ECO HEROES

BOBSY GAIA

FOUNDER, MANA!

In the past 30 years, Mana! founder Bobsy Gaia has reinvented himself multiple times, spreading awareness about the environment each step of the way. Beirut-born Bobsy moved to Bangkok in 1989 to pursue fashion design at a time when world events, such as the collapse of the Berlin Wall, were sparking his spiritual awakening. “I was feeling this tremendous wave of positivity and awareness of the world and environment,” recalls Bobsy, who around that time launched an ecofriendly fashion line that used organic fibres.

Bobsy moved to Hong Kong in 1992, where he has launched various sustainability initiatives, including Able Charity, which has planted more than 30,000 trees on Lamma Island over two decades to help rejuvenate its forest cover. Along the way, he shifted his focus from fashion to food, opening a series