Fan Hongwei () 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 securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

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 (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its ca ...

, China. She attended

Nanjing Normal University Nanjing Normal University (NNU or NJNU; ) is a public research university in Nanjing, China. Founded in 1902 as Sanjiang Normal School, it is one of the oldest and most prestigious higher normal schools in China, and has become a research-intensi ...

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 compa ...

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 Exc ...

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 the ester functional group 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 natural ...

, manufacturing chemical fibers, and

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

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

Nantong Nantong (; alternate names: Nan-t'ung, Nantung, Tongzhou, or Tungchow; Qihai dialect: ) is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Jiangsu province of China, province, China. Located on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, near the river mouth. ...

, Suqian, and

Suzhou Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trade ...

. 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 owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' list of the 50 top

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

s in China and on ''

Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (1931 film) ...

'' list of the 50 most influential business leaders in China. The same year, she was ranked sixth on ''

Hurun Hurun () is a town of Jingxi, Guangxi, China. See also * List of township-level divisions of Guangxi References Towns of Guangxi Jingxi, Guangxi Towns and townships in Baise {{Guangxi-geo-stub ...

'' list of the world's richest self-made women, with an estimated net worth of 53 billion

RMB The renminbi (; symbol: ¥; ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB) is the official currency of the People's Republic of China and one of the world's most traded currencies, ranking as the fifth most traded currency in the world as of April 2022. ...

. In 2021, ''Forbes'' listed her as one of China's 20 top businesswomen. ''

China Daily ''China Daily'' () 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 English-language newspaper in China. T ...

'' 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

{{reflist

External links

Hengli Group

Hengli Petrochemical
(in Chinese) Living people Billionaires from Jiangsu Chief executive officers Chinese chief executives Chinese women chief executives Female billionaires Petrochemical industry 20th-century Chinese businesswomen 20th-century Chinese businesspeople 21st-century Chinese businesswomen 21st-century Chinese businesspeople People from Jiangsu Nanjing Normal University alumni 1967 births