Forbes recently released its list of the world’s richest women. Here we take a look at five female billionaires who reflect the nature of what it takes to build strong, profitable, globally renowned businesses. There were some encouraging statistics on the 2013 Forbes list: 130 women made the ranks of the richest and 24 of those started their own businesses. Those numbers are cause for celebration; the growing number of women being recognised is encouraging, however the numbers when compared to Forbes’ entire list begs the question, how do we improve those numbers further? Only 1.7% of all billionaires are self-made women and only 17% of the women on Forbes’ list got there without inheriting a big chunk. Of those 21 the vast majority are from either China or the USA and started their businesses with their husbands. The rest of the world needs to catch up, including Australia. As for other regions, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) study of 59 economies found that women are creating businesses at a greater rate than men in three economies, being Ghana, Nigeria and Thailand, and are nearly equal in Brazil, Ecuador, Uganda and Switzerland. “Women are coming ready, willing, and able to fulfil entrepreneurial goals,” Susan Duffy, the executive director at Babson University’s Center for Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership told Forbes. So let’s look at five of the most powerful women in the world. Rosalia Mera Worth: $6.1 billion Industry: Fashion The Spanish Zara founder became the wealthiest woman in the world in 2013. Mera, who co-founded Zara with her ex-husband Amancio Ortega (the world’s third richest man), has found in the past 12 months that the value of Inditex jumped 50%. Mera dropped out of school at age 11 to work as a seamstress. This led to a business relationship with Ortega, whom she helped make dresses and gowns. After the couple split, she maintained her stake in the company and became an investor; most famously in a marine fishing farming group and a company that seeks to find cancer treatments in products from the ocean. She also has an investment in London’s Bulgari Hotel.#femalebillionaires
Posted on: Mon, 24 Jun 2013 07:29:02 +0000
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