SINA’s Co-Lead and founder, Etienne Salborn, has been selected by the German business magazine Capital for its 2025 list of “Top 40 under 40”. The announcement was made online on 14 November 2025, with profiles appearing in issue 12/2025 of Capital.
Capital has been awarding the “Top 40 under 40” since 2007 and the list is considered one of the most established recognitions for young leaders in Germany across four categories: Business, Management, Politics & Public Sector, and Science & Society. The selection is based on editorial research and recommendations from business, politics and civil society.
In its explanation of the award, Capital highlights people who take responsibility and drive solutions in times of crises, digital transformation and social tension. The “Top 40 under 40” network has grown to more than 1,500 alumni and has become a platform where leaders from different sectors connect around innovation, impact and the future of work and society.
For SINA, this recognition is less about one person and more about what our community ecosystem has built together. Across currently 23 SINA Communities in nine countries in Africa and in Nepal, young people who have grown up with poverty, conflict or displacement are running self-organized learning communities, turning their challenges into opportunities by building social enterprises and reshaping their local ecosystems from within.
Being part of the “Top 40 under 40” network opens new doors for SINA to connect social innovation from refugee and marginalized contexts with decision-makers in business, politics and academia in Germany and beyond, and to keep bringing lived experience, “freesponsibility” and community-led entrepreneurship into these conversations.
Read more at www.capital.de/top40unter40
