Pharmaceutical tycoon Zhong Huijuan. -- Photo courtesy of Hong Kong Exchanges / Vietnam News-Asia News Network
HANOI (VNExpress/Vietnam News-ANN): Two Chinese nationals, Zhong Huijuan and Zhou Qunfei, are among the five richest self-made female billionaires in the world this year.
Pharmaceutical tycoon Zhong Huijuan, 64, is the richest Asian self-made billionaire with a net worth of $15.6 billion, according to a recent report by U.S. magazine Forbes, using data as of June 13.
She ranks third on the list behind two self-made billionaires from Switzerland and the US.
She serves as the chairwoman and CEO of Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group, a Chinese company manufacturing drugs for oncology, psychoactive disorders, diabetes, and other conditions.
Her husband, Sun Piaoyang, is another pharmaceuticals billionaire and heads Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine, listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Their daughter, Sun Yuan, holds the position of executive director at Hansoh.
Based in the Chinese coastal city of Lianyungang, Hansoh became a publicly traded company on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2019.
In 2022, Hansoh collaborated with the Global Health Drug Discovery Institute, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to develop an oral Covid treatment.
Zhong has a chemistry degree from Jiangsu Normal University and taught her subject at a middle school in Lianyungang after graduation.
At 34, she quit teaching and founded Jiangsu Hansoh Pharmaceutical with 10 employees, according to South China Morning Post.
Zhou Qunfei, Chairwoman of Lens Technology. -- Photo by Imaginechina via AFP
Hong Kong-based Zhou Qunfei, 55, came in fourth with a net worth of $10 billion.
She is the chairwoman of Lens Technology, a touch screen manufacturer serving clients like Apple, Samsung, and Huawei.
The company also provides components to electric vehicle manufacturers, including Tesla and BYD.
Starting as a teenage migrant factory worker, Zhou has risen to become one of the world’s wealthiest self-made women.
Lens Technology became a publicly traded company on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2015, 22 years after its founding.
In 1993, Zhou embarked on her entrepreneurial journey by establishing a watch parts business with relatives in a Shenzhen apartment, which laid the foundation for Lens Technology.
The richest self-made woman in the world is Rafaela Aponte-Diamant from Switzerland with a wealth of US$38.8 billion.
The 80-year-old’s source of wealth predominantly comes from the shipping industry. She and her husband owns MSC, the world’s largest shipping line.
In second place, the businesswoman in the position is US citizen Diane Hendricks, 78, with a net worth of US$22.3 billion.
She owns and chairs ABC Supply, one of the largest wholesale distributors of roofing, siding and windows in the US, a company she co-founded with her late husband.
Ranking fifth is Denise Coates, 57, with a net worth of US$8.5 billion.
The UK-based woman sources her wealth from Bet365, one of the world's largest online gambling companies.
The five richest self-made women boast a combined wealth of over $95 billion. - VNExpress/Vietnam News-ANN
