Two Filipinos make it to Forbes Asia Power Businesswomen 2025 list

Robinsons Land's Mybelle Gobio and Ayala Land's Mariana Zobel de Ayala are the only Filipinos on Forbes Asia's Power Businessmen 2025 list

MANILA, Philippines – For the third straight year, it’s in the Philippines’ property sector where Filipino woman leadership in business has been recognized by Forbes Asia, a publication that chronicles entrepreneurial success and economic growth in the region.

Mybelle Aragon-Gobio, 52, the first woman to head the Gokongwei family’s property conglomerate, Robinsons Land Corporation (RLC), and Mariana Zobel de Ayala, chair and president of Ayalaland Malls Incorporated, are the two Filipino women on the publication’s 2025 list of “power businesswomen” in Asia.

The list, Forbes Asia said, recognizes “20 accomplished leaders who are at the forefront of the region’s fast-evolving business and economic landscape.”

Forbes Asia noted that Aragon-Gobio is also the first non-Gokongwei family member to head the firm founded by the late John Gokongwei. She succeeded the patriarch’s only son, Lance Gokongwei, as head of RLC. (READ: Why John Gokongwei donated billions to education)

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She rose from the ranks and has been with RLC for over 26 years. She has a Bachelor of Science in Management Engineering degree from Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU), and a minor in International Business from the University of Antwerp in Belgium.

RLC’s “Vision 5-25-30” roadmap adopts 5 strategies that the company hopes will deliver P25 billion in net income by RLC’s 50th anniversary in 2030. (Roadmap to 2030: Robinsons Land to build 12 new malls in next 5 years)

Zobel de Ayala, 37, daughter of Ayala Corporation chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, is an “eighth-generation heiress… shaping the future” the legacy Philippine company, Forbes Asia said. She is the second youngest businesswoman in Forbes Asia‘s 2025 list next to Manasi Kirloskar Tata, 36, vice chairperson of Toyota Kirloskar Motor in India.

Mariana heads Ayala Land Incorporated (ALI) leasing and hospitality group, overseeing Ayala Malls, Ayala Land Offices, Ayala Land Hospitality, and Ayala Land Leisure Estates.

“In March [2025], Mariana was appointed Ayala Corp.’s managing director, 12 years after she left her job as an investment analyst at JPMorgan in New York to join her family’s 191-year-old, banking-to-property group,” Forbes Asia said.

She has a Bachelor of Arts in Social Studies (Philosophy, Politics, and Economics) from Harvard College (part of Harvard University), in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. She also has a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the business school INSEAD.

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“The roll call of trailblazers, hailing from a dozen countries and territories, includes those playing key roles in powering the AI and advanced tech boom by heading up companies in sectors such as data centers, semiconductors and rare earths. Others are remaking family legacies, taking charge at storied enterprises in property, hospitality, retail and sports gear as they steer them toward new growth,” said Forbes Asia.

In 2024, it was Lourdes Gutierrez-Alfonso, president of tycoon Andrew Tan’s property conglomerate, Megaworld, who made it to Forbes Asia’s Power Businesswomen list. She was the only Filipino on the list. She has a Bachelor of Science major in Accounting degree from the Far Eastern University (FEU) where she graduated cum laude.

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In 2023, Forbes Asia recognized Anna Ma. Margarita Dy, president and CEO of Ayala Land. She was also the only Filipino on the list. Dy is the first woman Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ayala Land. Dy, who started her career in IBM, Bain, and Benpres Holdings, has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Ateneo de Manila University, a Master of Science in Economics from the London School of Economics, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

In 2022, there was no Filipino on Forbes Asia’s Power Businesswoman list.

Filipino businesswomen in the fields of telecommunications and in manufacturing were recognized by Forbes Asia during the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021.

In 2021, it was Grace Uy, co-founder and president of telco Converge ICT Solutions, who made it to the list. Uy, a certified public accountant, cofounded Converge in 2007 with her husband Dennis Anthony Uy, the company’s CEO.

In 2020, Forbes Asia picked Olivia Limpe-Aw, chairman and CEO of Destileria Limtuaco. She was the only Filipino on the list that year. She has a Bachelor of Science in Business/Managerial Economics from the the University of the Philippines. Destileria Limtuaco, with more than 40 different products, is the Philippines’ oldest distillery.

The 18 other women on Forbes Asia‘s Power Businesswomen 2025 list are: