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Forbes Honors 50 Power Businesswomen In Asia

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27 newcomers to this year’s list

SINGAPORE (February 26, 2015) – Forbes recognizes 50 powerful businesswomen in Asia who are driving change across diverse industries in its fourth annual Asia’s Power Businesswomen list. The full list is available here as well as in the latest issue of Forbes Asia, available on newsstands now.

To make the list, candidates have to be active in the upper echelons of the business world in Asia, wield significant power and have access to robust financial resources.

Among those honored for their achievements and success: Teresita Sy-Coson, Vice Chairman of Philippines’ SM Investments and Chairman of Banco De Oro Universal Bank, Ho Ching, Executive Director and CEO of Singapore’s Temasek, Pansy Ho, Managing Director of Shun Tak Holdings and Co-Chairman of MGM China, Sun Yafang, Chairman of China’s Huawei Technologies, Gina Rinehart, Executive Chairman of Australia’s Hancock Prospecting, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Founder, Chairman and Managing Director of India’s Biocon, Zhang Xin, Co-founder and CEO of Soho China, Yuwadee Chirathivat, CEO of Thailand’s Central Department Store Group, Wendy Yap, President Director and CEO of Indonesia’s Nippon Indosari and Mai Kieu Lien, Chairman and CEO of Vietnam’s Vinamilk.

There are a total of 27 newcomers to this year’s list and they include Noni Purnomo, President Director of Indonesia’s Blue Bird Group Holding, Lee Boo-jin, President and CEO of South Korea’s Hotel Shilla, Sonia Cheng, CEO of Hong Kong’s Rosewood Hotel Group and Executive Director of New World Development, Wandee Khunchornyakong, Chairman and CEO of Thailand’s SPCG, Katie Page, CEO of Australia’s Harvey Norman and Helen Yuchengco Dee, Chairman of Philippines’ Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation.

Two top female executives of Alibaba, China’s biggest online commerce company also made the list. Newcomer Maggie Wu is the online giant’s Chief Financial Officer and driver behind its blockbuster IPO. Lucy Peng, a returnee, is the Co-Founder of Alibaba and the energy behind its financial services affiliate, Ant Financial.

Noni Purnomo of Blue Bird Group Holding is the subject of the cover story in the March issue of Forbes Asia. She currently oversees the entire land-transport portfolio of the largest taxi company in Indonesia and is looking for new opportunities in logistics. Blue Bird aims to grow into a company that offers a full range of logistics services, including warehousing.

Sometimes referred to as China’s H.J. Heinz, Foshan Haitian Flavoring & Food is headed by Cheng Xue, also a newcomer to the list. She joined the country’s biggest maker of soy sauce in 1997 and now owns 9% of it. She is a member of Forbes’s China Rich List with a net worth of more than $800 million.

Women on the list are also advancing their leadership in the traditionally male-dominated manufacturing sector, as in the cases of Taiwan’s Enid Huey-Chin Tsai of Hiwin Technology and Japan’s Mayumi Kotani of Yushin Precision Equipment. Both debut on this year’s list and work for companies involved in making industrial robots. Tsai is also head of a peer-support group that promotes women in the sector.

Appearing on the list for the first time are women from Mongolia and Myanmar. Garamjav Tseden is the Founder and Chairman of Mongolia-based mining company Monpolymet. She started the company with a focus on gold mining but has since expanded into construction, mineral exploration and land rehabilitation. Myanmar’s Win Win Tint took the family grocery store and built a retail conglomerate that spans supermarkets, convenience stores, drugstores, bookstores and more.

Women from 16 countries are represented on the list. Listees from China and Hong Kong once again dominate with 14 women, followed by India with six, Thailand with five and Singapore with four. South Korea, Australia, the Philippines and Indonesia each have three, while Japan and Vietnam each have two. Malaysia, Taiwan, Myanmar, Mongolia and New Zealand have one each.

In addition to the powerful 50 list, 12 women in their late twenties to early forties have been singled out as “Women to Watch”. Among these women are Jean Liu of Didi Dache, a taxi-hailing app in China that has just merged with its biggest rival to form the largest company of its kind and Petrea Vela, the Co-Managing Director of New Zealand Bloodstock. Isha Ambani of Reliance Jio Infocomm and Reliance Retail Ventures, and Ruth Yeoh of YTL Singapore and YTL-SV Carbon also made the watch list.

For more information, visit www.forbes.com/asia-women

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