Onetime Penniless Sweatshop Worker in China Takes on the Global Economy

Self-made billionaire Zhang Xin (pictured), CEO of Soho China, is betting hundreds of millions of dollars on new buildings in Beijing and Shanghai.

Zhang, 44, personifies the explosive rise of China, from the poverty of Mao Zedong’s communist rule to the riches of state-controlled capitalism in the world’s second-biggest economy.

At age 30, armed with a master’s degree from the University of Cambridge in England and connections from working at Goldman Sachs, Zhang founded Soho China with her husband, Pan Shiyi. The company became central Beijing’s biggest developer about a decade later in 2005.

Read more about her rags to riches story here — going from mindless factory work to building the largest property development in China — to learn tips (areas of focus) on what it takes to grow a business global.

Photo credit:  Seattle Times Newspaper (Bloomberg Markets magazine)

Posted by:  Laurel Delaney