Although women entrepreneurs still face many challenges not commonly faced by men, corresponding to discrimination, the situation is slowly changing. In 2018, only 4.8% of Fortune 500 firms are led by women CEOs. In 2019, this percentage increased to a brand new level of 6.6%. In this list we introduce you 11 Top Women CEOs in Southeast Asia, from the Asia’s Power Businesswomen 2020 rating by Forbes magazine. These influential women entrepreneurs are changing the business world one step at a time. Get able to be inspired!
Kong is the fifth vice-chancellor of Singapore Management University and the primary woman to go one in every of the island nation’s top universities. A geography professor who helped found Yale-NUS College between Yale University and the National University of Singapore in 2011, Kong took the helm of SMU in January 2019. Since then, she has steadily developed SMU’s entrepreneurial potential amongst students. In February, SMU opened a brand new constructing featuring a 700 m2 incubation space designed to support innovation and entrepreneurship amongst students, graduates and native businesses.
Russell is the third generation to guide Malaysia’s largest tea producer by production, BOH Plantations, founded by her grandfather in 1929 (BOH stands for “better of highlands” – a reference to the Malaysian highlands where tea is grown). This family-owned company has 4 plantations spread over an area of 1,200 hectares, which produce roughly 4.5 million kilograms of tea annually, which is roughly 70% of Malaysia’s tea production. Russell joined BOH’s marketing department in 1988, after gaining an honors degree in commerce from the University of Edinburgh. Taking the helm as CEO in 2003, Russell expanded BOH’s tea range and increased international sales. It also focuses on sustainable development, including biodegradable products, recyclable packaging and cooperation with environmental non-governmental organizations.
Over the past twenty years, Preeyanart has grown the ability unit of Thai conglomerate B.Grimm right into a $3.7 billion company that operates 47 power plants in Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, with five more in development; and oversaw its initial public offering in 2017. B.Grimm Power remained undeterred by Covid-19, with net profit rising greater than 60% within the second quarter ending June year-over-year, driven by growth in production capability and industrial customers. Its portfolio includes conventional and renewable projects, including gas, solar, hydro and wind. Preeyanart joined B.Grimm 28 years ago as CFO and after its founding in 1996, he was appointed director of B.Grimm Power.
Over the past 23 years, Khanh has built her publicly traded company into Vietnam’s largest seafood company by market capitalization. The company also topped the domestic seafood industry last yr, posting net income of $50 million on revenue of $340 million. Khanh spent ten years working in state-owned enterprises before founding Vinh Hoan in 1997. It currently employs over 6,000 employees and 6 processing plants. Since most sales are international, Khanh says the worldwide downturn within the F&B industry will lead to a 20% decline in revenue this yr.
Muliaty was preparing to acquire her pharmacist license when, in 1988, her professor Andi Wijaya, co-founder of Indonesia’s largest clinical laboratory operator (sales), hired her as an assistant manager. Two many years later, she became president-director and led a national expansion that increased the variety of clinics from 107 in 2010 to 285 today. It also increased testing for autoimmune and other diseases, which accounted for nearly a fifth of last yr’s revenue. After a slump in demand that sent first-half sales down 18% to 657 billion rupees ($44 million), Muliaty has switched gears and began offering rapid Covid-19 tests that might be done within the automotive, at a clinic or at home, results published on the Internet.
Nualphan became president and CEO of Muang Thai Insurance in 2014, and last yr became the literal face of the corporate in its “Trust Pang” promoting campaign. Muang Thai Insurance is countering pandemic gains by offering flexible “mini” insurance policy. Nualphan comes from one in every of the richest families in Thailand. Her cousin Banthoon Lamsam led Kasikornbank, Thailand’s largest industrial bank (asset), for 28 years before stepping down earlier this yr. Her brother Sara Lamsam heads Muang Thai Life Assurance.
Eng is a pioneer within the traditionally male-dominated legal occupation in Singapore. In 2010, she became the primary woman to go one in every of the most important (when it comes to variety of lawyers) law firms in Singapore, WongPartnership. In 2018, Eng shook up the city-state’s conservative legal circles by joining global skilled services firm PwC, becoming probably the most high-profile lawyer in Asia to depart a standard firm to hitch a growing variety of integrated legal services that mix legal services with related consulting in areas corresponding to cybersecurity and regulatory issues. Less than a yr after joining, she was appointed to PwC’s global legal leadership team – the one woman on a team of nine – helping to oversee the network’s 3,600 lawyers in roughly 100 countries. Eng currently heads the Singaporean PwC member firm that now bears her name, Eng and Co.
Limpe-Aw is the fifth-generation head of the oldest distillery within the Philippines, which her great-great-grandfather founded in 1852. An immigrant from China brought with him a family recipe for a herbal wine sold as “Vino de Chino”. Since taking up in 2004, it has added latest products and focused on growth abroad. The company currently sells over 40 spirits, wines and liqueurs, including tropical fruit blends, and likewise exports to Asia and the United States. When some cities within the Philippines banned alcohol consumption earlier this yr resulting from quarantine restrictions, Destileria Limtuaco pivoted to producing hand sanitizers and disinfectants.
Jareeporn and her husband Somyos Anantaprayoon founded WHA Group in 2003, growing it into a number one Thai developer and industrial real estate services provider. After Somyos’ death in 2018, Jareeporn took the helm and continued to expand across Southeast Asia and domestically, including developing industrial districts for high-tech industries as a part of Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor initiative. Normalized net profit fell 35% to 715 million baht ($23 million) in the primary half from a yr earlier, but Jareeporn is confident that WHA will rebound from the pandemic-induced downturn. It stays focused on an ambitious 52-billion-baht five-year plan that may see the group add an eleventh industrial facility to its Thai portfolio this yr and diversify its businesses into energy and utilities.
When Alsagoff arrange the Bali Tourism Board website in 2005, she noticed that local banks were unable to process the net payments they attracted. So, with two friends, she founded Jakarta-based Nusa Satu Inti Artha, best known by its brand name Doku (local slang for “wallet”). Doku pioneered cashless transactions in Indonesia, overtaking domestic banks in offering e-wallet services. In 2016, Indonesian media group Elang Mahkota Teknologi bought a majority stake in Nusa Satu for an undisclosed amount, but Alsagoff stays Doku’s chief operating officer. Last yr, Doku processed payments value 63 trillion rupiah ($4.3 billion), up 50% from 2018, making it Indonesia’s leading electronic payment service.
Since joining FPT Retail eight years ago and becoming CEO in 2017, Nguyen Bach Diep has helped grow the corporate into Vietnam’s second-largest electronics retailer by variety of stores, with over 630 stores nationwide. In 2017, it added pharmaceutical retail by purchasing a majority stake within the Long Chau drugstore chain and expanded it from 4 to about 160 stores. To meet growing demand in the course of the pandemic, FPT Retail plans to open 60 more drugstores by the top of the yr. In 1997, Diep joined FPT Retail’s parent company, FPT, a number one IT provider, after earning a level in business administration from Ho Chi Minh City Open University.
Source: FORBES.com
