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ASIA’S RICHEST BUSINESSWOMEN The pace of economic change in Asia has been set in large part by the Chinese businesswomen who dominate in this year’s Asia Rich List.

WORDS • HARNOOR CHANNI-TIWARY

ZHANG XIN Net worth US$3.1 billion SOHO China If you visited or a decade ago second-generation Burmese Chinese parents who worked as and went back now, there is a good chance translators at the Foreign Language Press. Unfortunately, this was you wouldn’t recognise the city; such is the also the same time that the cultural revolution was gaining steam and transformation that has occurred. And in many her family was shipped off to the countryside for Mao Tse-tung’s ways, a large part of this steep economic change ‘re-education’ program. This period was tough on her family and can be attributed to women, who now are not eventually her parents separated, with Xin remaining in her only making waves but are also finding mother’s care. unprecedented success in business circles. It is They both moved to when she was 14 in an attempt therefore no surprise that the Hurun Report of to pick up the pieces of their now-strewn life and livelihood. Her the richest self-made businesswomen in Asia mother got another job as a translator, which could only afford (March 2017) is dominated by the Chinese. them a room housing two tiny beds, and a bathroom shared with In fact, not a single name in the top 15 in this a dozen families. Even at that age, Zhang Xin realised that the one list belongs to non-Chinese origin women. thing that had the power to change her life was education. In an And that in itself says a lot. article she wrote for The New York Times in 2014, she recounts, The predominantly grey skyline of Beijing is “I spent my teenage years working long hours as a factory girl, rebelliously livened up by the stark white Galaxy sewing collars and buttons onto dress shirts in Hong Kong.” Bit SOHO, a commercial building that breaks all by bit, she managed to save enough in five years to afford a ticket INSPIRING THE BUSINESS WORLD myths and preconceived traditional notions of to London and this courageous young woman packed her bags

INSPIRING THE BUSINESS WORLD

GLOBAL FINANCIAL how a building should be designed. It is futuristic, and set off into the unknown. CRISIS A decade older, but are INSPIRINGINSPIRING THE BUSINESS THE WORLD BUSINESS WORLD we any wiser? ZHANG XIN China�s bold and elegant, much like the remarkable lady London was as alien as could be and she soon realised that DIVERSIFY architect YOUR ASSETS of change Profiting from the hottest new investments USING DATA FOR PREDICTIVE whose brainchild it is, Zhang Xin. An incredulous poverty had followed her there. Not one to be deterred, Zhang AUDITING THE SIMPLE WAYS TO PROTECT YOUR DIGITAL PRIVACY As featured in Asia’s life story that would make for a bestselling book Xin took up a day job at a fish and chips stand and at night took Richest The CEO Magazine BUSINESSWOMEN or blockbuster movie, this tale gives you reason to English-speaking classes, the one tool that she knew was essential FROM TO , A GUIDE TO ASIA’S MOST SUCCESSFUL FEMALES For more info visit ISSN 24249831 theceomagazine.com dream. Zhang Xin was born to well-educated to go further. After securing a scholarship in 1991, she went on »

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CHEN LIHUA Net worth US$6 billion to gain an Economics Degree at the University of mind. Even though she has an enormous 10 million followers on Weibo, Fuwah International Group Sussex. Confidence now gave wind to her wings and she is refreshingly honest and ‘real’ in her posts, like the one where she In sharp contrast stands 76-year-old she went on to do her master’s in Development makes fun of her own self for falling while skiing, or the photo she’s Chen Lihua, the second richest Economics at Cambridge University. A stint in the uploaded from a party where Batman came to visit, or even the post self-made businesswoman in Asia London-based Investment bank Barings, and later on International Women’s Day where she pays tribute to women she and one of the most powerful Goldman Sachs on famed Wall Street, brought Zhang respects highly, including Anne Frank and Mother Teresa. It is rare for women in the world. There are many Xin into the big league. such a high-profile businessperson to be so honest and open on a social versions to the story of her early life, Wall Street did not sit well with her sensibilities platform in China. But rare, she is. And what could be more honest some having us believe that she was and she made her way back than the time when she told Lesley Stahl from born in Beijing’s to to China where she met her 60 Minutes (CBS News): “The Chinese people descendants of the Noble Manchu husband . The feel a great longing for democracy … I predict family. However, this was three spark was instant and they ZHANG XIN DECIDED TO EMBRACE that democracy will come to China in less decades after the Manchu Qing were engaged four days after HER HUSBAND PAN SHIYI’S DREAM than 20 years.” A statement controversial in Dynasty collapsed and her they met. But it was itself, told to an American publication, even childhood was reportedly spent in something deeper that TO CREATE CHINA’S MANHATTAN more so. abject poverty. In his book Out of brought them together, for IN THE HEART OF BEIJING. On the board of Teach for China, and the Mao’s Shadow: The Struggle for the when Pan Shiyi took her to founder of the SOHO Foundation, Zhang Xin Soul of a New China, Philip Pan states that Chen the heart of Beijing and told wants to gift the youth of China what she Lihua’s steep climb is marked with controversy, her that he wanted to make craved for when she was their age – high-quality suggesting that it was her ties with party members in China’s Manhattan there, she decided to share his education that has the power to transform their lives. In her interview the transitional phase of China that propelled her dream. Thus, was born a partnership that created for Spiegel Online, she added, “I had a scholarship. So, if I donate into the big league. These connections ensured she SOHO China, a real estate firm that breaks all barriers, money to give brilliant Chinese students an opportunity to study received licences, subsidies and enjoyed a certain and pushes the limits of the conventional. The abroad, then this embodies everything I believe in: education, ease of business, remaining above the law while company’s business model has changed over the years globalisation, social mobility.” many people she transacted with faced corruption from manufacturers to landowners, she told Bernhard Out of her familial ruins during the cultural revolution, Zhang Xin went charges. She married twice, her second husband Zand of Spiegel Online. Speaking of how times have on to create strong personal and professional foundations built on hard a famous actor 10 years her junior, and now changed, she added, “Twenty years ago, we were only work, education, talent and tenacity. She is not only an architect of change lives with her three children in the Chinese Red able to build boxes. Today, architects from all over the in China, but also across the global construction landscape. Sandalwood Museum that she built, which LUO QIANQIAN world are working with us – Zaha Hadid from London, (as the story goes) reminds her of her Net worth US$3.5 billion Gerkan, Marg and Partner from Hamburg, Kengo Kuma ZHOU QUNFEI Summer Palace childhood. Shanda Group from Japan. We brought design and digitalisation from Net worth US$7.4 billion Notoriously media-shy Luo Qianqian created the interactive gaming abroad to China.” She told Wall Street Journal that Lens Technology CHEN SHUHONG brand Shanda with her husband in 1999, and they floated the company she feels very “fortunate to have been able to build The Hurun Report’s Rich List offers an insight into how an entire Net worth US$4.1 billion on the Nasdaq in 2004. An intelligent businesswoman with a degree from so much as a real estate developer, as China goes generation of Chinese women have pushed boundaries and built Red Star Macalline Group the Financial and Banking Institute of China, Luo Qianqian is known through urbanisation with cities being built in a very businesses that the world increasingly depends on. Take for example, Lens Though Chen Shuhong is named in Hurun’s elite list, among her staff for creating a relaxed and informal atmosphere at work. condensed period of time”. Technology, a firm that manufactures touchscreens for smartphones. This it is her husband Che Jianxin who is the founder of But what sets Zhang Xin, now a mother of two, is only one of the 11 companies that Zhou Qunfei has founded. But this Red Star Macalline Group. Called the ‘Home MELISSA MA (MA DONGMIN) apart is not merely her (considerable) business acumen 47-year-old tycoon, who sits at number one on the rich list, wasn’t born Improvement King’ of China, his (and his wife’s) fortune Net worth US$2.9 billion and success (which with a net worth of US$3.1 billion, with a silver spoon in her mouth. She came from a poor family and her comes from the furniture business. Instead of focusing Baidu puts her eleventh on the list of the richest self-made father, an ex-soldier, made bamboo baskets after losing a finger in an on the lower segment, Red Star employs celebrity The new-generation Chinese have a lot to thank their tech king, Robin Li, businesswomen in Asia). Instead, it is what she stands industrial accident. She lost her mother at age five and worked in brand ambassadors and has positioned itself as a the founder of Baidu, for. But young Robin Li humbly submits that he for – honesty, transparency and an example of how factories when she came of age. At age 22, when the factory closed its premium furniture destination. One of their malls owes a large part of his success to his wife Melissa Ma (Ma Dongmin). you can become a success without corruption, family doors, she started her own company making watch lenses with help from reports two million footfalls, more than three times the In fact, he went as far as saying that it is his wife’s courage and risk-taking backing or political influence. her brother, sister and cousins in a small apartment. Today, her company number of people who visit Beijing’s Imperial Palace. It ability that sparked the birth of Baidu and kept pushing its growth. The She has chosen Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of is responsible for cutting-edge gadgets like HTC, Samsung, iPhone and seems like the uncrowned king and queen sit outside media team of Baidu refrained to comment at the time of printing this Twitter as a platform to share her views and speak her Apple watches. the palace walls now. article, saying that Melissa prefers to keep a low profile. »

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WU YAJUN Net worth US$4.6 billion CHEN JINXIA Net worth US$2.7 billion Currently fifth on Hurun’s list, Yongjin Group Wu Yajun was much higher up At number 14, Chen Jinxia keeps a low profile, too, but until 2012 when she divorced her her story is heartbreaking. She was propelled into the husband and lost her 30 per cent limelight when her husband, Wei Dong, committed stake in their company, Longfor. suicide in front of her, leaving her a fortune currently A former journalist, Wu Yajun valued at US$2.7 billion (as of January 2017). Wei made her connections in the Dong was embroiled in controversy about backdoor political and business circles while investments and reports suggest he was also under she was the editor at the China Shirong News Agency. These connections investigation by the Communist party, all of which helped her set up Zhongjianke Real Estate Co Ltd (later led to depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. renamed Longfor Properties) along with her then-husband, Cai Kui. After that fateful day, when he jumped off the balcony Ex-employees say that she sometimes greets dignitaries with a gift of from the ninth floor, Chen Jinxia took the reins of the traditional handmade dresses, an ode to her humble roots as the investment firm Hunan Yongjin Group and became daughter of a dressmaker. It is ironic that a former journalist is now actively involved in business. Her net worth has more renowned for being low key and under the radar. China Daily said that than doubled in the nine years since. Madam Chen Madam Wu believes in the ‘Three Nos’ principle: no television lives in complete privacy, like her husband once did, appearances, no autographs and no interviews. shunning interviews and public appearances. HE QIAONV ZHOU HONGWEN Net worth Net worth US$5.5 billion US$2.7 billion Tomorrow Group Orient Landscape You may be excused for thinking a film writer has Wrapping up this list is scripted Zhou Hongwen’s life. There are equal parts He Qiaonv of Orient tragedy, politics, drama and suspense. In February Landscape, a woman this year, Madam Zhou’s husband, Xiao Jianhua, as refreshingly different disappeared without a trace from their apartment at as her chosen lines of the Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong. Reports in local business. While other news publications like Mingjing News and Bowen Press businesses chase after insinuated that he was ‘kidnapped’ from his home by concrete and glass, He mainland law enforcement officers, though other Qiaonv, an artist before a reports suggest he may have gone willingly as he was businesswoman, made her accompanied by two of his many female bodyguards. fortune from making the Dramatically, his company released messages on their world a prettier place. WeChat account claiming he is fine and abroad for Touted as the ‘Garden ‘medical treatment’. But these messages were Queen’, her landscaping business is only one of the many diversified subsequently removed. In the middle of all this, the businesses she manages. Her work was showcased during the 2008 responsibility of managing media and the business Beijing Olympics, which gave her international recognition and served to itself fell squarely on the able shoulders of his wife bring in more contracts, leading to her success. As China and the rest of and business partner, the third-richest self-made the world surges ahead, she plays a small but significant role in trying to businesswoman in Asia. It is work as usual at Tomorrow maintain the ecological balance in its wake – she is the first woman to top Group under Zhou Hongwen’s strict eye. Though China’s philanthropy list. It is her company’s endeavour that clear water, it is reported that Madam Zhou is in touch with her blue skies and soothing greenery should not become rare luxuries as husband, it is largely conjecture. urbanisation continues.

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