Chinese women entrepreneurs dominate global list
Four of the five most successful female entrepreneurs in the world are Chinese, according to the Hurun Richest Women in China 2018 report, released this month. And more than 60 per cent of the world’s self-made women billionaires come from China. The report’s authors attribute this to the fresh winds of China’s economic reforms and the entrepreneurial spirit of Chinese women.
The three richest Chinese self-made women are Wu Yajun, who owns Chongqing’s Longfor Properties ($9 billion); Chen Lihua of commercial property developer Fu Wah International ($8 billion); and Zhou Qunfei of touchscreen maker Lens Technology ($6 billion).
Not only are self-made Chinese women growing in global prominence, but the contribution of Chinese women to the economy at all levels has increased greatly in recent years.
According to Roseann Lake, the author of “Leftover in China”, women contribute some 41 per cent to China’s GDP, a higher percentage than in most other regions, including North America. On the production side, claim other observers, they represent the best of China’s brain power and are propelling their country to new growth. By one estimate, as many as 70 per cent of the local employees of international corporations in Shanghai’s Pudong or Beijing’s central business district are young Chinese women. And on the consumption side, they buy millions of articles on Taobao, Alibaba’s online shopping website, and have turned the annual Singles’ Day into the world’s most valuable day for retailers.
While gender equality in the government sector is still proving elusive, and female leadership is almost non-existent in the top echelons of the ruling Communist Party, in business many observers are hailing a new kind of corporate culture in which women are having a greater direct impact on policymaking than ever before. Encouraging this development is a combination of market reforms and a technology boom, which has helped private businesses to flourish, with revenue growth far outpacing that of state-owned enterprises.
It would be interesting to see a similar analysis for Thailand’s self-made women but I’m not aware of any such work. Seven women feature on Forbes’ most recent list of the 50 wealthiest Thais of both genders. However, Forbes’ list, unlike Huron’s, includes inherited and family wealth, and ranks Supaluck Umpujh of retail juggernaut the Mall Group as our wealthiest woman with $2.05 billion – number 15th overall.
Line up all the national wealth lists and it’s clear that throughout the world there are far more wealthy men than women – regardless of whether this wealth has been inherited or self-generated. But the good news is that this imbalance is being steadily corrected, with China’s entrepreneurial women to the fore.
For more columns in this series please visit www.bangkokbank.com.