Zhong Huijuan | |
|---|---|
| 钟慧娟 | |
| Born | April 1961 (age 62–63)[1][2] |
| Nationality | Chinese |
| Alma mater | Jiangsu Normal University (Bachelor's), Nanjing University (Master's)[3] |
| Occupation(s) | Chair and CEO of Hansoh Pharmaceutical |
| Spouse | Sun Piaoyang |
| Children | Sun Yuan |
| Zhong Huijuan | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 鐘慧娟 | ||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 钟慧娟 | ||||||
| |||||||
Zhong Huijuan (Chinese: 钟慧娟; born April 1961) is a Chinese pharmaceutical executive, billionaire, and the world's richest self-made woman.[4] She is the founder, CEO, and chair of Hansoh Pharmaceutical, which is headquartered in Lianyungang and is traded on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.[5][6][7] She is the company's majority shareholder, with a 66% stake.[1] In 2021, she was the world's 89th richest person according to Forbes, with a net worth of US$19.7 billion.[8]
Born in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province,[9][10] Zhong studied chemistry at Jiangsu Normal University and graduated in July 1982.[11] She then worked as a chemistry teacher at Yan'an Middle School in Lianyungang.[11] At the same time, Sun Piaoyang, her husband, was the manager of a state-owned pharmaceutical factory in the same city.[1][12] (That factory would eventually become Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine, the largest listed pharmaceutical company in China.[9][13])
In 1995, Sun and an investor from Hong Kong started a new pharmaceutical company, which would become Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group (豪森药业, later restructured as 翰森制药集团). But because Sun still worked at the state-owned factory, he found himself too busy to manage the new company.[9][10][12] This was Zhong's opportunity to enter the pharmaceutical industry: she left her job as a teacher to run the fledgling company as a founder.[1][10][12]
The company had only about ten employees at first,[14] but it grew rapidly, and by 1997 it had US$4.5 million in revenue.[1] To help the company grow, Zhong reinvested 5% of sales revenue into R&D, developing products including antibiotics, cancer treatments, and psychotropic, endocrine, and gastrointestinal drugs.[14] The R&D budget later grew to nearly 10% of revenue, an unusually high level for a Chinese pharmaceutical company.[12]
Hansoh Pharmaceutical had its initial public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in June 2019 and raised US$1 billion. This made Zhong the richest self-made woman in Asia, with a net worth of US$10.5 billion (greater than her husband's fortune of US$9.4 billion).[1][5]
By 2019, the company had become the largest producer of psychotropic drugs in China.[11] Zhong owns 66% of the company through the Sunrise Trust, registered in the British Virgin Islands.[1] Her wealth grew significantly in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.[15][16] In that year, she was the world's 9th richest woman according to Forbes, as well as the 20th richest person in China according to Hurun.[6][17][18]
In 2007, Zhong received the March 8th Red Banner Pacesetter award (三八红旗手), which recognizes outstanding working women in China.[9]
Zhong's husband, Sun Piaoyang, is also a billionaire and is the chair of Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine.[6] Zhong and Sun are relatively private and rarely give interviews.[9] Their daughter Sun Yuan (孙远) is Hansoh Pharmaceutical's executive director and also owns a stake in the company.[5][19]