Men have often been the ones on top of the board, dominating the business world and running their own corporate entities. However, if you delve deep into history, you will realize that there have been many influential women in the past who had played a vital role in changing the dynamics of the male-dominated world of entrepreneurs. Even now, in the modern era, there are many successful female entrepreneurs who have established a powerful presence in the marketplace.

Top 15 Most Successful Female Entrepreneurs in the World

1. Sophia Amoruso

Company name: Nasty Gal and Girlboss Media

Net Worth: $5 million

Sophia Amoruso is a successful American businesswoman and founder of Nasty Gal, a women’s fashion retail store, which is one of the fastest-growing companies in the US. According to Inc., Sophia is a self-made millionaire who went through thick and thin, yet, she persevered and succeeded. She developed a website, Girlboss, to empower women and preach about their wellness, beauty, fashion, careers, and much more.

2. Gina Rinehart

Company Name: Hancock Prospecting

Net Worth: $23.6 billion

Georgina Hope Rinehart is an Australian magnate, the Executive Chairman of Hancock Prospecting, which is expanding rapidly. The company was found by her father, Lang Hancock, which was later headed by Gina while it was under bankruptcy. Gina reinvented the company and turned it into something much larger. She made the greatest fortune from the Roy Hill Mining project and is currently the richest person in Australia as well as the 75th billionaire in the world. According to Forbes, Gina has been listed as one of the most powerful and influential women in the world.     

3. Denise Coates

Company name: Bet365

Net Worth: $6.5 billion

Denise Coats is a British female entrepreneur. She is the largest shareholder and co-CEO of an online gambling firm called Bet365, which has over 45 million customers. According to Forbes, Bet 365 is one of the largest gambling companies headed by Denise and her brother, John. Denise is the highest-paid CEO of any UK company and is the richest woman in all of Britain, according to the Rich List published in Times Magazine.   

4. Huda Kattan

Company Name: Huda Beauty

Net Worth: $610 million

Huda Kattan, the founder of Huda Beauty – one of the fastest-growing makeup and beauty brands in the world – is another example of a successful entrepreneur. She is also a makeup artist and a beauty blogger. Huda built her empire starting with synthetic and faux minx lashes, which became the number one product in the market and sold out quickly. Since then, her business has expanded to skincare products to promote healthy, glowing, and natural skin.

5. Wang Laichun

Company Name: Luxshare Precision Industry

Net Worth: $10.4 billion

Wang is a Chinese female entrepreneur, vice chairman of Luxshare Precision, an electronics manufacturing industry that sells parts to Apple. She was announced as one of the world’s youngest self-made women billionaires at the age of 46 by Telegraph. According to Forbes, Want has an EMBA degree from Tsinghua University in Beijing. In 2019, Wang Laichun was recognized as the 71st richest person in all of China, and overall, the 1168th richest person worldwide.    

6. Arianna Huffington

Company Name: Thrive Global

Net Worth: $100 million

Arianna Huffington is a successful woman entrepreneur. She is the co-founder of and former editor-in-chief of a successful news website, the Huffington Post (also known as the Huff Post). She stepped down from her role as an editor in August 2016, and devoted all of her time to a new start-up, Thrive Global – a wellness program focused on the health and overall wellness of people. Arianna has been listed in Time’s Magazine list of the world’s 100 most influential people, and she has also been recognized by Forbes as one of the most powerful women in the world. 

7. JK Rowling

Profession: Novelist, film producer, and screenwriter

Net Worth: $60 million

JK Rowling is a British author, best known for her work in writing the Harry Potter series. Rowling’s books emerged into the limelight instantly once she broke off the publishing barriers. The books were turned into films, merchandise, and even themed adventure parks. Her books have won multiple awards, and more than 500 million copies have been sold around the world, making Harry Potter the best-selling series in history. According to Forbes, JK Rowling is the second-highest-paid author in the world, with the first being James Patterson.  

8. Oprah Winfrey

Profession: American Talk Show Host, Television Producer, Author, and Philanthropist

Net Worth: $2.7 billion

Oprah is best known for her television show, the Oprah Winfrey Show, hosted from Chicago. It was the highest-rated television program in history and ran on national television for 25 years. Oprah was titled the ‘Queen of All Media’ and was the richest African American of the 20th century. She is also the first black multi-billionaire woman in America and the greatest black female philanthropist in the history of America.  

9. Vera Wang

Company name: Vera Wang

Net Worth: $460 million

Vera Wang is an American fashion designer based in New York City. She is of Chinese descent and worked as an editor for Vogue Magazine after her graduation from college. She worked at Vogue for 17 years and later joined Ralph Lauran, where she worked for almost two years before starting her own business of designing elegant bridal-wear dresses. Since then, she has expanded her company and now designs everything ranging from jewelry and accessories to house care and kitchen products.   

10. Sara Blakely

Company name: Spanx

Net Worth: $1.0 billion

Sara Blakely is the founder and owner of Spanx, a clothing brand based in America for pants, leggings, men’s and women’s undergarments, maternity wear, and much more. Her products are supplied to more than 50 countries in the world, and she is recognized as one of the most inspiring businesswomen in the world. She is the 23rd American self-made woman and ranked 1941 most powerful billionaires in the world. You can learn more about how Sara started her business and became an empowering and dominating figure in the business world.

11. Martha Stewart

Company name: Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia

Net Worth: $638 million

Martha Stewart is an American businesswoman, founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. She is a lifestyle innovator who transformed her catering business into an international media and home-furnishing corporation. Martha Stewart has written several best-selling cooking books, including Martha Stewart’s Quick Cook Menus, and has gained a lot of success from various ventures, such as publishing, broadcasting, and e-commerce.  

12. Cher Wang

Company Name: HTC (High technology Company) Corporation

Net Worth: $850 million

Cher Wang is a Taiwanese woman entrepreneur who founded HTR Corporation and integrated chipset maker VIA Technologies. She is known as one of the strongest women in computer technologies. Wang has been listed as 54th most powerful woman in the world of business by Forbes. Cher Wang’s first company, VIA Technologies, was founded by her in 1987 and sold motherboards, chips, memories, etc. However, Wang’s dream was to introduce a handheld device that would work as a computer and would also be portable. This was when HTC was born and introduced notebook computers. Since then, the company has been quite successful, but like many other firms, HTC also faced some pitfalls and hurdles along the way.

13. Folorunsho Alakija   

Company Name: FAMFA Oil Limited

Net Worth: $1.0 billion

Folorunsho Alakija is a Nigerian businesswoman and a billionaire. She oversees several business ventures, such as FAMFA Oil Limited, which is an oil exploration and production venture, and Dayspring Property Development Company Limited, which is a real estate company. According to Forbes, Alakija has been operating since 2008, and the company is likely to grow through 2024. In 2016, she was ranked as the 80th influential woman in business and 96th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes.

14. Susan Wojcicki

Profession: CEO YouTube

Net Worth: $580 million

Susan Wojcicki has been a tech industry magnate for more than 20 years. She is the CEO of YouTube, the most popular online video streaming platform for billions of users across the world. Susan was also a part of the process of founding Google and was appointed as the very first marketing manager at Google in 1999. When she recognized the success of YouTube across the world, she proposed its acquisition to Google in 2006. Susan also took part in the introduction of Google Images, Google Doodle, and Google Books.  

15. Indra Nooyi

Profession: CEO PepsiCo

Net Worth: $80 million

Indra Nooyi is an Indian-born American female business executive. She is the former chairperson and CEO of PepsiCo and has consistently been ranked as the 100 most influential and empowering women in the world. She started her career as the product manager of Johnson and Johnson and stepped up to become the CEO of PepsiCo. She has now retired from her post but has paved a path for many young and aspiring female entrepreneurs in the world. Nooyi transformed PepsiCo into one of the most successful food and beverage companies in the world and contributed towards an 80% growth in product sales while she was CEO.

Essential Tips On Becoming a Successful Female Entrepreneur

The US Chamber Foundation states that only 2% of women who have their own companies have 10 or more employees. Plus, only a small percentage of venture-backed companies include a female founder, and less than 25% of women currently work in tech-based companies. Here are some important tips on becoming a successful woman entrepreneur and breaking away from the barriers that hold women back:

Understand Where You Want To Invest Your Energy and Time

Owning a business, especially when you have a family to look after, can be a tough job for any woman. You must understand where you want to invest your energy and time and what you need to prioritize. Once you know where your priorities lie, you can focus all of your energy on the task at hand, give it enough time and thought without allowing external distractions to take over, and be a step closer to your goals.

Learn To Hold Yourself Accountable

One of the most important things that any businesswoman or aspiring businesswoman needs to realize is holding yourself accountable for things. This includes setting goals, meeting deadlines, tracking and monitoring your progress, striking a balance in life, managing expectations, and more importantly, keeping your head held high even during tough times. Every time you are honest with yourself and accept accountability for your actions, you will take one step more towards being a successful entrepreneur. Thus, it is important for women to believe in themselves, for themselves.

There Is No Harm In Asking for Help

Whether you have a task that you don’t have enough time to do, you don’t understand how to do, or there is not enough time to do it, there is no harm in seeking out some help. By learning to ask for help, women can reveal their strengths and overcome their weaknesses. Plus, there is always room for learning and improvement, and if you learn a thing or two along the way, what’s the harm in that? By not seeking help, you will miss the opportunity of utilizing your precious time and efforts on something that far better and more productive.

It Is Okay To Fail

The fear of failure is what keeps most women at bay and away from becoming an entrepreneur. If failure had allowed many successful businesswomen, such as Sarah Blakely, to hold themselves back, our world would have been much different than the way it is now. Fear is a natural element that cannot be avoided, but learning to overcome your fear and thriving is a much more powerful element than fear.

Moreover, every successful business has been through ups and downs, but that has not stopped it from being successful.

Always Be Committed

Business requires commitment. If you are constantly distracted with other things or if you don’t have a consistent schedule, your business will most likely fail to succeed. Staying committed and consistent allows entrepreneurs to maintain focus and determination. It will also teach you to seek your own approval without any validation from others; thus, enabling you to grow and become more successful. 

Start believing In Yourself

When you believe in yourself, you don’t need anyone else’s approval or acceptance. For instance, your idea might seem bizarre to some people, but this should not stop you from believing and holding yourself back. Believing in yourself allows women to feel more confident and helps them overcome failures and hardships.

Identify Your Target Audience

Some entrepreneurs (both men and women) sometimes build their companies without even identifying their target markets and potential customers. Your target market should be clear so that you can focus your research, product innovation, and distribution according to their needs and requirements.

Don’t Stop Learning

Learning is something that nobody should ever cease to do. Whether it is continuing to master a new skill or seeking higher education in entrepreneurship, continued learning opens up possibilities for growth, development, innovation, new thoughts, and opportunities. You can also learn from others by surrounding yourself with people who excel at something that you don’t. You could also take a mastermind class, join a group, or learn from other successful women entrepreneurs.

Uplift Those Around You

Women who uplift others and empower those around them always attract the best of the best. You will end up with the best employees, mentors, clients, and friends if you start helping and empowering others around you throughout your entrepreneurial endeavors.

Develop a Strong Brand

Developing a strong brand will help to increase the visibility and credibility of your business. By developing a strong personal brand, you allow others to look at you as a market leader and help build trust.

Stay Approachable and Thick-Skinned

One of the hardest difficulties female entrepreneurs have to face is staying approachable and thick-skinned, especially in places where they are not appreciated or looked down upon for being an entrepreneur. In most countries, women with successful careers and opportunities are looked down upon and frowned at. Living in a world that puts out very few chairs for women around the table of importance is tough, but you can always bring your own chair with you and show them who’s boss anyhow. Being approachable and staying thick-skinned is one of the hardest and most valuable traits a woman in the business magnate profession can learn.

Learn From Your Mistakes

Every successful female entrepreneur has made their fair share of mistakes throughout their journey. It is part and parcel of the entrepreneurship world, but what’s important here is that you learn from your mistakes and take corrective measures. The takeaways you get from your mistakes provide a strong basis to grow, improve, and prosper.

Handle Responsibilities

By accepting responsibilities, we continue to grow and ground ourselves to perform better at every level. As a woman, you don’t have to fear being imperfect in the world of business. But you should be able to handle responsibilities that are laid out and be able to hold yourself accountable.

Learn To Say No

Learning how to say no is extremely important for women in business as it saves them from wasting their time and energy on unimportant things. For example, you should learn how to say no to bad offers, bad projects, bad investments, and bad employees. Learning to say to certain people and situations will allow you to deal with uncomfortable situations head-on. You will also be able to tolerate the feeling of seeming rude instead of trying to eliminate it.

Top Business Ideas for Women

Women all over the world have the gift of opportunity thanks to the internet and advancement in modern technology. However, running a business is not a walk in a park, and not everyone can easily become a social media sensation or a high-profile magnate. Fortunately, there are many areas where women can thrive and become successful entrepreneurs.

Education Sector

If you love sharing knowledge, imparting wisdom, and teaching, perhaps the education sector would be the best fit for you. There are several opportunities here, such as starting online tutoring services or teaching at the comfort of their homes. You can always build and expand this business into something bigger, such as a school.

Designing

The fact is that women actually have a better edge over designing than men. There are several areas in design, such as graphic designing, interior designing, fashion designing, etc. The opportunities and possibilities are endless; you just have to invest some time and find your passion.

Beauty and Skincare

Beauty and skincare is a growing business that many women have taken over. You can consider starting your own skincare product line or conduct online skincare classes. You could also start a makeup brand and set up your website to provide beauty and makeup tips. If successful, you can start your own beauty salon a few years down the line.

Event Management

Event management is a great business idea that can help females grow and empower in the world of business. For example, you can become a wedding planner to help the bride and groom organize their wedding. Event management involves a lot of multitasking, skills, and coordination.

Food Service and Catering

If you are a talented chef at home and love to work with food, you can always start your own food service or catering business. But keep in mind, though, that you will have to follow food safety laws and regulations according to the country you live in. You will probably have to have your home kitchen inspected or rent out a kitchen to kick start your business.

Challenges Faced By Women Entrepreneurs

Women-owned businesses are still in the minority due to the many hardships and hurdles they have to face when it comes to reaching the top. Here are some of the challenges that women in business have to encounter in order to be successful:

• Defying social expectations
• Accessing funding
• Struggling to be taken seriously
• Owning your accomplishments
• Building a support network
• Balancing business and family life
• Coping with fear of failure

Conclusion

If you are thinking of starting your own company, consider starting with simple and profitable ideas that bring something new to the market. You can always take inspiration from some of the most successful female entrepreneurs and how they started their journey. Check out this video of five famous women entrepreneurs sharing their success stories during an interview. Every entrepreneur has to start somewhere, and once you start, there is no point in turning back.