Excerpt from forbes.com
In 1972 Sanjay Maniku's uncle allowed 15 Italian backpackers to stay on his coconut plantation. This experiment birthed the entire Maldivian tourism industry, now the country's economic lifeline.
Today, as managing partner of Pulse Hotels & Resorts, the 45-year-old oversees properties ranging from The Nautilus, an ultra-luxury 26- residence private island resort, to Kandima Maldives, a 270-villa resort engineered for modern families. But his most bold project might be helping rewrite Maldivian law itself, making paradise accessible to non-billionaires for the first time.