Nykaa founder Falguni Nayar strode into the top 10 list of self-made women billionaires in the world with a massive $7.6 billion wealth. She is the newest entrant in the women billionaires list, according to a compilation released by the Hurun Research Institute.
Nayar, 58, debuted at number 10 on the list – and the only Indian to do so. She toppled Kiran Mazumdar Shaw of Biocon to become India’s richest self-made billionaire woman. Nykaa, the woman-led unicorn offers beauty and fashion brands through its website, app, and several brick-and-mortar stores.
There are 124 self-made women billionaires today, the list said, adding all of them from just 16 countries. Japan, Germany, France, Canada and South Korea are the world’s largest economies without a single self-made woman billionaire.
India has tripled the number of self-made women billionaires over the last decade, the report said.
“There are 124 self-made women billionaires in the world today, double that of five years ago and 100 more than ten years ago,” Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of Hurun Report, said.
Beijing-based property developer Wu Yajun, 58, of Longfor is the world’s richest self-made woman billionaire with $17 billion. China has two-thirds of world's self-made women billionaires (78); seven of the women in the top 10 list are from China.
Apart from Falguni Nayar and Mazumdar Shaw, India has a third woman billionaire in Radha Vembu. The 49-year-old co-founder of Zoho is the third richest self-made woman billionaire in the country with $3.9 billion. She is the product manager at Zoho, a company she founded with her brother. Vembu has also seen the biggest rise, the list says, and has placed her at number 2 for the ones who saw most growth.
Neha Narkhede, the founder of software company Confluent, is also of Indian origin but based out of California. She has a total wealth of $1.6 billion. She features in Hurun’s top 10 new women billionaires.
Other noteworthy new additions to the list are Kim Kardashian of KKW beauty and Rihanna of fashion and beauty brand Fenty who debuted on the billionaires list this year with $2 billion and $1 billion respectively.
Whitney Wolfe Herd, 32, of dating app Bumble is the world's youngest self-made woman billionaire with $1 billion.
There are a total of 556 women billionaires in the world of which 124 are self-made while the rest inherited their wealth.
The Hurun Institute report is a comprehensive evaluation of the wealthiest people in the world and the largest compiler of the rich list globally.
