School dropout becomes world's richest woman
Zhou, the 47-year-old founder of Lens Technology, which
makes glass screens for iPhones, instantly became a
multi-billionaire when her company went public in 2015.
She is estimated to be worth $9.2 billion, found Bloomberg
and reported by Time. Her company is worth
around $11 billion.
Her number one status replaces Elizabeth Holmes,
the 33-year-old founder of healthcare tech firm
Theranos, who was worth $4.5 billion but lost her cash
when she was sued for fraud.
Born in China, the country with the most woman
billionaires in the world, she benefited from the Chinese
Communist party’s commitment to gender equality
which “allowed women to flourish after capitalism
started to take hold”, Huang Yasheng, an MIT professor,
told the New York Times.
She grew up on a farm and dropped out of high school
age 16. She started working on the factory floor for
a watch lens company, and attended evening classes in
subjects like accounting and fire safety at
Shenzhen University.
“I had a mentality back then that I only wanted to learn
whether you paid me or not. I had a pursuit different
from others because they all came from downtown areas
with money but I didn’t have any. All I wanted is to
change my destiny with my own efforts.”
At the age of 22 and with a few thousand dollars,
she founded her own company making watch
lenses in 1993.
She told the Australian Financial Review: "During
the period of China's rapid economic growth, there
were plenty of opportunities for entrepreneurs,
including women.
"It allowed me to develop my business."
She added that she “didn’t regret” going into business.
In the village where she grew up, she said girls did
not often have a choice whether to continue their
schooling, and would get married and stay in the
same place for their entire lives.
Orders then followed from HTC, Nokia and Samsung.
In 2007, Apple launched its first iPhone, and also
contacted Zhou. In 2003, after running her company
for a decade, Motorola phoned Zhou and asked if she
wanted to help develop a scratch-proof glass lens
for its new Razr V3 phone.
Five years later Zhou had factories in three cities.
In 2017, it has 32 factories and employs more
than 90,000 staff.
No comments:
Post a Comment