Introduction

Women entrepreneurs define the world with their courage and innovation, reshaping industries, and making commendable contributions to the economy. Despite a gender-biased society, women are creating their own identities and businesses. Organizations and governments are actively supporting women’s entrepreneurship by implementing policies that address challenges faced by female entrepreneurs. Studies show that businesses owned by women are more likely to exceed expectations in terms of innovation, customer satisfaction, and social responsibility. They are inspiring future generations by proving that innovation, leadership, and success are not limited to one gender.

Here are the top 5 famous women entrepreneurs who have changed society’s way of thinking and introduced ideas that have revolutionized the world.

Oprah Winfrey (Women entrepreneur in Media and entertainment)

Oprah Winfrey is the first Black female billionaire in the world. Despite having a very challenging childhood, she became a media tycoon, philanthropist, and billionaire.

At the age of six, she went to live with her mother, where she faced many challenges, including physical and emotional abuse from family members and friends. At 13, she ran away from home and started living with her father. Her father always encouraged her education and taught her the importance of discipline. She was an excellent student and won a full scholarship to Tennessee State University, where she studied communications.

At 17, she won a local beauty pageant and got her first job in media as a news anchor at WVOL, a local radio station in Nashville.

I once watched one of her TV shows where she interacted with people from all social classes, from lower-class families to the elite. Despite her success, she showed immense warmth and respect to the lower-class families, proving how grounded she remained despite her fame. In one interview, she famously said, “I wear good shoes, but I am grounded.”

She was also honored with America’s highest civilian award, the “Presidential Medal of Freedom.” Oprah Winfrey is truly an inspiration to all of us and one of the most successful women entrepreneurs.

Sara Blakely (Women entrepreneurs in fashion and apparels)

Sara Blakely born on the 27th of February, in the year 1971, is a national of Clearwater, Florida. She enjoyed lots of support from her family and had an optimistic father, who always viewed her failures as learning experiences and encouraged improvement. At the dining table, he asked,” What did you fail at today?” This kind of growing up brought motivation to always push her to raise her decision-making while doing business and encouraged her to become one of the famous women entrepreneurs.

In school, she has co-curricular involvement as a comm major at Florida State University. She was into law for the time but ended up failing her entrance into law school twice by taking LSAT. She also turned into working in stand-up comedy and as a fax machine salesperson and worked at Disney World.

Sara usually feels frustrated with uncomfortable underwear. That’s how she came up with the thought of footless pantyhose that smooth out under white pants and become one of the famous women entrepreneurs. With 5,000 in savings, she patented her idea, produced a prototype, and pitched it to manufacturers, many of whom initially rejected it. In 2000, however, Oprah herself named Spanx one of her “Favorite Things,” which was a huge boost for the brand.

Remarkably, Sara never pitched her company to investors and never took any investments, keeping full control of her company until she sold most of it in 2021. She is also a philanthropist and supports women in entering business and education through the Sara Blakely Foundation. She pledged half of her worth to charity as well.

Sara Blakely is a clear example of how dedication, motivation, imagination, and a fearless mind can change a simple idea into an established empire and become one of the most famous women entrepreneurs.

Rihanna (Women entrepreneurs in Beauty & Fashion)

The first billionaire female musician, Rihanna, is a name that connotes world music and culture. Born in Saint Michael, Barbados, on February 20, 1988, she spent her childhood in a humble environment, but childhood was not easy for her. Her father was a drug addict, and when she was 14 years old, her parents divorced.

Despite those hindrances, she has been interested in music for most of her life. The song Unfaithful was written after a love affair went wrong. One day, record producer and songwriter Evan Rogers happened to be visiting Barbados, heard Rihanna sing, spotted stardom in her, and facilitated her leaving Barbados for the U.S. to provide her with a larger platform from which to showcase her talents—and the rest is history.

Rihanna in 2011 with her fragrance launch became the most famous musician women entrepreneurs, Reb’l Fleur, which coined success. Tapping into that success, she went on to penetrate the cosmetics industry with the Fenty Beauty launch in 2017. The brand prescribed a new concept to the beauty industry, one that was then less developed: inclusivity and diversity. Fenty Beauty got an incredible reputation for the number of foundation shades it offered for all skin tones and within no time became a darling among consumers and beauty enthusiasts.

Después de Fenty, Rihanna penetrated the lingerie and sleepwear industry, creating Savage x Fenty, which is praised for its diversity in colors and size inclusivity. By 2021, the company was worth $1 billion and had about 4.5 million followers on social media.

Besides business, she maintains a spirit of giving and charity. The Clara Lionel Foundation (CLF), which provides aid to disadvantaged communities, improves the quality of life, particularly in Barbados and the U.S., and offers relief in case of disasters, was established by Rihanna.

Rihanna’s journey speaks of the importance of being real to oneself, embracing one’s uniqueness, and using one’s voice to create an impact and she he become one of the most successful celebrity women entrepreneurs.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (Women entrepreneurs in Biotech & Pharmaceuticals)

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, born on March 23, 1953, in Bangalore, was born to a well-educated and fairly liberal family that always encouraged her to take up academic pursuits and follow her dreams. She is India’s first female billionaire entrepreneur in the biotech sector.

She finished her schooling at Bishop Cotton Girls’ High School in the year 1968. She graduated with a B.Sc. in Zoology (Honours) from Bangalore University in 1973 and then went to Australia for higher studies.

She returned and applied for jobs in Mumbai and Bangalore, but her branch of study was considered irrelevant to their companies, which constituted her first stumbling block in life. After the repeated expiry of her job applications, she decided to try her chances abroad and landed her very first job in Scotland.

It was in Scotland that she met John Shaw, who later became her husband. Although Kiran had a well-paying job in Scotland, she wanted to work in India. During that time, she came in contact with an Irish entrepreneur seeking to get an Indian partner who could help set up his company, Biocon Biochemicals Ltd., in India, which manufactured enzymes for food packaging, textiles, and alcohol production.

In 1978, she started Biocon Limited in Bangalore with an initial investment of only ₹10,000. Because of an acute shortage of funds, the company couldn’t afford a full workforce, and they initially hired an army officer with limited knowledge of biotechnology. Within one year, the company started finding a track to be included in the fast lane of success. Biocon began to export both mineral water and pharma goods to the USA and Europe, which had not been attempted by any Indian company.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw later secured funding from the U.S. and received the Padma Shri Award in 1989 for her contributions to biotechnology. Biocon was also the first company in the world to develop human insulin. The company pursued research in diabetes and other medical developments.

She took Biocon public by listing it on the stock market. It was a monumental success. In 2005, she received the Padma Vibhushan Award for her achievements.

Apart from her business ventures, she founded the Biocon Foundation to enhance healthcare and education in India. At a time when women were considered homemakers, she set plenty of rules aside and created her road to success, becoming one of the most powerful women entrepreneurs in India.

Melanie Perkins (Women entrepreneurs in Tech & Design)

Prominent Australian entrepreneur Melanie Perkins was born in 1987, possessing a passion for art and design since her childhood years. At just 14, she offered her handmade toys to the public for sale.

She attained a high school graduation diploma from Sacred Heart College in Australia and later commenced her university education at the University of Western Australia. During this time, Perkins began to learn design software such as Adobe Photoshop, honing in on her skills in design.

But what became apparent to her was that learning design software was next to impossible without an instructor, and, very difficult even with one. One day, while teaching these programs to other students, an idea struck her—the idea for a site that would enable no-training-needed creation of posters and designs for everyone.

Setting up a company was difficult for her as a student, chiefly due to lack of funding.

In 2007 she dropped out of university and, alongside her boyfriend, set up Fusion Books to test her idea. Fusion Books was an easy-to-use platform that students and teachers in Australia could use to design their yearbooks.

Despite having no resources, they reached out personally to the schools to grow the business. They had a good division of labor, and within five years, Fusion Books had become Number One in Australia.

But Melanie’s ultimate vision was about much bigger things:

She needed a great team and capital for that.

So she started networking with investors, but her canvas idea was received in a very lukewarm way at first. She was turned down by more than a hundred investors, but she didn’t give up.

Eventually, while attending a conference, she met Bill Tai, an investor based in Silicon Valley. At about the same time, she also met Cameron Adams, a former employee with Google and a technologist. When she introduced her idea to Cameron, he backed it and signed on as Canvas tech co-founder.

With support from Cameron, she managed to secure funding, and in 2013, Canva was launched officially.

With a user-friendly model, Canva became an instant success worldwide in a year. Today, it has evolved into a global company, thanks to Melanie Perkins’ tenacity, visibility, and work ethic.