Category: Most Influential Women

KEEPER OF GLORY

The world’s favorite onscreen 31-year-old dazzling diva is not just any other actress, but is the most admired amongst the young generation. Priyanka Chopra has proved her acting skills time and again, be it the mentally and physically strong boxer in MC Mary Kom’s biopic or the lustrous style diva in Fashion.

Having born in a disciplined family with a military background, Priyanka is known for her dedication and hard work (sometimes working 20 hours a day) in the industry. She is remembered for her unconventional role in the movie Barfi, where she essayed the role of an autistic girl to utmost perfection.

Leggy lass Priyanka Chopra was crowned Miss India and Miss World in 2000. Since then, she has not stopped succeeding big in the Bollywood film industry. Priyanka follows the ideology of putting 90 per cent of her and her family’s life in front of public, while saving only 10 per cent to herself.

She is an active philanthropist and is the only Indian in the USA to have been elected at the state level for the National Opus Honor Choir, for her extensive charity work back in India and the US. She has also joined the CAF and CII in their literacy programs.

AN EARLY LEARNER

The Chairwoman of Country Garden Holdings Co. Ltd., Yang Huiyan, is said to be one of the richest women in China. She became one of the youngest billionaires after inheriting wealth from her father, Yeung Kwok Keung, the founder of real estate developer Country Garden Holdings, who transferred his holdings to her in 2007. Yang Huiyan is now the largest shareholder of the privately held property development and investment holding company.

Yang also chairs Board’s Governance Committee of the company that raised $410 million selling new shares in 2014, and also made its debut in the Australian market last year after buying a development site in Sydney for $65 million. This year, the Country Garden Holdings Company Limited’s traded shares saw an increase of 2.6 per cent.

The young daughter of Yeung Kwok Keung learnt the tricks of the business at a very young age when she started attending board meetings at a tender age of 13, where she used to observe her father take major business decisions. She joined the company as a purchasing manager, and was soon appointed its Executive Director. She formulates the development strategies of her company.

MARRIED TO HER NATION

Few women in South Korea have made strides as big as those made by Park Geun-hye. Having become the first female President in 2013, Park Geun-Hye followed up the achievement in promising a new era of the government.

She was as young as nine when her father Park Chung-hee became the President and the Military General of South Korea, and set a stage for 18 years of dictatorial rule. He was later assassinated by his intelligence chief. She also served as her father’s first lady during the 1970s after her mother’s assassination in 1974.

In a country still under the influence of strong patriarchal beliefs, being a woman President is not easy for Geun-hye. However, because of her dedication towards welfare of her people, she is highly regarded in South Korea. People believe in her as a woman who has the power to save their country.

Geun-hye has declared herself a ‘President for the People’ and promises positive changes in the government and the country through a unified party system, and through concerted efforts towards a united and strengthened South Korea as a nation.

THE REVIVALIST

Heading one of the world’s biggest banks is no joke! And Sri Mulyani Indrawati has proven to be one of the most pragmatic and industrious leaders of her time. She is the MD of World Bank and looks after its affairs in all regions that pertain to human development, sustainable development, poverty reduction, economic management, and financial and private sector development.

Prior to her World Bank’s stint, this Indonesian economist was creating waves in her own nation as the country’s Finance Minister. Indrawati is famed for her tough reforms that had helped Indonesian economy to sail through its worst economic crisis that lasted from 2007 to 2010. And during her tenure as a Finance Minister, she put noose around the neck of the corrupt officials and fired many. Some of the changes she had introduced in the tax and custom offices also helped these departments to regain their lost glory. Indrawati’s iron-fisted leadership style made her an icon, and she soon started being revered as an institution of integrity. She also created a milestone by helping increase direct investment in Indonesia.

Indrawati has earned much respect across the world for implementing key reforms in her country. Such has been her influence that when she tendered her resignation from the ministerial post to join World Bank in 2010, Indonesian stock exchange witnessed a conspicuous plunge.

WOMAN OF STEEL

Raja Easa Al Gurg has smoothly led the expansion of Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group’s trade and commerce and has added 24 companies and 370 international brand partnerships. Besides, Al Gurg has tremendously contributed in the economic, political and medical development of the region. She is a die-hard feminist, and has been associated with several philanthropic, social and women’s societies, including serving as Deputy Chair of the Dubai Healthcare City Authority, and President of the Dubai Business Women Council.

She is also the Head of the Saudi delegation in ILO and serves as the Vice Chairman and Director of the University of Dubai. She has the credit of being the first-ever Emirati woman to be appointed to the Board of HBME. She serves as the Vice Chairwoman and Board Member of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce in Jeddah and is the Board Member of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the Dubai Women’s Association.

She is a stellar example for women who want to pursue business as a career option in the Middle East. She is an institution in herself!

BRIGHT LEADER

What greater testament for success would one need than to be the President of Intel India? However, Intel happened to Kumud Srinivasan by chance, as her husband was shifting base to Albuquerque and there was no other employment option for Kumud. She decided to join the company for the initial years, but soon got so engrossed in the work that Intel proved to be her only employer till date.

Having served Intel for 28 years, this avid reader strongly believes that success has to be defined on one’s own terms, nobody else can define it for you.
Her success story is pillared on persistence, prioritization and support. She thinks that because she was determined towards her career, she was able to judge the need of the hour in the best manner. She never fails to pay her gratitude to her family and husband who stood by her in her prospering years.

This Economics graduate also chairs the position of General Manager in the Intel Architecture Group, and engages with the community in several ways. She likes to shares her own experiences with other women to inspire them, so they may also come forth and pursue their career with zeal.

ERUDITE JEWELLER

Being the first Chairwoman of the World’s biggest watch company, Swatch, speaks volumes about Nayla Hayek. This lavishing beauty took over Swatch after the death of her father in 2010. Instrumental in attracting and retaining the best watch designs in the industry, she plays an important part in the growth of the Swatch Group.

She has evolved the concept of watches from being a necessity to collectible items. Luxury watch makers are slowly taking over the market, and understanding the need of the hour Swatch has teamed up with several ventures in a deal worth $1billion, enabling it to serve the upmost class with refined watches.

Nayla Hayek has built these luxury timepieces an item of panache and premium mechanism to give the users best-in-class time-keepers. Under her leadership, Swatch plans to grow from 20 Harry Winston boutiques to 30 by the end of 2015. Believing in the ideology of her father that if you are not sure don’t buy, last year she picked up the world’s largest immaculate blue diamond in her hand with utmost surety to nurture the big stone for life.

A PEOPLE PERSON

Most of us know her as the wife of Lee Hsien Loong, the third and the current Prime Minister of Singapore, though she is much beyond that; a caring mother, a doting wife and as they call her – ‘the strength of the family’.
Internationally known to be the Chief Executive Officer of Temasek Holdings, she has served as a public servant for many years. She took Temasek Holdings from being a domestic firm to an emerging investor across Asia. She completed her Masters in Science from Stanford University, kick-started her career as an Engineer at the Ministry of Defence, Singapore in 1976, and climbed the success ladder until she became the Chairperson of the Singapore Institute of Standards and Industrial Research. As of 2013, under Ho’s leadership, Temasek had a principal investment portfolio worth USD 173 billion.

When her father-in-law, Lee Kuan Yew, passed away at the age of 91, this 62-year-old woman was seen calming her husband in the assembly, and comforting her son, Li Hongyi, when he broke down at the cremation service.
She stood strong not only for the family but in support of various social services as well. She ensures funding for education, health, sports and community welfare through her charitable organizations.

ACCIDENTAL BILLIONAIRE

Fate turned Chen Jinxia, a wife and a former accountant at several trust and investment companies, into an owner of an investment firm, Hunan Yongjin Group, after her husband Wei Dong’s suicide in 2008. He was one of China’s most flourishing financial entrepreneurs. Jinxia used to help her husband in his transactions and stock trades. Jinxia’s plight of losing her husband is all the more painful as she had witnessed him jumping to death from their ninth-floor of the luxury apartment at Beijing. Since then, the lady has tried her best to pick herself up and move on with life.

At present, she is one of China’s largest investors given the stakes of Chinese companies purchased by Shanghai Yonghua Investment Management, a subsidiary of Hunan Yongjin Group.

She inherited a momentous amount of share in the companies of Hunan Yongjin Group, which also includes shares in Zhuzhou Qianjin Pharmaceutical, Jiuzhitang, and the brokerage firm Sinolink Securities. Her total net worth is $1.2 billion. She likes to keep a low profile and is media shy.

VIBRANT ENTREPRENEUR

Aisha de Sequeira is the Managing Director and Head of investment banking for Morgan Stanley in India. With a working experience of 20 years, Aisha has achieved great heights!
Described as the ‘master of investment banking’, Aisha’s tenure with Morgan started with a summer internship. Thereon, she went ahead serving for 11 years in the mergers and acquisitions section to set up Morgan’s presence in Mumbai, India.

Aisha had turned down the opportunity to work in India where she grew up, stating that she was happy and content in New York. Years later, when she stepped closer to home, she had the responsibility of laying the foundation of Morgan Stanley in India as well as taking it to great heights. Aisha succeeded remarkably when Morgan Stanley India was able to shepherd 17 transactions in just nine months of its existence, becoming the number one firm in India’s capital market.

The vibrant entrepreneur is said to be one of the most influential women in India’s financial industry. Under her headship, Morgan Stanley worked on 10 transactions in 2012. Aisha’s zeal has helped Morgan reach the top of the success ladder.