Reema Bint Bandar Al Saud [File photo]

Birthplace: Saudi Arabia

Notable facts: In 2010, Princess Reema, along with a breast-cancer advocacy group she co-founded, led a campaign to create the largest-ever human "pink ribbon," made of nearly 4,000 women gathered in a stadium in Jeddah. She hopes to break the record in another event in Riyadh in 2015.

According to FP, More than half of Saudi Arabia's university students are female, yet women make up less than a fifth of the country's workforce. Princess Reema Bint Bandar Al Saud, CEO of the Saudi luxury retailer Alfa International, is working to tip the balance.

At the Riyadh branch of luxury department store Harvey Nichols, Princess Reema has hired dozens of female salesclerks, started an in-house day care service, and provided transportation stipends to female employees over the past three years. It's an encouraging model for female hiring in Saudi Arabia, one that not only introduces women to work outside the home, but that also helps them integrate their private and professional lives. As Saudi women inch their way into the private sector—this year saw the opening of the country's first female-run law firm and the first-ever promotion of a woman to the top editorial position at a daily newspaper—Princess Reema's high-profile example could lead the way to gradual but profound changes far beyond the workplace.