Dong Mingzhu (董明珠)

Company: Zhuhai Gree Electric Appliances Inc. (珠海格力電器股份有限公司)

Headquarters: Guangdong

Main focus: Household appliance

Title: President and vice-chairwoman

Age: 57

When Dong Mingzhu started working at Gree in 1990, she was just a salesman, and Gree was only a local company. During the last 20 years, Dong rose from salesman to sales manager, eventually becoming sales director, general manager, and finally president and vice-chairman. The company is now one of the largest household appliances makers in China, and the largest manufacturer of residential air conditioning units in the world.

In 1996, Gree was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. In 2010, the company achieved sales revenue of 60.8 billion yuan (US$9.58 billion), and by the first half of this year, its turnover has reached 40.2 billion yuan (US$6.33 billion).