Richest and Most Influential Women in the World 2018

There is a breed of women who seem too obsessed with the idea of getting a wealthy man to maintain them,  as they lazy around like trophies, careful not to break their nails, as between them and the next manicure is the hope of a rich prince charming.

A generation of socialites with heavy make-up, desperate to draw attention on social media for the most ludicrous reasons and shortens each word since they don’t even know how to spell it, is what seems to dominate the society, well, I am no moral cop, and unto each her own.

There is another breed of women who pride in maintaining themselves, taking the lead role, even in taking care of their families or running a business and can only be defined by  Ariana Dancu’s quote, “She made broken look beautiful and strong look invincible. She walked with the Universe on her shoulders and made it look like a pair of wings.” A strong-willed woman is worth thousands of men, below is a list of the most influential women in the World whose opinion draws attention from millions.

• Gina Rinehart- Net Worth $11.7 Billion

Billionaire Gina Rinehart, from Australia, is the richest person in Australia and the 6th richest woman in the world, with a net worth of $11.7 billion.

Gina is the chair of Hancock Prospecting Group a mining company that manufacturers 30 million tonnes of iron ore annually.

Gina took over the company’s leadership after her father’s demise in 1992 and has since become one of the richest and most influential female entrepreneurs in the world.

• Oprah Winfrey-Net Worth $3 Billion

Oprah Winfrey, an icon to young girls and women, is of a number of talents, successful actress, talk show host, producer, and philanthropist. Famous for the ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’, which is ranked as one of the longest-running daytime talk shows to have ever been aired as it had a whole 25 seasons that, lasted 25 years!

Oprah has amassed a net worth of $3 billion which makes her one of the richest, most liked and influential female entrepreneurs in the world.

• Folorunsho Alakija- Net Worth $2.5 Billion

Folorunsho Alakija is the richest female entrepreneur in Nigeria despite not being as famous as other members in this list.

Alakija’s first company was in tailoring and was called Supreme Stitches; she founded it after her two previous jobs: one at Sijuade Enterprises, Nigeria, and the First National Bank, Chicago.

Supreme Stitches took into stride after a few years and Alakija focused on other investment industries, namely the oil and printing industry.

Forbes named her 96th most powerful woman in the World.

• Denise Coates-Net Worth $2.5 Billion

Denise Coates is the founder of an English based online gambling company, Bet365. She bought Bet365.com domain name in January 2000, took a year building it, using a £15 million loan and released it to the public.

Bet365 has since then become one of the largest online gambling sites, with adverts all over, in the world.

• Cher Wang-Net worth $1.6 Billion

Cher Wang is a co-founder of HTC since 1997, the famous mobile technology company and also co-founding VIA in 1987.

Cher has featured on Forbes world’s billionaire’s list in 2010, 2011 and 2012 and the list of the World’s most powerful women in 2012. She has an estimated net worth of 1.6 billion dollars.

• Wang Laichun-Net Worth $1.5 Billion

The chair of Luxshare, a Chinese electronics manufacturer that supplies Apple with most of its parts, Wang Laichun, has been named as one of the world’s youngest self-made female billionaires.

Wan Laichun purchased the company in partnership with her brother in 2004.

• Sara Blakely- Net Worth $1 Billion

Spanx, a multimillion undergarment company, was founded by Sara Blakely. Despite not having that much money to invest at the early stages and having potential investors reject her idea, it took off with compliments from Oprah Winfrey boosting awareness and sale at the company’s initial stages.

• Sheryl Sandberg- Net Worth $1 Billion

Facebook’s COO, Sheryl Sandberg, is an American technology executive, activist, and author. She also sits in the Walt Disney Company board meetings, Women for Women International and Center for Global Development.

Time Magazine listed her as the top 100 most influential people in the world in 2012.

• Beyonce- Net Worth $450 million

Beyonce who is an established musician and actress makes more money from endorsements and her own clothing line. Her net worth put together with that of Jayz, her husband, is estimated to be $1 Billion making them one of the richest couples in the World.

• Indra Nooyi- Net Worth $144 Million

Indra Nooyi, American, is currently the CEO Pepsi Company which she joined in 1994, became the CFO in 2001 before rising to be the CEO in 2006.

Indra, according to Forbes, ranked the 13th most powerful woman in the world. Her salary is estimated to be $28.6 million, proving just what an asset she is to PepsiCo.