Lisa Su, Michelle Zatlyn, Taylor Swift ILLUSTRATION BY KEVIN MCGIVERN FOR FORBES
Only a tiny sliver of the world’s billionaires are women who’ve created their own fortunes. Still, this year their numbers reached a record-high.
It’s a rare thing to be a woman billionaire. Just 369—or 13%—of the 2,781 people on Forbes’ 2024 list of the World’s Billionaires are women. Within that cohort is an even rarer subset, accounting for just 3.6% of the list: women who made their ten-figure fortunes themselves.
This elite group includes entrepreneurs (like Spanx’s Sarah Blakely), entertainers (Taylor Swift), cofounders–including women who started businesses with their husbands (Panda Express’ Peggy Cherng)–and hired hands, meaning executives brought on to run companies (former Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg).
Despite their relatively small number, there are more self-made women billionaires this year than ever before—and nearly four times the number there were a decade ago. One thing that hasn’t changed: the group is dominated by women from China and the U.S., with 43 Chinese citizens (including 7 from Hong Kong) and 30 Americans.
The richest self-made woman for the second year in a row is Rafaela Aponte-Diamant of Switzerland. She cofounded and co-owns MSC, the world’s largest shipping line and clocks in as the world’s 48th richest person, worth an estimated $33.1 billion. The second richest is Diane Hendricks of the U.S., who cofounded building materials business ABC Supply with her husband and has chaired it since he passed away in 2007. Hendricks, worth an estimated $20.9 billion, is the world’s No. 92 richest.
Fashion mogul Tory Burch ($1 billion) returns to the billionaire ranks after an eight-year hiatus, thanks to a resurgence in revenues of her namesake fashion brand. Other notable self-made women billionaires include Oprah Winfrey ($2.8 billion), Skims cofounder and reality TV star Kim Kardashian ($1.7 billion) and singer-turned-beauty mogul Rihanna ($1.4 billion).
Here are the top 10 richest self-made women in the world.
NET WORTHS ARE AS OF MARCH 8, 2024.
10. Wu Yajun
Net Worth:$5.8 Billion| Age:60| Source of Wealth:Real estate| Citizenship:China
Difficulties in China’s real estate market hit the stock price of Hong Kong-listed developer Longfor Properties, which Wu cofounded with her now ex-husband, billionaire Cai Kui, in 1993. Shares fell more than 50% over the past year, erasing $4.3 billion from Wu’s fortune.Wu stepped down as chairman in 2022 but still has an estimated 43% stake in the company.
9. Zhou Qunfei
Net Worth: $6.1 Billion | Age:54| Source of Wealth:Smartphone screens| Citizenship: Hong Kong
Her Shenzhen-listed company Lens Technology manufactures touch screens for Apple, Tesla and Samsung smartphones. She was a migrant factory worker as a teenager, started Lens Technology in 2003 and took the company public in 2015. Her fortune is unchanged from a year ago.
8. Wang Laichun
Net Worth:$6.6 Billion| Age:56| Source of Wealth:Electronics components| Citizenship:Hong Kong
Wang Laichun and her billionaire brother Wang Laisheng started Chinese electronics manufacturer Luxshare Precision Industry in 2004. Wang Laichun—who also goes by Grace Wang—chairs the supplier to Apple and owns about 17% of the Shenzhen-listed company, which went public in 2010.
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7. Judy Faulkner
Net Worth:$7.4 Billion| Age:80| Source of Wealth:Healthcare software| Citizenship:U.S.
Faulkner is the CEO and founder of medical-record software provider Epic Systems, which serves more than 300 million patients and is the largest electronic healthcare record vendor in the U.S. She started the company in a Wisconsin basement in 1979 with $70,000 in capital and two half-time employees. Last year the company began integrating generative AI into the platform, allowing clinicians to use the technology within the software.
6. Tatyana Bakalchuk
Net Worth:$7.4 Billion| Age:48| Source of Wealth:E-commerce| Citizenship:Russia
Bakalchuk is the majority owner of Russian e-commerce retailer Wildberries. She founded the business in 2004 while on maternity leave and after realizing how hard it was for young mothers to shop for clothes for themselves while caring for a newborn. The company receives over 10 million orders a day, and processed 1.5 billion orders in 2022 from customers in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia and Uzbekistan.
5. Zhong Huijuan
Net Worth:$7.7 Billion| Age:63| Source of Wealth:Pharmaceuticals| Citizenship:China
Former chemistry teacher turned Asia’s richest self-made woman, Zhong traded in teaching to start Chinese drugmaker Hansoh Pharmaceutical in 1995; it produces drugs to treat diseases including Hepatitis B and certain cancers. She took the company public in 2019 and owns nearly two thirds of it with her daughter Sun Yuan. Zhong’s husband, Sun Piaoyang, is also a billionaire in the pharmaceutical industry and heads Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine, listed in Shanghai.
4. Denise Coates
Net Worth:$9.5 Billion| Age:56| Source of Wealth:Online gambling| Citizenship:United Kingdom
Coates started Bet365 in 2000, launching an online betting site the following year. Today the company says it draws over 90 million customers from around the world. She is the majority owner and co-CEO along with her brother and fellow billionaire John Coates.
3. Judy Love & family
Net Worth: $10.2 Billion | Age: 86 | Source of Wealth: Gas stations | Citizenship: U.S.
Love and her husband Tom (d. 2023) started the truck stop and convenience store chain Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores in 1964 with a $5,000 loan from Tom’s parents. Today the company, owned by Love and her four children, has more than 640 locations in 42 states and is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year with plans to open 20 to 25 more locations and update 35 to 40 aging stores.
GABRIELA HASBUN/THE FORBES COLLECTION
2. Diane Hendricks
Net Worth:$20.9 Billion| Age:77| Source of Wealth:Building supplies| Citizenship:U.S.
America’s richest self-made woman, Hendricks is chairman and sole owner of ABC Supply Co., one of the largest wholesale distributors of roofing, siding and windows in the country. She cofounded the company with her husband Kenneth Hendricks (d. 2007) in 1982, and led ABC to significant acquisitions, including rival Bradco in 2010 and building materials distributor L&W Supply in 2016.
1. Rafaela Aponte-Diamant
Net Worth:$33.1 Billion| Age:79| Source of Wealth:Shipping| Citizenship:Switzerland
Aponte-Diamant and her husband, Gianluigi Aponte, each own a 50% stake in the world’s largest shipping line by container capacity, Mediterranean Shipping Company, known as MSC. The Apontes founded the company in 1970 with a $200,000 loan to purchase their first ship. In 1988, the couple expanded into cruises and now operates one of the world’s largest cruise firms, MSC Cruises. Aponte-Diamant serves on the board of the MSC Foundation and is responsible for decorating cruise ships.
