In this article, we will be taking a look at the 11 self-made female billionaires under 50. If you want to skip our analysis of businesswomen and female entrepreneurship, you can go directly to 5 Self-Made Female Billionaires Under 50.
Presence of Women in the Business
The presence of women in the business has become more important than ever before. Today, we live in a globalized world and the internet has created opportunities for everyone to set up and start their business. Even young entrepreneurs are making millions of dollars each month, all thanks to technology and social media platforms such as Youtube owned by Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), and Instagram and Facebook owned by Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META).
Women can be as important for a business as men. They bring unique ideas, skills, experiences, and perspectives to the workplace. For companies, it could lead them to succeed in a globally competitive environment. A major feature added by women in business is diversity, including gender, ethnic, age, and cultural diversity. This improves the decision-making and problem-solving capability of a firm. Women bring alternate viewpoints, which can help businesses to target their female audience in various consumer markets. Moreover, women contribute enormously to the global economy, which is substantial considering the global economic crises.
Female billionaires are massively contributing to the global economy and self-made female billionaires are ideal for young girls to look up to in their professional life. The Forbes World’s Richest List 2023 states that female billionaires are up in numbers this year, from 327 in 2022 to 337 in 2023.
Positives for Women Entrepreneurs
Women are making their way to the top in the corporate world along with men. Over the decades, men had dominated top positions of executives in almost all sectors. The evolution of startups and modern technology has paved way for female entrepreneurs to show their skills as executives and businesspeople. As we mentioned earlier, 10% of the women executives are now leading Fortune 500 companies.
On 18 November 2022, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2021/2022 Women’s Entrepreneurship Report highlighted women entrepreneurs' statistics. The report suggested that women represent one in three high-growth entrepreneurs in the world. This is quite a development for female entrepreneurs over the past few years. “Women represent two out of every five early-stage entrepreneurs,” said Amanda Elam, the lead author of the 2021/2022 Women’s Entrepreneurship Report. Further, Elam added that women are playing an active role in the entrepreneurial economy.
As we mentioned earlier, women are mainly involved in three industries including healthcare, salons and pet care businesses, and scientific and technical services. To add to this, the Women’s Entrepreneurship Report suggests that almost half of women entrepreneurs held stakes in the wholesale and retail sector, with one in five women entrepreneurs involved in the Government and Social Services sector. Whereas, women in the Information, Computers, and Technology (ICT) sector accounted for 2.7% compared to 4.7% of men, who are starting businesses in this sector. ICT has one of the largest shares in the venture market, as it draws the majority of venture capital dollars around the world.
E-commerce has been a big market for women entrepreneurs to start their businesses. On February 8, Forbes Advisor shared 38 e-commerce statistics for 2023 which mention that 20.8% of retail purchases are expected to take place online in 2023 and reach 24% by 2026. As half of the women entrepreneurs are in the wholesale and retail business, they have a huge opportunity to take advantage of this online marketplace. Furthermore, Forbes Advisor highlighted that the global e-commerce market is projected to reach $6.3 trillion in 2023 and grow to over $8.1 trillion by 2026. Whereas, the largest e-commerce market shareholder is Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), with its online platform accounting for 37.8% of e-commerce sales. As we mentioned earlier, on June 19, SellerApp pointed out that 33% of the retailer sellers on Amazon.com are women entrepreneurs. This creates a great opportunity for women entrepreneurs to continue evolving in the fast-growing e-commerce market.
The expansion in the e-commerce marketplace is expected to create opportunities for new players online. Following Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), the rest of the big players in the market include Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT), eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY), and AliExpress.com owned by Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA). Forbes Advisor mentioned that the following e-commerce platforms are the most viewed after Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN). As of December 2022, Walmart.com ranked on top with 854.9 million monthly visits in sales followed by eBay.com with 669.5 million visits. The Chinese e-commerce giant, AliExpress.com made it to third place with nearly 651.9 million visits in sales.
The positive consumer behavior in the e-commerce market creates huge potential for online businesses worldwide. Nearly 57% of online shoppers shop from international e-commerce platforms. The increasing consumer demand is leading to better-than-expected results for e-commerce companies. Apart from e-commerce, women have made a fortune in other industries, which indicates that female entrepreneurs can dream big and achieve what many think is impossible. One of the self-made female billionaires on our list, Cristina Junqueira, has achieved what everyone might think is an industry where men dominate. In May 2013, Junqueira along with Edward Wible, and David Vélez co-founded Nubank. In December 2021, the digital bank went public on the New York Stock Exchange as Nu Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NU). Junqueira along with her team has built an empire of $36.49 billion in almost ten years, becoming the fourth largest financial institution in Brazil. Since August 2022 Junqueira has been serving the company as Chief Growth Officer and Nu Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NU) has made stellar progress under her leadership. On July 25, Nu Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NU) announced it has crossed 80 million customers in Brazil. Across Latin America which includes Mexico and Colombia, Nu Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NU) has surpassed 85 million customers. In June 2021, the digital bank had 41 million customers, which has more than doubled in just two years. On May 15, Nu Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NU) posted first quarter 2023 results with earnings per share of $0.03, surpassing consensus estimates by $0.02. The company recorded revenue of $1.62 billion, a year-over-year rise of 84.51%. Here are some of the comments from the Q1 2023 earnings call:
"Over the past two years, Nu was able to double the number of customers from 37 million in early 2021 to more than 79 million at the end of the first quarter of 2023 and already surpassed 80 million customers by April. The strong growth of our customer base associated with the rise in cross-sell and up-sell implied by the high engagement for platform resulted in our quarterly revenues multiplying by almost 7 times in only two years, a triple digit revenue CAGR over this period. The next chart of this slide illustrates our resilient underwriting capabilities. Quarterly gross profit, defined by total revenues, deducted by funding costs, transactional expenses and credit loss allowances, increased by more than 5 times in the period with gross profit margins expanding accordingly even though credit delinquency has increasing the market in which we operate over the past 12 months.
11 Self-Made Female Billionaires Under 50
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Our Methodology
To take data for the self-made female billionaires under 50, we looked into the Forbes list of the World’s Real-Time Billionaires. We checked multiple sources to find the data for self-made female billionaires under 50 and we chose the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires list as it provides the latest rankings. We shortlisted the list of self-made female billionaires under 50, who had either co-founded any company or did not inherit any stake. The female billionaire with the highest net worth is ranked higher and the female billionaires with equal net worth are ranked based on the overall ranking on Forbes World’s Real-Time Billionaires list. The list is ranked in ascending order of the aforementioned metric.
Where the net worth was the same, we used age as the tie-breaker and ranked the younger billionaire higher. Where the age was the same, we used the net worth as the tie-breaker and ranked the richer billionaire higher.
11 Self-made Female Billionaires under 50
11. Cristina Junqueira
Net Worth: $1 Billion
Age: 40
Cristina Junqueira co-founded Nubank, the most valuable digital bank in the world. Junqueira led Brazilian bank Itaú's largest credit card division before starting her own bank at the age of 30. She has an MBA degree from Northwestern University. In December 2021, Junqueira became a billionaire following Nubank's debut on the New York Stock Exchange as Nu Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NU) at a valuation of more than $50 billion. With a 3% stake in Nubank, Cristina Junqueira ranks 11th on our list of self-made female billionaires under 50.
Some of the top e-commerce stocks to buy according to hedge funds include Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT), eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY), and Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA).
10. Qu Miranda
Net Worth: $1.3 Billion
Age: 38
Qu Miranda is leading the Shanghai-based social and e-commerce platform Xiaohongshu as the president. Back in 2013, Miranda co-founded the company with Charlwin Mao, CEO of Xiaohongshu. Miranda and Mao both have an equal stake of almost 10% in the company. Qu Miranda with a net worth of $1.3 billion is ranked at 2232 on Forbes World’s Real-Time Billionaires list and ranks tenth on our list of self-made female billionaires under 50.
9. Li Qiong
Net Worth: $1.3 Billion
Age: 45
Forbes World’s Real-Time Billionaires list ranks Li Qiong at 2172 as she is one of few self-made female billionaires under 50. Qiong is the chairman of Beijing Kunlun Tech, which is one of the leading Chinese online gaming companies.
8. Yang Yunyun
Net Worth: $1.4 Billion
Age: 46
Yang Yunyun is a self-made billionaire along with her billionaire husband Ye Guofu, chairman and CEO of Chinese retailer Miniso. Yunyun is the vice president of risk management at Miniso. With a net worth of $1.4 billion, Yang Yunyun ranks among the self-made female billionaires under 50 and ranks at 2154 on Forbes World’s Real-Time Billionaires list.
7. Rihanna
Net Worth: $1.4 Billion
Age: 35
With a net worth of $1.4 billion, the famous pop star from Barbados, Rihanna is ranked at 2134 on Forbes World’s Real-Time Billionaires list. The Barbadian singer owns a successful cosmetics business, Fenty Beauty. She co-owns the company with French luxury retailer LVMH. Rihanna also has a 30% stake in the Savage x Fenty lingerie line. Rihanna ranks seventh on our list of self-made female billionaires under 50.
6. Wu Lanlan
Net Worth: $1.5 Billion
Age: 49
Wu Lanlan is the vice chairman of Shenzhen YUTO Packaging Technology Co., Ltd. The packaging company is worth $23.72 billion, as of August 2. Lanlan holds an MBA from Tongji University and ranks sixth on our list of self-made female billionaires under 50.
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT), eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY), and Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA), provide some of the top platforms that women can leverage to support their entrepreneurial ventures.
