There are currently more than 300 female billionaires in the world, most of whom inherited their fortunes. However, some earned their riches through hard work, keen insight, and good luck. Starting your own business isn’t easy, but these women make it look easy.
You may be surprised that the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner, Dolly Parton, and Serena Williams are not considered the wealthiest self made women. That’s because, as wealthy as these self made women are, they don’t even come close to being in the top 10 richest self made women. Even Oprah, with a net worth of more than $3 billion, has less than half of what the least wealthy woman on this list has.
If you want to be inspired by self made women who have conquered what is still considered “the man’s world of business” by many, we’ve put together a list of the ten wealthiest for you.
Fan Hongwei
Fan Hongwei is not only the wealthiest self made woman in the world, she’s also the 13th richest woman in the world period, coming in ahead of most women billionaires who inherited their fortunes. She did not, however, have their advantages.
She started in the modest position of an accountant. With money from her day job and her husband as a business partner, she took out a loan to buy a failing textile mill. She took over as manager and soon helped make the company the largest of its kind in China.
Over time, she expanded the textile operation into an international corporation known as The Hengli Group, whose primary industry is now the petrochemical business. Fan Hongwei is currently worth an impressive $18.2 billion.
Rafaela Aponte
In 1970, Rafaela Aponte and her husband entered the shipping business. They didn’t have any experience in the shipping industry, although her husband was a trained ship captain. However, this did not prove to be an issue for them.
The company they founded, the Mediterranean Shipping Company, has since grown to become the second largest shipping company in the world, with a fleet of more than 500 vessels.
Rafaela Aponte has made good use of this success and invested some of the profits from the shipping business to grow her wealth to a respectable $16.8 billion. She is the richest self made woman in Europe and one of the richest self made women in the world.
Wu Yajun
Born in China, Wu Yajun received her degree in navigation engineering, which she followed up with a career in journalism. She made her fortune, however, in real estate.
Her career in journalism was an essential part of the process, though. A journalism career is an excellent way to build contacts in the business world. And because a local government bureau controlled the newspaper, she also built up a good network of contacts in the government.
These contacts helped her launch a career in real estate. She is the co-founder, together with her husband, of Chongqing Zhongjianke Real Estate Co. Ltd., which has since become Longfor Properties. It now runs 61 shopping centers across China, and Wu Yajun has a net worth of $15.3 billion.
Diane Hendricks
Diane Hendricks was selling custom homes when she met her husband-to-be, a roofing contractor. They decided to pool their knowledge of the construction business to found a company that sold siding, windows, roofing materials, gutters, and more, which they started with a loan.
Starting with just three locations, she grew it into one of the largest such companies in the nation, with an impressive 811 locations. Today, she is worth $10.7 billion and is the richest self-made woman in America. She has used some of that money for philanthropic purposes and is involved in movie production.
Judy Love
Judy Love and her husband decided to go into the convenience store business together. They started by leasing a gas station in Oklahoma for just $5,000.
That single location has since grown into 490 areas spread across 41 states. Their business, Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores, now takes in about $20 billion each year.
It’s still a family business, too. Judy Love and her husband have been joined in running the company by three of their four children. Today, Judy is worth $9.7 billion.
Wang Laichun
Wang Laichun began her career by spending ten years assembling iPhones for Foxconn. She was doing more than just earning a living, though. She was also learning how companies like that were run. And she put that knowledge to good use by starting Luxshare Precision Industry, a company that manufactures cables, connectors, and AirPods.
Her company has become an essential Apple supplier in China. Today, Wang Laichun is worth $9.5 billion.
Zhong Huijuan
Zhong Huijuan studied chemistry at a Chinese university and initially used that degree to become a chemistry teacher. Her husband managed a pharmaceutical company. Eventually, he became the founder of his own company, the Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group.
He was, however, too busy to manage it, so Zhong stepped in and ran the company herself. It started with just ten employees but grew to generate $4.5 million in earnings in just two years. She wisely invested some of this money into Research and Development, and the investment paid off. The cancer treatments, antibiotics, and other drugs it developed made the company take off.
Today, Zhong Huijuan has a net worth of $8.1 billion.
Lynda Resnick
Lynda Resnick made her fortune by selling wonderful things. Or, more specifically, Wonderful things. She founded The Wonderful Company together with her husband. It sells specialty food and drinks such as the Pom Wonderful pomegranate juice drink, Wonderful Pistachios, and Fiji Water.
She oversees the development of new products, so she is the creative force behind the company, even if she isn’t directly managing it. The specialty food and drink business has been good to her. She is worth $8 billion because of it.
Zhou Qunfei
Zhou Qunfei is another self made woman who started without any wealth. Initially, she was an assembly worker at a factory. However, as the founder of Lens Technology, she has become one of the wealthiest women in the world.
In fact, at one point, she was the wealthiest self made woman in the world. However, her company fell on hard times, and she slid down the rankings a bit. She is still a billionaire, though, currently worth $7.1 billion.
Judy Faulkner
In 1979, Judy Faulkner had the foresight to see which direction the healthcare industry was developing. Companies that used computers weren’t prevalent then, but she founded Epic Software in her basement, which made software for the healthcare industry.
She correctly predicted that the healthcare system would have a great need for software, and today her products are used by hundreds of millions of customers worldwide. Her wealth has now grown to $7 billion.
