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World’s richest self-made woman is a Chinese entrepreneur from a small village

STORYCNBC
Zhou Qunfei, chairwoman and president of Lens Technology, during an interview in Changsha, central China's Hunan province, in 2015. Photo: AFP
Zhou Qunfei, chairwoman and president of Lens Technology, during an interview in Changsha, central China's Hunan province, in 2015. Photo: AFP

Zhou Qunfei now has a net worth of over US$8 billion, and is the richest self-made woman on the planet

Meet Zhou Qunfei: former factory worker, high school dropout and now, with a net worth of over US$8 billion, the richest self-made woman on the planet, according to Forbes.

Zhou is a Chinese entrepreneur who founded Lens Technology, which produces and sells glass screens and covers for companies like Apple and Samsung.

Zhou, 47, is the youngest self-made female billionaire on Forbes’ list and her humble beginnings make her trajectory that much more impressive. She grew up in a small village in central China. Her mother died when she was five and her father became partially blinded and lost a finger in an industrial accident, according to The New York Times. As a child, she began raising pigs and ducks to bring in additional food and money for the family.

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At age 16, the future entrepreneur was forced to leave high school to provide for her family. She soon scored a job at a factory making watch lenses for about US$1 a day.

Zhou tells the newspaper that factory conditions were harsh. “I worked from 8am to 12am, and sometimes until 2 a.m,” she says.

At age 22, she struck out on her own. With only US$3,000 in her pocket, Zhou and a few relatives started a workshop, making watch lenses for customers.

She lived and worked in a small apartment with her siblings, their partners and two cousins.

Though the company was steadily growing, it wasn’t until she made the career-changing decision to begin making glass screens for mobile phones that her business took off.

Motorola was the first to reach out in 2003, followed by other mobile-phone companies. HTC, Nokia, Samsung and finally Apple in 2007 were all requesting touch screens, culminating in her current billion-dollar empire.