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February 28, 2015

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Chinese on top businesswomen list

FIFTEEN Chinese women are on Forbes’ top 50 Asia Power Businesswomen this year, including two from one company for the first time in the ranking’s four-year history.

The list covers 16 countries and regions in Asia and represents a vast range of industries, including traditionally male-dominated ones such as manufacturing and information technology.

The company with two entries is China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba. Maggie Wu, its chief financial officer, is a new face on the list. She helped the company land its record-breaking US$21.8 billion IPO on the New York Stock Exchange in September. She joins Lucy Peng, co-founder of the company and the brains behind its financial arm, Ant Financial. Its potential IPO is expected to make it worth up to US$50 billion.

Taiwan’s Enid Huey-Chin Tsai of Hiwin Technology is also on the list, together with Japan’s Mayumi Kotani of Yushin Precision Equipment, defying assumptions that making industrial robots is a male-dominated industry.

A number of businesswomen on the list excel in areas where men have held sway.

When it comes to property development, there is Zhang Xin, co-founder and CEO of Soho China, and Sonia Cheng, CEO fo Hong Kong’s Rosewood Hotel Group and executive director of New World Development. In venture capital, there is Xu Xin, founder of Capital Today.

Women also maintain their edge in the food industry. Foshan Haitian Flavouring & Food, China’s equivalent of Heinz, is headed by Cheng Xue, a newcomer on the list.

“China, the US and the UK are leading the world when it comes to gender equality in business,” said Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of the Hurun Report, which specializes in wealth rankings.

A Hurun Research Institute study last year found that 19 Chinese women were members of the world’s 45-strong self-made female dollar billionaire club, with three of them holding the top three spots.

Leading Forbes’ women to watch lineup, which includes 12 Asian women, is Jean Liu, president of taxi-hailing app Didi Dache, which recently merged with rival Kuaidi and raised combined financing of over US$1 billion to form the biggest company of its kind in the world.

Other rising stars include Liu Hanyu, founder and CEO of yidianer.com, the first online art gallery in China to accept online payments, and Xin Li, deputy chairman of Christie’s Asia bidding for Chinese art collectors.




 

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