The 10 Richest Self-Made Female Entrepreneurs in the World

Approximately 1810 billionaires roam the Earth with a combined net worth of $6.48 trillion, per Forbes’ annual billionaire roundup. You could probably name a handful of those billionaires off the top of your head without looking at the list. Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg, Mark Zuckerberg, and Warren Buffett are all easy guesses. What’s less easy to do, however, is to name female billionaires from that list. That’s partly because of those 1810 billionaires, only about 190 are women.

Interestingly, of those 190 women, 33 are entrepreneurs who built their cash stash via their own business ventures. With some help from Market Inspector, we’re recognizing the 10 richest.

1

Meet China's richest woman. She was born in 1970 and literally worked her way up from the very bottom. She went from sweeping factory floors to founding Lens Technology, one of the leading manufacturers of smart phone touch screens.

2

Also from China, Chan Laiwa is the founder of one of Beijing’s most successful commercial property development companies. She was born into royalty in 1941, but still built her business from scratch.

3

Pollyanna Chu oversees Kingston Financial, one of the most successful home-grown brokerages in Hong Kong. She’s also an executive at Golden Resorts Group and Sincere Watch, and was born in 1958.

4

Hendricks, born in 1947, is from Wisconsin and serves multiple roles: businesswoman, philanthropist and film producer. Her primary business venture is ABC Supply, a roofing supply company.

5

Wu Yajun is another Chinese businesswoman on this list, and is the co-founder and former CEO of Longfor Properties, a real estate development company. She was born in 1964.

6

Denise Coates is the richest woman in Britain and considered England’s leading businesswoman. She was born in 1967 and is the founder of Bet365, an online gambling company.

7

Perhaps the most familiar name on this list, Oprah Winfrey, born in 1954, is best known for her work on her eponymous talk show. She’s since retired as a host and is now the owner of the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN).

8

Biel Crystal Manufactory is a touchscreen manufacturer that provides screens for Apple devices. The company was founded by Lam and her husband, Yeung Kin-man.

9

Born in Italy in 1937, Giuliana Benetton is co-founder of Italian fashion brand Benetton Group, which has reached global acclaim with over 5000 stores worldwide.

10

You may be more familiar with The Gap itself than you are with the woman who founded it. Doris Fisher, born in 1931, established the brand in 1969 with her husband, Donald.

While money certainly isn’t the only indicator of success, it tends to be an accurate gauge for when an entrepreneur’s doing something right. Mad props to these 10 women for kicking ass in the business sphere and inspiring countless others to follow in their footsteps.