Having dropped out of school and once worked in a factory, Chu Quần Phi now owns a net fortune of more than 8 billion USD, ranking as the world's richest self-made female billionaire on Forbes' list.
According to CNBC, Ms. Chu is the Chinese entrepreneur who founded Lens Technology. The company specializes in manufacturing and supplying glass screens and phone casings to companies such as Apple and Samsung.
Ms. Chu, 47, is not only the richest self-made female billionaire but also the youngest on Forbes' list. Her modest origins make her current success all the more impressive.
Ms. Chu was born in a small village in central China. Her mother died when she was only 5, and her father later lost his sight and fingers in a workplace accident. While still a child, Chu had to raise pigs and ducks to earn extra money and food for her family.
At age 16, Ms. Chu was forced to leave secondary school to earn a living. Working in a watch-glass factory earned her around USD 1 per day.
In an interview with The New York Times, Ms. Chu said working conditions in that factory were very harsh. “I worked from 8 a.m. to 12 midnight, sometimes until 2 a.m.,” she recalled.
At 22, Chu began building a business on her own. With around USD 3,000 in capital, she and several relatives opened a small workshop making watch glass. At the time, she lived and worked in a small apartment with her siblings and two cousins.
The family company grew quickly, but its decisive turning point came when Ms. Chu switched to making glass screens for mobile phones.
In 2003, Motorola became the first phone manufacturer to become Ms. Chu's customer. A series of other companies followed: HTC, Nokia, Samsung, and finally Apple in 2007. All asked her company to supply touchscreens, helping create today's business “empire” worth billions of USD.
Ms. Chu said she is a perfectionist and admitted that running her business is not easy. She once revealed that she works 18 hours a day and lives right in her office.
Ms. Chu’s efforts have been amply rewarded: Lens Technology has grown substantially and now has 74,000 workers at 32 factories across 7 locations.
In an interview with The New York Times, Ms. Chu recalled difficult times. Where she was born and raised, girls like her usually did not finish lower secondary school. Their only alternative was to marry and spend their entire lives in the village. But Ms. Chu refused to follow that path.
“I chose business,” she said. “And I have no regrets.”
