Asia is catching up to the West with the number of business owners entering the ranks of the world's billionaires. Here are four expected to take the spotlight in 2021.
Zhong Shanshan
The biggest news in the billionaire's club was the recent dethronement of Mukesh Ambani as Asia's richest man. Enter Zhong Shanshan, a once unknown, who grabbed the title from the Reliance Industries' kingpin.
Zhong's rags-to-riches story has captivated the domestic and Western news media. He started out as a mushroom farmer and also worked as a construction laborer.
Described as a "lone wolf," Zhong rose to the billionaire's club last year thanks to the performance of his pharmaceutical company Beijing Wantai Biological.
Zhong also owns bottled water company Nongfu Spring which controls a large chunk of China's bottled water sales and has a reputation for quality.
Zhong isn't often seen in public. He is known for not speaking to the news media and while his success story is getting known around Asia, he is considered one of the more reclusive business owners in the world.
With an estimated net worth of $77.8 billion, Zhong is now the richest man in Asia and the sixth richest in the world.
Colin Huang
On the last day of 2020 Colin Huang rang in the new year by overtaking Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s Jack Ma to become the second richest person in China.
Huang is the founder and chief executive of e-commerce marketplace Pinduoduo Inc. and, while he has yet to catch up to Zhong's in terms of wealth, the 41-year-old billionaire is expected to see his fortune increase.
Pinduoduo concentrates on selling its products in rural China and smaller cities. Its "budget" marketplace is popular among small-business owners and emerging businesses.
Huang's estimated net worth was $63.1 billion at the end of 2020 and with China's continued crackdown on Alibaba it is expected that Pinduoduo's popularity could increase further this year.
Tadashi Yanai
Last week, chairperson and president of Uniqlo Co., Ltd. Tadashi Yanai said the clothing brand would transform into a "social infrastructure" as it seeks to be a brand of the people.
Uniqlo is very popular in Japan and other parts of Asia. It is expected other countries will start paying attention to the company run by a leader who is an "enthusiastic reader" of customer comments and feedback.
Yanai is known in the clothing and fashion industry as a business owner who takes pride in "rotation:" He rotates his wearing of a few outfits. His signature look has been a $15 navy-blue crew neck jumper.
As of Jan. 7, Forbes estimated Yanai's net worth to be at $43.8 billion.
Zhang Yiming
Late last week ByteDance Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. were technology news headlines as the former accused the latter of blocking its cloud office suite on WeChat.
The latest technology war renewed interest in Zhang Yiming, the ByteDance founder and self-made billionaire. He had a tumultuous 2020.
Zhang has lost popularity as a result of a troubled 2020 for ByteDance. But subsidiary TikTok's continuing success with social media users might put Zhang back in the spotlight for the right reasons.
In 2013, Forbes listed Zhang, 37, as one of its top entrepreneurs in its China 30 Under 30 list. He is estimated to have a net worth of $27.7 billion.
