Every year Forbes features a list of Smartest and Toughest Female Business Leaders, Entrepreneurs, Investors, Philanthropists and CEOs in the world. On 4th December, it launched its 2018 list of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the top spot for the eighth consecutive year. Minister Theresa May also retained the 2nd spot from the previous year, while International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde (No. 3), General Motors CEO Mary Barra (No. 4), and Fidelity Investments CEO Abigail Johnson (No. 5) followed to be the top five on the list. 

On this year’s list also are present two Singaporean female leaders. While Ho Ching, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Temasek is placed at the 17th rank and one of the top 20s on the list, Jenny Lee, Managing Partner, GGV Capital is at the 87th spot. 

Ho has been on the list since 2004 but this year she moves up 11 places after being ranked 28 last year. 

"Ho Ching has been at Singapore's sovereign wealth fund Temasek for 16 years and has helped its portfolio grow to over $235 billion,” Forbes mentions. 

Even Lee has moved up in terms of ranks from 94 to 87 this year. Working for GGV Capital as Managing Partner since 2005, Lee is widely considered to be one of the most respected venture capital investors in China as per Forbes. Her investment portfolio ranges from whimsical moonshots like eHang184, China's first flying taxi, to Lingochamp, an artificial intelligence language-learning bot. 

While the majority of the women still fight for equal rights, equal pay and participation at various works of life, there are women who are building billion-dollar brands, calling the shots in the financial markets, crisscrossing the globe to broker international agreements, and setting examples for others to follow through. Given the difficulty that exists to establish inroads into industries and job titles traditionally dominated by men, especially in tech, venture capital, and Hollywood, the height at which these women have reached with their efforts is exemplary and worth taking note of. 

Image Credits: Connected To India