There are more successful female entrepreneurs in Asia than in Western Europe and North America, according to new research from HSBC and market research firm Scorpio Partnership.

The study, found that 51 per cent of female entrepreneurs surveyed in Asia have a net worth of more than $15 million, compared with 33 per cent surveyed in the West.



The research is based on interviews with more than 2,800 business owners with a personal wealth of more than $1 million. It found that 40 per cent of entrepreneurs in Asia are women, compared with an average of 31 per cent in Western Europe and the U.S. In Hong Kong, this figure rises to 48 per cent and in Germany, it is just 21 per cent.

The survey also highlights other key differences between the new generation of entrepreneurs in Hong Kong, Singapore and mainland China and their counterparts in the U.K., the U.S., France and Germany.

Family plays a big role for both male and female entrepreneurs in Asia -- over 50 percent of Asian female entrepreneurs came from business families.

The research also found that even when not succeeding the family business, female entrepreneurs tend to rely on family assets when starting a new business. HSBC said that around 49 percent of female start-up entrepreneurs in Asia received their seed funding from their families.

This indicates that there are very few Asian entrepreneurs who raised a business on their own from scratch, which is also evident when looking at Forbes’ World’s Billionaires List.

Of the 511 American billionaires who made the list, 62 were women (12 percent) -- of which 18 were self-made female billionaires.

Notable examples include talk show host Oprah Winfrey ($3 billion), fashion designer Tory Burch ($1 billion) and shaping underwear brand Spanx founder Sara Brakely ($1 billion).

The list also included blood-testing start-up Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes ($4.5 billion) -- who is currently mired in controversy on the authenticity of its technology, GAP cofounder Doris Fisher ($3.1 billion) and HP CEO Meg Whitman ($2.1 billion).

There was also Korean-American Jin-sook Chang ($3 billion), who jointly made the list with her husband Do-won Chang as cofounders of fashion brand Forever 21.

In China there were 11 female billionaires out of 210 (5.24 percent), nine of them being self-made. Several examples included were FuWah International Group founder Chan Laiwa ($7 billion), SOHO China CEO and cofounder Zhang Xin ($2.7 billion), Beijing Orient Landscape founder He Qiaonv ($4.2 billion), Longfor Properties cofounder, CEO and chairwoman Wu Yajun ($3.8 billion).

In Korea, there were six women who made Forbes’ billionaires list, which includes Hotel Shilla president Lee Boo-jin ($2 billion), Samsung C&T Corp fashion division president Lee Seo-hyun ($1.9 billion), Leeum Samsung Museum director Hong Ra-hee ($1.2 billion), Shinsegae chairwoman Lee Myung-hee ($1.32 billion), Orion vice chairwoman Lee Hwa-kyung ($1.65 billion) and SK Happiness Foundation director Chey Ki-won ($1.17 billion).

However, there were no self-made female entrepreneurs. All the women listed were heiresses, with four of the six belonging to the Samsung family. Lee Boo-jin and Lee Seo-hyun are daughters of Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee, Hong Ra-hee is his wife. Lee Myung-hee is the daughter of Samsung Group founder late Lee Byung-chull.

Meanwhile, there were four self-made male billionaires on the Forbes list such as Smilegate CEO Kwon Hyuk-bin, Nexon founder Kim Jung-ju, Kakao founder Kim Bum-soo and Celltrion chairman and CEO Seo Jung-jin.

“There is still a strong culture of patriarchy and male supremacy in Asian countries such as Korea, China and Japan,” said a source from a women’s rights group. “Similarly, it is also difficult to find self-made female billionaires in Japan, Singapore and Malaysia.”

The source added that South Korea has a difficult structure for creating self-made female billionaires as most Korean women’s economic activities are concentrated in the service and manufacturing industry, where there is a glass ceiling.


By The Korea Herald Superrich Team (sangyj@heraldcorp.com)

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Hong Seung-wan

Cheon Ye-seon

Bae Ji-sook

Yoon Hyun-jong

Min Sang-seek

Kim Hyun-il

Sang Youn-joo