Reliance Jio Chairman Akash Ambani, OnlyFans’ CEO Amrapali Gan among TIME100 Next list of rising stars

PTI, Sep 29, 2022, 12:59 PM IST

New York: Reliance Jio Chairman Akash Ambani and subscription social platform OnlyFans’ Indian-origin CEO Amrapali Gan have been named by TIME magazine in the TIME100 Next list that recognises “rising stars from across industries and around the world.” The TIME100 Next list is inspired by the publication’s flagship TIME100 list of the world’s most powerful people.

The TIME100 Next “recognises 100 rising stars from across industries and around the world. What unites these individuals are their extraordinary efforts to shape our world—and define our future.” The 2022 TIME100 Next list features musicians as well as medical professionals, government officials as well as movement leaders, and high-profile whistle-blowers alongside top CEOs—all curated by TIME’s journalists and informed by their reporting, it said.

Akash, son of Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani and Founder Chairperson of Reliance Foundation Nita Ambani, features in the list under the category ‘Leaders’. In June, Akash, 30, was promoted to chairman of Jio, India’s largest telecom company that has over 426 ­million subscribers.

“The scion of Indian industrialist royalty, Akash Ambani was always expected to rise in business. But he has been putting in hard work,” according to Ambani’s profile in TIME.

“He’s since played a key role in landing multi-billion-­dollar investments from Google and Facebook. If he handles Jio well, he may be given a crack at larger chunks of the family’s conglomerate,” it said.

Gan’s profile in TIME said that “OnlyFans hit rough waters in 2021 when it announced, and then walked back, a plan to ban the sexually explicit content the subscription-based social platform was increasingly known for.

“When Amrapali Gan took over as CEO that winter, she had a decision to make. For the company’s former chief marketing and communications officer, it was simple,” it said.

Gan had told TIME in July that “I’m very proud to embrace our adult-­content creators, and also all of our other creators.” Under Gan’s leadership, OnlyFans launched a safety and transparency center, and the platform’s popularity has continued to boom.

The list includes rising stars such as British actress Simone Ashley, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson and 2022 US Open winner Carlos Alcaraz.