Page 42 - Forbes - Asia (October 2019)

ASIA’S POWER BUSINESSWOMEN

KAMONWAN

WIPULAKORN, 57
CEO, One Origin
THAILAND

Kamonwan heads One Origin, a subsidiary of Thai
developer Origin Property. One Origin plans to
invest about $650 million, largely into hotels and
serviced apartments, between 2018 and 2022.
Kamonwan also sits on the board of another
publicly listed company, telecom firm Total Access PARK HYE RIN, 50
Communications. Kamonwan says her parents—a Chair, BioSmart
policeman and a teacher—expected her to work SOUTH KOREA
for the government. She spent her first two years
after business school as an analyst at then-state- Park is known in South Korea
owned carrier Thai Airways before becoming as the “queen of mergers and
an analyst at French bank Crédit Lyonnais. She acquisitions” after buying 10
switched to investment banking and moved to companies with 300 billion
French bank Crédit Agricole, then in 2002 became won ($270 million) in combined
chief financial officer for TPT Petrochemicals. She sales. She made headlines last
then landed a job at hotel company Erawan, where year when she bought publisher
she was president and later CEO, leading the Singongsa from the eldest son
company’s expansion into the Philippines and its of former South Korean presi-
launch of budget chain Hop Inn. At 55, she moved dent, Chun Doo-hwan. Another
to Origin Property. —Suzanne Nam company, Omnisystem, saw
sales jump more than fivefold
in the two years since her
purchase in 2009. Park’s affinity
KIMIYO YAMAZAKI, 58 for business came early: at 24
President, Ya-Man she borrowed money from her
JAPAN father to buy her first company,
a tiremaker. BioSmart, Park’s de
Yamazaki has led the company to record revenue in the past three years, facto holding company, makes
bolstered by the popularity of its cosmetics, body massagers and other magnetic-stripe cards used by
beauty products, especially among China’s consumers. In the year ended banks, credit-card companies,
April 30, Ya-Man’s net profit rose 4% to 3.5 billion yen ($33 million) on an department stores and security
18% increase in revenue, to 27 billion yen. Founded in 1978 by her father firms. She also has interests in KAMONWAN: BRENT LEWIN/BLOOMBERG, PARK: COURTESY OF BIO SMART, YAMAZAKI: COURTESY OF YA-MAN, JATIA: COURTESY OF HARDCASTLE RESTAURANTS
Yukiteru, now honorary chairman, Ya-Man has developed many ground- pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.
breaking products, including Japan’s first high-frequency epilator, which “I hope we can measure our
pulls hair from the roots. Yamazaki took over as president of Tokyo-listed success as an entrepreneur, not
Ya-Man (her family still owns 50%) in 1999, and continues to try to de- as a female entrepreneur,” says
velop new products to boost demand. —James Simms Park. —Jihyun Park

SMITA JATIA, 49
Managing Director, Hardcastle Restaurants
INDIA

Jatia, a staunch vegetarian, has for the past decade been running McDonald’s fast-growing
franchise operator in western and southern India, Hardcastle Restaurants, a unit of her fam-
ily’s listed Westlife Development. The company’s net profit more than tripled to $5.6 million
in the year ended March 31 as sales rose 23% to $196 million. Since it entered India in 1996,
McDonald’s has targetted the country’s rising middle-class. Half of the menu at its 300 stores
is vegetarian, such as the McAloo Tikki burger, a spicy concoction of potato and peas. Jatia,
who plans to open another 100 stores by 2022, says, “The market is constantly moving for-
ward, so if you don’t reinvent yourself, you’ll get left behind.” —Naazneen Karmali

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