Fan Hongwei (; born February 1967) is a Chinese entrepreneur and billionaire who is the chair and CEO of the chemical fiber company Hengli Petrochemical (恒力石化) and vice chair of its

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

Hengli Group (恒力集团). She was the fourth richest woman in China in 2019.

Early life and education

Fan was born in February 1967 in

Jiangsu Province Jiangsu is a coastal province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the third smallest, but the fifth most populous, with a population of 84. ...

, China. She attended

Nanjing Normal University Nanjing Normal University (NJNU; zh, p=Nánjīng Shīfàn Dàxué, c=, s=南京师范大学) is a provincial public university in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. It is affiliated with the Province of Jiangsu, and co-sponsored by the Ministry of Educati ...

Career

Fan started her career as an accountant. In 1994, Fan and her husband Chen Jianhua (陈建华) took out a 3 million RMB loan to buy Wujiang Chemical Fibre Textile Factory (吴江化纤织造厂), a failing textile factory in Wujiang, Suzhou. Fan took over the factory as general manager, and she and Chen restructured the company and grew it from a factory with 27 employees into the largest fiber producer in China and one of the largest weaving companies in the world. The company is now known as Hengli Group, and its main unit is Hengli Petrochemical. According to the company, Hengli Petrochemical became publicly traded through a

backdoor listing A reverse takeover (RTO), reverse merger, or reverse IPO is the acquisition of a public company by a private company so that the private company can bypass the lengthy and complex process of going public. Sometimes, conversely, the public compan ...

on the

Shanghai Stock Exchange The Shanghai Stock Exchange (, SSE) is a stock exchange based in the city of Shanghai, China. It is one of the three stock exchanges operating independently in mainland China, the others being the Beijing Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock ...

in 2016. In 2019, Hengli Group earned more than 500 billion RMB in revenue. Its activities include refining petroleum to produce

polyester Polyester is a category of polymers that contain one or two ester linkages in every repeat unit of their main chain. As a specific material, it most commonly refers to a type called polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Polyesters include some natura ...

, manufacturing chemical fibers, and real estate. It mainly serves the apparel industry, but also produces chips and filaments for packaging, electronics, and pharmaceuticals. It has factories in

Nantong Nantong is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Jiangsu province, China. Located on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, near the river mouth. Nantong is a vital river port bordering Yancheng to the north; Taizhou to the west; Suzhou, Wux ...

, Suqian, and

Suzhou Suzhou is a major prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province, China. As part of the Yangtze Delta megalopolis, it is a major economic center and focal point of trade and commerce. Founded in 514 BC, Suzhou rapidly grew in size by the ...

. Fan owns a 45% stake in Hengli Petrochemical. In 2020, ''Forbes'' estimated her and her family's net worth at US$6 billion. As of 2021, her net worth is estimated at US$23 billion.

Recognition

In 2020 she was included on ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' list of the 50 top

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

s in China and on ''

Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fate * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (19 ...

'' list of the 50 most influential business leaders in China. The same year, she was ranked sixth on '' Hurun'' list of the world's richest self-made women, with an estimated net worth of 53 billion RMB. In 2021, ''Forbes'' listed her as one of China's 20 top businesswomen. ''

China Daily ''China Daily'' ( zh, s=中国日报, p=Zhōngguó Rìbào) is an English-language daily newspaper owned by the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party. Overview ''China Daily'' has the widest print circulation of any ...

'' has listed her as one of the ten richest women in China three times: she was ranked fifth in 2018, fourth in 2019, and seventh in 2020.

Personal life

Fan's husband Chen Jianhua (陈建华) is also a billionaire. He is the chair and director of Hengli Group. Their daughter Chen Yiting (陈逸婷), born in 1993, is a director of Tongli Lake Travel (同里旅游), a subsidiary of Hengli Group. Fan lives in

References

External links