Two Indian-origin women among Forbes America's 60 richest self-made women
Indian-origin technology executives Jayshree Ullal and Neerja Sethi have made it to the Forbes' list of America's 60 richest self-made women, with 20-year-old reality TV star and entrepreneur Kylie Jenner being the youngest on the power list. Ullal is ranked 18th among the 60 women, having a net worth of $1.3bn, while Sethi is ranked 21st with a net worth of a $1bn.
Social media branding helped the women become richer: Forbes
"America's top female entrepreneurs have shattered ceilings, building fortunes in everything from genetic-testing to aerospace. These self-made starters are tapping social-media to cement their brands ever more quickly. That, in turn, has helped the nation's most successful women become richer than ever before," Forbes said.
Ullal's Arista Networks recorded revenues of $1.7bn in 2017
Born in England's capital, London, and raised in India, Jayshree Ullal has been the President and CEO of Arista Networks, a computer networking firm, since 2008. The publicly-traded company recorded revenues of $1.6 billion in 2017. Forbes said the 57-year-old owns about 5% of Arista's stock, some of which is earmarked for her two children, niece, and nephew.
Sethi co-founded Syntel with her husband in 1980
63-year-old Neerja Sethi is the Vice-President of IT consulting-outsourcing company, Syntel, co-founded by Sethi and her husband Bharat Desai in 1980 in their apartment in Troy, Michigan (US). Starting out with an initial investment of just $2,000, they pulled in a mere $30,000 in first-year sales. Syntel racked-up $924mn in 2017 revenues; it has 23,000 employees, 80% of whom are in India, Forbes said.
Combined net worth of all 60 women is $71 billion
The combined net worth of the 60 women on the list is a record $71 billion, 15% more than in 2017. The minimum net worth to make Forbes' fourth annual ranking of these top women jumped 23% to a record $320 million.
ABC supply owner Diane Hendricks tops the list
Taking the "No. 1" spot is Wisconsin billionaire Diane Hendricks, who owns ABC Supply, one of the largest wholesale distributors of roofing and siding in America. Twenty-four of the 60 women are billionaires, another record, up from 18 last year. The richest of these 6 newcomers is billionaire Anastasia Soare, whose cosmetics company Anastasia Beverly Hills now has more than 17mn Instagram followers.
Kylie Jenner, youngest person on the list
The youngest on the list is Kylie Jenner, who turns 21 in August. Half-sister of Kim Kardashian West, who also debuted on the list, Kylie has leveraged her massive social media following (110 million Instagram followers) to build a $900 million cosmetics fortune in less than three years. That makes her worth more than twice as much as her more famous sister, Forbes said.
27 women in the power list are from California
The vast majority of 27 women in the list hail from California. 17 women on the power list made their fortunes in fashion and retail, while 10, including Oprah Winfrey and Taylor Swift, made it in entertainment. The list also includes immigrants who have achieved success and created wealth not only for themselves but also for their employees.
14 immigrants made it to the Forbes' list
Fourteen of the top 60 women entrepreneurs were born outside of the US, including Eren Ozmen, the majority owner of aerospace and defense business Sierra Nevada Corp. Ozmen arrived from Turkey in her 20s and held down several part-time jobs while attending business school, even working as a night janitor at Sierra Nevada Corp, years before she and her husband bought the company.
