In this list, we have tried to list out the top 7 most famous women entrepreneurs in the world. Even a few decades ago, people hardly talked about female business leaders; there were only two or three names, and most of the others were ignored. Can we say the same about their male counterpart? You already know that the answer would be a big no! Women entrepreneurs rarely get the limelight they expect or deserve.
However, since the early 2000s, our male-dominated society has seen that many top female entrepreneurs have started to shine, and in different industries. This was the time when our society could no longer avoid the role of women business leaders. Eventually, we got many extraordinary women business leaders, who have transformed everything they touched into gold.
So, what are we waiting for? Let’s dig deeper and have a look at the list of our top 7 most famous women entrepreneurs in the world.
Oprah Winfrey
How can anyone not include Oprah Winfrey? With a net worth of around $2.7B, she is one of the most influential women entrepreneurs out there, and she is also on our top 7 most famous women entrepreneurs list. She does not need any introduction and has become a household name around the world over the last 25 years. Like any other media mogul, she is well known for her super-strong media presence, including in movies like ‘The Butler’. In 2011, she launched her cable channel ‘OWN’, where she owns around a 25.5% share. Also in 2015, she bought a 10 percent stake in Weight Watchers. Eventually, she became an advisor for the company and secured a seat on the board for herself. She even appeared on TV as the spokesperson of the company. Later in March 2020, Oprah returned to the small screen on Apple TV+ for an exclusive show about COVID-19.
Arianna Huffington
Arianna is one of the most well-known female business leaders out there, and she is second on our list of the top 7 most famous women entrepreneurs. Many of you might not know that the award-winning news platform ‘The Huffington Post’ was started by Arianna in 2005. Later in 2011, she sold the company to AOL for more than $300M. However, she still provides the needed guidance to The Huffington Post, to help it grow in key Asian and European markets. She also ran for California governorship on an independent ticket against Arnold Schwarzenegger, but she later withdrew from the campaign. Arianna also appeared on Time Magazine’s list of ‘100 most influential people in the world’. Later in 2016, she launched Thrive Global, a start-up company and a digital platform dedicated to health and wellness.
Beyoncé
Now, who doesn’t know Beyoncé? At first, she came to the limelight as the lead vocalist of the famous R&B group Destiny’s Child. She later established her solo career and became a top-selling artist. In 2004, she entered the world of fashion by launching ‘House of Dereon’. Later in 2012, she launched shop.beyonce.com. In June 2020, she surprised her fans by releasing a song named ‘Black Parade’, which was nominated at the 2021 Grammy Awards. Beyoncé also made history by breaking the record for most wins ever by a female artist. So, Beyoncé is third on our list of the top 7 most famous women entrepreneurs in the world.
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw
Born in Pune, Maharashtra, India, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw is one of the most well-known business tycoons of the world, and she is also on our list of the top 7 most famous women entrepreneurs. She is the Chairman and Managing Director of Biocon India Group. During her first few years in Biocon, she found it difficult to find employees who would work under a woman entrepreneur. However, after many struggles in 2001, Biocon became the first Indian company to get the approval of the FDA for manufacturing a cholesterol-lowering molecule. Soon, the profits started skyrocketing, and Kiran became one of the richest business tycoons in India. Later in 2005, she also received India’s highest civilian honors Padma Bhushan Award, for her groundbreaking work in biotechnology.
Weili Dai
5th in our list of the top 7 most famous women entrepreneurs is Weili Dai. She is the Co-founder of MRVL, and she is also considered to be the only woman founder to have established a semiconductor company. Marvell’s technology is the most important component for our planet’s mobile computing, communication, and other industries. Currently, with a net worth of $1.7B, she is one of the most well-known female business leaders on our planet.
Sara Blakely
6th in our list of the top 7 most famous women entrepreneurs is Sara Blakely. She is an American inventor and one of the most well-known female entrepreneurs who created Spanx, which is a brand of body slimming women’s undergarments. A major break came in her life when Oprah Winfrey featured her brand Spanx in her television talk show. This eventually led to skyrocketing sales, and soon Sara was able to build an empire of her own without any advertising. In early 2012, Spanx was valued at $1B, and in 2015, she purchased the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA along with other investors.
Zhang Xin
Zhang Xin, the CEO of SOHO Beijing, which is the largest real estate developer in China, is also on our list of the top 7 most famous women entrepreneurs in the world. With as many as 5 million followers on Weibo, Zhang is one of the top female entrepreneurs in China. She is also considered the seventh richest self-made woman globally, and she is 7 times richer than Queen Elizabeth II. In 2008 and 2011, she was recognized as one of the ‘world’s most powerful women.’
So, here we have listed out the top 7 most famous women entrepreneurs in the world. Please note, this listing is not in any particular order. Our idea was to show how female business leaders are now coming into the limelight than ever before, which is of utmost importance for any society.
