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Asia’s Power Businesswomen operate across a broad spectrum of industries, including banking, real estate, finance, commodities and technology. Some are leading their family business to new building heights for their own companies. Others have climbed the corporate ladder to the top. They are the first women to hold these positions in many cases. All the women featured this year are newcomers to the list and add to our network of outstanding Power businesswomen in Asia Pacific. They were selected based on their achievements and track record as business leaders. Here are 10 such leaders who make up this year’s Forbes Asia’s Power Businesswomen list.
1. Alice Chang
Founder and CEO, Perfect Corp., Age: 61, Taiwan
Alice Chang tops in Asia’s Power Businesswomen list. Alice Chang is the CEO and founder of the Taipei-based beauty tech company Perfect Corp. In the late 1990s, Chang left her job in finance to co-found the software company Cyberlink with her husband Jau Huang. Software company Cyberlink had an annual turnover of $150 million. In 2014, she left the company to found Perfect Corp. The main product evolved from photo editing software to AI and AR-powered services. It allows online shoppers to virtually try on hair color, makeup, jewelry and other products.
Today, more than 600 brands use Perfect’s technology, including some of the world’s largest cosmetics companies. Chang says that companies that help their customers try products before they buy them achieve better sales. She says, “If you cannot keep up with the new paradigm of technology, you are out of the game”.” Chang says the company is starting to use generative AI to make better product recommendations to users to improve its offering.
2. Carolyn Choo
CEO and Managing Director, Worldwide Hotels, Age: 46, Singapore
Carolyn Choo quit her job at a local bank in Singapore in 2002 to follow her father’s call and join his budget hotel chain. A former fishmonger and textile saleswoman, Chu Chong Ngen founded the Hotel 81 chain in the red-light district of Geylang in the mid-1990s. In 2017, she was appointed CEO and managing director. She oversaw the restructuring of the family business, which was renamed Worldwide Hotels. By October, the company owned 38 hotels in Singapore, managed by its six hotel brands.
By the end of 2023, the company will add three new hotels at a cost of around 1.2 billion dollars. Internationally, Worldwide Hotels owns a total of 11 hotels in Australia, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand. Chu says the company is not interested in resorts or luxury hotels. Rather, expanding Worldwide Hotels’ global footprint will be a top priority over the next decade. “We are not chasing targets or numbers, we’re really focused on the opportunities,” she says. “We are always investing for the long term. So, we don’t sell assets, we just buy. As of now Carolyn Choo is the second position in Asia’s Power Businesswomen list.
3. Junita Ciputra
President Commissioner, Metropolitan Land, Age: 62, Indonesia
Junita Ciputra holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of San Francisco. She holds an MBA in Finance and Real Estate from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Junita Ciputra hold the third position in the Asia’s Power Businesswomen list of 2023. Junita Ciputra joined the Ciputra Group, an Indonesian real estate company founded by and named after her late father, in 1988 as Finance Manager. Today she runs the group together with her older sister Rina and her brothers Cakra and Candra.
In addition to being a commissioner or Director in several of the Group’s companies, she is also the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of Metropolitan Land. Metropolitan Land focuses mainly on the construction of residential and commercial real estate in the Jakarta region. The company also operates shopping centers and hotels in Jakarta, Cirebon and Bali. It is actively involved in the Ciputra family foundations that focuses on education and entrepreneurship. It reflects her father’s goal to create millions of entrepreneurs in Indonesia. Ciputra has chaired the Citra Berkat Foundation since 2002 and the Ciputra Pendidikan Foundation since 2006. These foundations currently operate 11 schools and two universities across Indonesia.
4. Trudy Dai
CEO, Taobao and Tmall Group, Alibaba Group, Age: 47, China
Trudy Dai is an early founding member of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group and was recently appointed to lead shopping sites Taobao and Tmall. In the midst of the economic downturn in China, the 47-year-old is focusing on promoting products with a good price-performance ratio. This has helped Alibaba attract consumers and retailers alike, despite fierce competition from rivals such as JD.com and PDD Holdings. By selling cheaper products and lowering fees for merchants, Taobao and Tmall have been able to expand their user base. Dai led Alibaba’s domestic e-commerce sales as well as a business-to-business sales unit. Its global AliExpress shopping site and Taobao Deals, a platform for buying discounted goods.
5. Mahima Datla
Managing Director, Biological E, Age: 46, India
Mahima Datla is the fifth position in Asia’s Power Businesswomen list. Mahima Datla graduated from London’s Webster University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. After graduating, Mahima Datla joined a vaccine company and an Indian pharmaceutical company, founded by her grandfather and paternal grandfather, as general manager in 1998. Mahima Datla became Managing Director in 2013. Biological E is privately owned and Datla holds a majority stake. To avoid the pandemic, Mahima Datla produced a COVID-19 vaccine called Corbevax. Mahima Datla took collaboration from Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development to make the vaccine.
Revenues have increased at an average annual rate of 40% over the last four years. Its reaching 475 million US dollars (39 billion Indian rupees) in 2023. Biological E– which has eight World Health Organization (WHO) prequalified vaccines, including those for rubella, measles and tetanus. They produce more than 2 million doses every day and deliver them to more than 130 countries. Next up is a pneumonia vaccine, for which Data has received approval for production and marketing from India’s drug regulator.
6. Anna Ma. Margarita B. Dy
President and CEO, Ayala Land, Age: 54, Philippines
Anna Ma. Margarita B. Dy took the helm of Ayala Land in October. She became the first female CEO of the Philippines’ second-largest real estate developer by market value. Her rise comes at a time when the company – the real estate arm of the Ayala Group-is accelerating the rollout of residential projects to meet the rising demand for housing. Dy has been a member of the management committee since 2008 and joined Ayala Land 18 years ago. She oversaw several of the company’s luxury residential projects as head of the residential business group and chief operating officer.
Ayala Land’s net income increased by 41% year-on-year to 200 million dollars (11.4 billion pesos) in the first six months of 2023. This reflects stable rental income from its commercial properties and offices. There is the strong demand for residential projects such as Siella, Park East Place at Era Heights, an upscale residential development in Cavite, southwest of Manila, and Bonifacio Global City, a high-rise development.
7. Stephanie Hui
Head of private and growth equity in Asia Pacific, Age: 50, Hong Kong
Stephanie Hui is a Goldman veteran and joined the bank in 1995 as an analyst. She briefly left the bank to pursue an MBA at Harvard but returned to Goldman in 2000. She rose to co-head of the Asia-Pacific ex-Japan trading bank division just over a decade later. Stephanie Hui appointed Head of Private Equity in Asia Pacific (including Japan) in 2019. Hui worked on the acquisition of a 7 percent stake in ICBC in 2006 for 2.5 billion dollars ahead of the Chinese bank’s IPO. This became one of Goldman’s most profitable investments. The company also made a 36 million dollar investment in South Korea’s largest food delivery service, Woowa Brothers, in 2014 under its leadership. The German company Delivery Hero completed the acquisition of Woova Brothers in 2021 with a Series C round of USD 50 million and a valuation of USD 4 billion.
8. M.R. Jyothy
Managing Director, Jyothy Labs, Age: 45, India
Jyothy, holds a degree in Commerce and an M.B.A. in Marketing from Welingkar Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai, India. She joined the company’s marketing department in 2005. She was appointed Chief Marketing Officer in 2017. In the early months of the pandemic, she took over the top operational post. In April 2020, M.R. Jyothy took over as CEO of the Mumbai-based consumer goods company founded by her father, M.P. Ramachandran, and named after her. Jyothy Labs manufactures products such as dishwashing soaps and detergents at 23 plants across India.
The company is the market leader in the fabric softener segment with a market share of more than 80%, led by its flagship brand, Ujala. The company ranks No. 2 by volume in mosquito repellent coils and No. 2 by sales value in the liquids category and dishwash bars. Sales rose by 13% to 300 million dollars (25 billion rupees) in the financial year ending March 31. Net profit rose by 51% to 2.4 billion rupees despite a sharp rise in raw material prices.
9. Lee Young-hee
Resident of Global Marketing Office, Samsung Electronics, Age: 59, South Korea
Samsung Electronics promoted her from executive vice president to president of the global marketing office in December 2022, making headlines in deeply patriarchal South Korea. Lee’s promotion makes her the first female president of the tech giant. She is the first woman outside the founding family to hold this position at the Samsung Group. Lee Boo-jin, the granddaughter of Samsung founder Lee Byung-chull, is the president of Samsung subsidiary Hotel Shilla. Lee is the only woman among the 17 presidents of Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest manufacturer of smartphones, televisions and memory chips.
The company said in a statement about her appointment, “By promoting a female vice president with expertise and accomplishments to president, we have presented a vision for growth to female talent and given them the opportunity to take on bold challenges.” She has a master’s degree in advertising from Northwestern University in the US. She is known for helping Samsung Electronics become the largest smartphone seller by unit sales. “When marketers lose their way, customers lose interest too,” she said at a conference in Seoul in May.
10. Julia Leung
CEO, Securities and Futures Commission, Age: 63, Hong Kong
In January, Julia Leung became the first woman and the first Hong Kong woman to head the Futures Commission and Securities. This is an independent authority that regulates the Hong Kong securities and futures markets. She has a big task ahead of her as Hong Kong, which has ambitions to become a center for digital assets, is beset by the biggest crypto crime ever. At least three dozen people have been arrested for their alleged involvement in JPEX, an unlicensed crypto exchange. Hong Kong police say they defrauded investors of $200 million (HK$1.6 billion). The arrests came after the SFC investigated JPEX in 2022 and referred the case to the police. However, JPEX denies the allegations.
Leung joined the Financial Services Authority as Executive Director in 2015 and was appointed Deputy CEO in 2018. Prior to that, Leung was Hong Kong’s Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury. He was also Executive Director at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the city’s de facto central bank. Before joining the Monetary Authority, she was a correspondent for the Asian Wall Street Journal for ten years.
Conclusion
The “Asia’s Power Businesswomen” list is a testament to the influence and remarkable achievements of women in various industries in the region. It underlines the growing recognition of the important role of women in shaping the corporate landscape and highlights the individual achievements of dynamic leaders.
