Forbes 30 Under 30 in Asia” list under the Consumer Technology category. It was undeniably a memorable moment for Justin “Popi” Banusing.
Yesterday, I was joking about being on Forbes' list of favorite short people.
Today, I'm humbled to be selected as part of this year's @ForbesAsia #ForbesUnder30 batch on my last day of school!
What a way to top off my college life 🥺 pic.twitter.com/5Qq0rgM8Pk
— Justin Banusing 🐧 (@PopiSSB) May 26, 2022
Justin, who is currently a graduating Informatics and History student from the University of Washington, is one of the big three cofounders of AcadArena (the other two being Ariane Lim and Kevin Hoang), and the event director of CONQuest.
Growing up in the Philippines, I was told most of my life that my love for games wouldn't get me anywhere.
I started out in the industry at 14, working in everything from writing to events to learn as much as I could so I could eventually make something cool. pic.twitter.com/If1AkCV1TN
— Justin Banusing 🐧 (@PopiSSB) May 26, 2022
The 22-year-old entrepreneur started his journey in the esports industry back when he was just 14 years old where he did just about everything to learn as much as he could first-hand.
During his high school years, he used to save his money from freelancing to be able to attend esports and gaming conventions which eventually inspired him to start CONQuest and AcadArena.
At present, both of his startups have grown quite exponentially, with AcadArena’s seed round last year reaching a total of a whopping USD $3.5M (PHP 176M).
Not sure what’s included with your #CQ2022 ticket? Here’s what ALL attendees get for FREE 👀
🎮 VALORANT Showmatch feat. @kyedae, @RaemonBingcang, @eenmercado
🏆 @acadarena Alliance Games Finals
🎤 Guest Panels feat. @AsianGuyStream, @Tuont0, @btmclive, @baovtuber
➕ And more! pic.twitter.com/TQmzO9cFo6— CONQuest Festival (@CONQuestPHL) May 20, 2022
Meanwhile, the CONQuest Festival is back bigger and better this year at SMX Convention Center Manila — with esports and gaming juggernauts like Kyedae Shymko, the V33Wise duo ( Johnmar “OhMyV33nus” Villaluna and Daenerie “Wise” Del Rosario), and several Genshin Impact English voice actors and content creators highlighting the guest list this year.
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