100 business women active in China have once again proved that gender and age cannot be the criteria for defining success. In the past uncertain year, we have seen that while women entrepreneurs continue to create greater business success, they are also undertaking more social responsibilities.
This is the eighth time in a row that Forbes China has launched the “100 outstanding business women in China”. This list has been trying to define successful business women. Although success should not be labeled as gender, we hope that Chinese business women can provide greater incentives and inspiration for more people.
This year, while focusing on the measurement indicators such as enterprise operation scale and quality, Forbes China again introduced the dimension of innovation to conduct quantitative analysis and comprehensive scoring on candidates. The list not only focuses on the financial values such as income and profits created by female entrepreneurs in charge of enterprises, but also focuses on the role and impact of women in the development of enterprises.
From the overall statistics, the average age of the 100 people on the list this year is 51, 60% have a master’s degree or above (including MBA), 25% have overseas study experience, and the total market value of the enterprises under management exceeds 11 trillion yuan. Geographically, Shanghai and Beijing are the cities with the most people on the list, accounting for nearly half of the total. Compared with last year, there are 35 new faces on this year’s list of business women, and the three major fields of medicine, technology and retail account for half of them.
Ms. Cao Xiaochun, co-founder and President of tiger medicine, topped the list for the first time this year. It is worth mentioning that she is also the only female business leader from mainland China among the 20 influential women in Forbes Asia Pacific Business in 2021.
Zong Fuli, vice chairman and general manager of Wahaha Group, is also a frequent visitor to the list. As the successor of the 10 billion beverage Empire, she is taking over her father’s business with the attitude of “entrepreneurial inheritance”. “Making friends with consumers”, “product IP”, “new product positioning health” and “Integrating National tide expression” are the new atmosphere brought by Zong fuli to Wahaha brand.
In recent years, the concept of “her economy” has become popular, and the related tracks have also risen strongly, and the vitality forest is the best example. In 2016, the co-founder Lujiao joined the company. She led several young partners to launch the innovative concept of “0 sugar, 0 fat and 0 card” with the original intention of “doing what you like, want to drink and look good”, breaking a new path for the vitality forest.
In addition, female executives of multinational enterprises are also an important part of the list. China has become the most important and fastest-growing market for multinational enterprises. Female executives with Chinese background not only play an increasingly important role in the company’s business in China, but also their influence in global business is gradually improved due to the excellent performance of the Chinese market.
With the continuous deepening of Chinese women’s independence, self-confidence, refinement and diversity, the “her economy” will have more room for development and innovation, and the consumption dominated by the “her economy” will gradually become a new driving force and direction to boost economic development.
This survey takes Chinese enterprises listed on Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong and American stock exchanges, female executives of Forbes Global 2000 multinational enterprises in China, and the founders and female executives of Unicorn companies valued at tens of billions of yuan as the research objects Innovation and other multi-dimensional comprehensive evaluation. The deadline for the survey is December 31, 2021.
Research team Maggie Chen, Elaine Mao, Vicky Zheng
Data sources: wind information, annual reports and announcements of listed companies, forums China Research
one
Cao Xiaochun
Co founder / Executive Director / President of tiger pharmaceutical
Cao Xiaochun has more than 25 years of experience in drug R & D, registration and clinical research, as well as rich experience in enterprise management. In 2004, Cao Xiaochun and ye Xiaoping jointly founded Hangzhou tiger to provide innovative clinical research solutions spanning the whole cycle for the global pharmaceutical and medical device industry.
two
Wang Fengying
General manager of Great Wall Motors
Wang Fengying joined Great Wall Motor in 1991 and served as the president of the company in 2003. At present, she and Wei Jianjun, founder of Great Wall Motors, jointly manage tens of thousands of employees of Great Wall Motors and are responsible for the marketing of Great Wall Motors. Wang Fengying once firmly said: “the development process of great wall motor is inseparable from innovation.”
three
Tao Haihong
General manager of North Huachuang
Tao Haihong is currently the general manager of North Huachuang, vice president of Beijing Electronics Society and vice president of science and Technology Association of Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone. North Huachuang is mainly engaged in semiconductor equipment, vacuum equipment, new energy lithium battery equipment and precision components, providing solutions for semiconductor, new energy, new materials and other fields. The company has four major industrial manufacturing bases and its marketing service system covers major countries and regions in the world such as Europe, the United States and Asia.
four
Lai Chun Wang
Chairman and general manager of Lixun precision
After nearly 10 years of working in Foxconn’s line fitting division, Wang Laichun left to start a business. She guided enterprises from OEM cable connectors in the initial stage to standard followers and then to makers. Lixun precision has entered the cutting-edge field of global high-speed connection interface technology.
five
Wu Yajun
Chairman of the board of directors of Longhu group
In 1993, Wu Yajun, a journalist, founded Longhu real estate in Chongqing. At present, Longhu group has projects in more than 100 cities across the country, with a cumulative development area of more than 130 million square meters.
six
Ning Zhao
Vice president of Wuxi apptec
Zhao Ning graduated from Columbia University and is one of the co founders of Wuxi apptec. She has successively served as the vice president of the company’s analysis and testing business department, senior vice president of operations and head of global human resources, and served as the co-founder and chairman of Li Ge Zhao Ning family foundation.
seven
Fan Hongwei
Chairman and general manager of Hengli petrochemical
In 1994, fan Hongwei and her husband Chen Jianhua used the first pot of gold earned from picking up waste silk and some bank loans totaling 3.69 million yuan to buy Wujiang Chemical fiber weaving factory, a town run enterprise, to build their own Hengli empire on the shore of Taihu Lake. Hengli Group now has one of the PTA plants with the largest monomer capacity in the world and the largest functional fiber production base in the world