To take care of her business, she had to leave her one-month old son at home. As a mother of two, she doesn't like cooking. And in the business world, she believes there is no gender difference.
This is Zhang Yin, founder of Nine Dragons Paper Industries which she set up in 1985, and No 1 on the latest China Rich List, with estimated assets of US$3.4 billion.
That figure makes her the richest self-made woman in the world ahead of US media star Oprah Winfrey and Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling. The list was compiled by Rupert Hoogewerf, the British publisher of Hurun Report and made public on October 11.
But the 49-year-old conceded that women pay a higher price than men for business success.
"In addition to the business, she needs to take her family into consideration," Zhang said in her first interview with Yangcheng Evening News, a Guangzhou-based newspaper after the list was released.
Despite the fact that she spends little time with her two sons and has only one dinner with them on the weekend, she said she has manages to communicate well with them.
"Communication enables them to understand what I am doing. Their understanding enables you to focus on your business," she said, adding that she has regular telephone conversations with them, and manages a monthly meeting of the family.
"The rich list, in my eyes, is just a pile of figures," she said.
"This year, I sit atop. Next year, it might be another. To me, the list is more like an endorsement of the years of effort by my company," the entrepreneur said.
On Hurun's eighth Annual China Rich List, Zhang replaced Huang Guangyu, founder of Gome Appliances, China's biggest electronics retailer, who was No 1 for two years.
Zhang controls 72 per cent of Nine Dragons Paper Industries Co Ltd, whose market value is 37.5 billion yuan (US$4.7 billion).
As the first woman to occupy the position, Zhang's is truly a rags-to-riches story having made her fortune in recycling paper and other waste materials.
Zhang said for a long time, the public had some misunderstandings about her career and company.
"After reading some reports, my little son nicknamed me 'Queen of Waste Collection,'" Zhang said.
"But we recycle paper, not simple waste paper collection. And I have great confidence in this industry."
In 1985, Zhang began the waste paper recycling business in Hong Kong with seed money of 30,000 yuan (US$3,750). In 1995, she registered Nine Dragon Paper Industries Co Ltd with US$110 million in Dongguan, South China's Guangdong Province. The market value of the company has grown to 37.5 billion yuan (US$4.7 billion) in 20 years.
Her company has become the largest global supplier of paper materials, with annual exports of 5 million tons. The business, which has maintained annual growth of 30 per cent on average, has expanded to American, European and Asian countries.
"The far-sighted market strategy led to the success of our company," she said.
After being crowned the richest person on the mainland, Zhang said her life has changed little from before, except for having to face the media.
"I am still trying to spend more time with my family. Although I do not like to do housework, I get along well with my sons," she said.
"In business, women are no different from men. No one will take care of you just because you are a woman. Success depends on your own efforts."
(China Daily 10/23/2006 page1)
