Women's business: 10 successful business women in history
'28.10.2021'
Source: Ria.ru
Do you still think that a woman's place is in the kitchen? Then the Weekend project comes to you with a list of business women who prove the opposite with their example.
1. Estee Lauder: Magic Recipes and the Boss at the Counter
Este Lauder, the daughter of Jewish immigrants born in the slums of New York, has gone from being a seller of natural homemade face creams to the owner of a cosmetic empire, says Ria.ru. In 2003, Estee Lauder, the company founded by her, took 249's place in the 500 list of the largest US corporations with an annual revenue of 4,74 billion dollars.
- The secret of success: anti-aging cosmetics according to Uncle John’s formula plus a successful advertising strategy.
- Business Principles: "As soon as you turn your back on the customer, you lost him."
Este Lauder was the first to offer her customers free samples and gifts for the purchase, she loved to advise clients herself.
"Time is not on your side, but I am!" Is just one of her famous advertising slogans.
Evil tongues argued that such a naive "feminine" approach would not do good, but the system launched by Lauder soon bore fruit.
"Don't write angry letters"
Lauder preferred to work personally not only with clients, but also with the staff: she spent a lot of time behind the counter by her example inspiring sellers. “My current position is not the result of dreams or hopes, but of hard work,” she reminded her employees.
"If a woman who is in business thinks about the success of her marriage, she must be extremely subtle about giving her husband the opportunity to feel strong and significant - and then he will actually be strong and significant."
Her husband, Joseph, supported Este in all her endeavors, and was responsible for the firm’s financial questions; sons, daughters-in-law, and grandchildren continued the work when she retired at the age of 87. Now Estee Lauder is headed by the eldest of Este and Joseph's two sons, Leonard Lauder. He began working at the firm as a messenger for 10 years, and now he is ranked 131 in the list of world billionaires.
2. Veuve Clicquot: champagne worthy of Pushkin
Madame Barb-Nicole Clicquot (nee Ponsardin) was born in 1777 in Reims into the family of a wealthy textile industrialist. The father was able to successfully marry his daughter to the son of his colleague, Philippe Clicquot, who, in addition to the textile industry, also had a small wine business. The young couple began to develop their father's business, but in 1804 Monsieur Clicquot died unexpectedly, leaving the business in the hands of his widow. Today the Veuve Clicquot brand ranks second in the world in terms of sales, behind only Moet & Chandon.
- The secret of success: elite champagne, created by innovative technologies for the time.
Under her, a new production method was invented, significantly accelerating the production of champagne and ensuring the transparency of the drink: the bottles began to be placed with the neck down so that the sediment collected in the neck, then they were frozen and the ice cork was removed along with the sediment.
- Business Principles: “Track Competitors”.
Barb-Nicole Clicquot tried to be one step ahead of competitors, especially the main one - Jean-Remy Moet. Secretly from everyone, she sent 75 boxes of champagne to Russia, which went to St. Petersburg with a bang at a price of 12 rubles per bottle. “... Of all the good wines that have already hit the heads of the northerners,” the manager reported to the hostess, “none of them resembles the bottling of 1811… This marvelous wine has a killer effect… Your wine is nectar, it is as strong as Hungarian wine, yellow as gold ”.
Veuve Clicquot or Moeta
Blessed wine
In a bottle frozen for the poet
On the table immediately brought.(A.S. Pushkin, “Eugene Onegin”)
The victorious procession of Veuve Clicquot’s champagne was not stopped either by the 1812 war of the year or by trade restrictions — Clicquot’s champagne was drunk on both sides of the barricades. And even Pushkin could not resist.
"Whatever happens - keep your face"
The only daughter of the widow Clicquot Clementine was indifferent to the family business and with much more eagerness jumped out to marry Count Louis de Chevigne, a ladies' man and a gambler. At first, the count was happy to squander his mother-in-law's fortune, and then he took and released a brochure about his love affairs in the style of 18+. While her daughter was burning with shame, the widow Clicquot bought the entire print run and ordered it to be destroyed, but a couple of copies still survived.
3. Helena Rubinstein: miser gets more
Helena (Haya) Rubinstein was the eighth child in the family of a Kraków shopkeeper. Having mastered the basics of the medical profession, not knowing English, she traveled from Poland to Australia, where she began to make face cream using local ingredients. One of the lines, which contained herbs from the Carpathian Mountains, cost Helene ten pence per bottle, and sold for six shillings - this woman always knew the price of money. Today, the Helena Rubinstein brand is owned by L'Oréal Corporation, its funds are sold in 50 countries of the world.
- The secret of success: the world's first network of beauty salons - first in Australia, then in Europe and America, which used an integrated approach in the treatment of skin diseases.
Rubinstein was the first to classify skin by type (dry / oily / normal) and came up with a three-step system of care that is still used today. By the way, the “Day of Beauty”, after which the clients shone (and still shine) with happiness, leaving a tidy sum in the salon, is also her know-how.
- Business Principles: "The Whip and ... the Whip Method"
Subordinates nicknamed Rubinstein “tornado woman” and “tyrant fighter”, she controlled every breath in her salons and every now and then cut employees' salaries. Dozens of well-trained and hungry salespeople ran away from their boss - right into the arms of her closest rival, Elizabeth Arden.
Saving is the path to wealth
One of the richest women in the world, Helena Rubinstein, was known as a miser: she never dined in restaurants, preferring sandwiches made with his own hands, bargained for every penny.
Even at the age of 92, Rubinstein could not be broken. To the robbers who once broke into her penthouse, she said: "You can kill me, but I will not allow myself to be robbed."
What Helena never spared money for was art. She considered the purchase of paintings a profitable investment. Sometimes she herself posed for Bernard, Sutherland, Dali.
4. Coco Chanel: risk is a noble cause
“Fashion has to be accepted, otherwise you will look funny. However, one should take something new imperceptibly, in small portions, ”said the legend of 1,089th century fashion Gabrielle (Coco) Chanel. A girl from an orphanage, a seamstress in a ready-to-wear store, a singer in a cafe - Coco Chanel did not immediately get her own empire. But now the house of Chanel is an example of luxury and elegance with an annual turnover of about $ XNUMX billion.
- The secret to success: a little black dress and Chanel №5
- Business Principles: “Don't Marry Men with a Change Wallet”
Coco Chanel did not hide the fact that talent was talent, and her men helped her to get on her feet. First, Etienne, a wealthy heir and an athlete, gave Gabrielle his apartment, where she opened her first workshop of her own. The real support for her was the young Englishman Arthur Capel - Chanel's greatest love. He considered a promising entrepreneur in Coco and in 1910 helped her acquire premises on the rue Cambon in Paris, where she opened her first store. Very soon she had a Model House in the fashionable resort of Biarritz.
“I'm not in fashion. I myself am a fashion, ”said Coco.
Do not be afraid to make a revolution
Before Chanel, women were buried under kilometers of fabric and lace: tight skirts, huge bustles, trains and giant hats. She offered them unprecedented outfits, partially borrowed from the men's wardrobe, and was able to destroy the stereotype that says that black is poor and mourning. For five years, she produced only black, and things flew from store shelves in an instant. Chanel created fashion without paying attention to traditions, disregarding what is accepted and what is not.
Reborn from the ashes if you have to
In the late 1930s, with the outbreak of World War II, Coco Chanel was forced to close all her boutiques and moved to Switzerland, because in France she was hated for having an affair with a Nazi officer - what a serious blow to her reputation!
Only in 1953 did Chanel return to Paris, where she had to rebuild the business. It took three years to return to its former glory, but now Koko began to produce not only women's clothing, but also bags, shoes, accessories.
Coco Chanel died in 1971 leaving no heirs. In 1965, the son of Chanel's longtime partner Pierre Wertheimer, Jacques, began managing the fashion business. Since 1983, the fashion direction has been led by Karl Lagerfeld, who "revitalized the brand" and raised it to a new level.
5. Mary Kay Ash: sales with love
Mary Kay Ash, the founder of a company named after herself, is considered the most successful female entrepreneur in American history. As of January 2013, Mary Kay has sales of more than $ 3 billion worldwide, and the brand's products are represented in 35 countries around the world, where they are distributed by about 2,5 million independent consultants.
- The secret to success: Mary Kay Ash didn’t just set up a cosmetics company.
She has created a new corporate culture, almost a religion based on motivation, in which each team member has a role and a magical job title, such as National Leader. Mary Kay is convinced that she created the Company “with a heart”.
Business Principles: “You Can Do It!”
This is the basis of the philosophy of Mary Kay, because she herself did the almost impossible - made the whole world re-believe in the story of Cinderella. In 17 years, Mary Kay married, had three children, and several years later her husband filed for divorce. During the 25 years, Mary Kay worked as a sales agent, but without getting promoted (the position was given to a man), she left 45 for years to write a book about women in business. In the process, Mary Kay realized that her manuscript was similar to the business plan of the ideal company in which she would like to work. Then she decided to create it herself. In 1963, Mary Kay, with the support of 20-year-old son Roger, founded the company Mary Kay Cosmetics with a starting capital of 5 thousand dollars.
“The basis of a leader is not the mind, but the heart. You can love people and not be a leader for them, but you cannot be a leader and not love people. ”
This kind of business principles invented by Mary Kay Ash can be enumerated for a long time, and at the end this whole collection resembles the Bible. However, the sales figures prove that this industry of beauty and wellness does not work in vain - it brings happiness, if not to consumers, then to employees for sure. Here is the success story of one of the National Leaders of the firm, Angelina Antipenko, published on Mary Kay's website: “Looking back on the path I have traveled, I feel a huge positive change in myself and in the world around me. I learned giving and serving at the Company. I opened my heart and let into it all the love, all the beauty, all the energy that Mary Kay put into the Dream Company she created. ”
6. Ruth Handler and Barbie Universe
Simple American Ruth Handler has been working since she was 10 and knew exactly what she wanted to achieve in the future, namely to go to college and earn money on her own. In 1945, together with her husband Elliot and his friend, she organized a company for the production of photo frames and toy furniture, which Ruth made from the remains of wood, and then Barbie dolls, her main invention. Mattel is now the global leader in toys and family products and is ranked among America's Top XNUMX Employers. Barbie dolls account for a third of the corporation's sales.
- The secret of success: a plastic blonde doll with magnificent forms, which replaced asexual baby dolls and has become the favorite toy of girls of all nations of the world from 1959 to the present day.
- Business Principles: "If you want to make a product, watch the consumers."
Ruth came up with her own Barbie watching her daughter Barbara play with a paper doll.
“I believe that such toys do not contribute to the development of self-esteem in girls - she has no breasts at all!” - Ruth said later.
Barbie could be dressed in luxury outfits and combed, introduced to Ken and settled in a toy house - the production of millions of accessories, of course, was taken over by Mattel.
Television is the sales engine
Even before Barbie was created, Ruth had figured out the best way to promote a product - the Handlers were the first to advertise their toys on TV between Disney cartoons, while the rest of the manufacturers operated through a retailer. The company spent 500 thousand dollars on advertising, but two years later it earned 14 billion. Therefore, when adults reacted with distrust to the blonde novelty "with breasts", Ruth already knew what to do, and again turned to massive advertising on TV screens. The first batch of 351 Barbies worth $ 3 each sold out instantly. In the first 10 years, Barbie brought 500 million dollars into the pockets of the Handler couple. Subsequently, Ruth Handler showed herself as a screenwriter when creating cartoons about her heroine, in particular, "Barbie and the Nutcracker".
7. Oprah Winfrey: everyone will talk
Last week, American TV presenter Oprah Winfrey topped the Forbes list of Most Influential Celebrities for the fifth time in her career. Oprah's fortune is estimated at $ 2,7 billion - a female record in show business. She is the first and only black female billionaire in history, owning the Oprah Winfrey Network TV channel, Oprah Magazine and the Oprah Radio satellite radio station.
- Success Secret: The Oprah Show, the most popular on American television, ran for 25 seasons from 1986 to 2011.
In a white leather chair opposite the host sat the great and famous presidents of the United States, including Barack Obama, Michael Jackson, Mike Tyson, Whitney Houston, Sarah Palin, but even more - ordinary Americans with their own stories, problems, tragedies and recipes for happiness. Oprah is able to “split” any guest: even cyclist Lance Armstrong confessed to the use of doping on her show, although before that he was silent in a rag for many years.
- Business Principles: “Know that you are on the road to success if you do work for which you are not paid.”
From the moment when Oprah began to speak, she was always on stage - as a child she interviewed the crows on the fence, at school she grabbed every opportunity to show her oratorical skills, participated in all competitions. On one of them - "Miss Fire Prevention" - Opruh was noticed by the host of the radio station WVOL and invited to read the news on the air. This was her first paid job; Oprah combined work with her studies in high school and received one hundred dollars a week.
“You get in life only what you dare to ask for. Don't be afraid to raise the bar. ”
At the age of 17, Oprah Winfrey became the youngest local media reporter and the first black female television reporter in Nashville, and in 1986 she created her best show.
"The more you give, the more you get."
Oprah's childhood was not easy - she lived with her grandmother on a farm in a house without a sewer. At the age of 9, Oprah was raped by a cousin, at the age of 14 she gave birth to a son who died after birth. It is not known what would have happened to Oprah if it had not been for a government program that provided access to a prestigious suburban school. When the TV presenter started making millions, she pledged to pay for the tuition of poor black children. To date, Oprah has spent over $ 400 million on charitable educational programs.
8. Indra Nuyi: business in a sari
Once Indra Nooyi could not afford a business suit, so she went for an interview in a sari. For many years, the CEO of PepsiCo has been ranked in the best dozen of the most influential women in the world according to Forbes. In 2006, it became the fourth, and in 2008, it was the third. Now Indra Nuyi is 11-I in this list.
- The secret of success: a good education.
Indra realized early on that learning is light. In college, she studied chemistry, physics and mathematics, then entered the Indian Institute of Management, and then applied the knowledge gained in practice at the Johnson & Johnson subsidiary. At 22, she decided, contrary to tradition, to go to the United States and continue her studies at Yale University.
“It was impossible to imagine that a young girl from a conservative family, from the brahmana caste, went abroad alone!” - she said afterwards.
- Business principles: “Work, work and work”.
Indra's results speak for themselves. By 1994, the management specialist was being torn apart by the giants General Electric and Pepsi, and she chose the latter, tempted by the freedom of decision it provided. Nooyi managed to outflank its main competitor, Coca-Cola, and played a major role in two of Pepsi's most important deals: the Tropicana brand and the Quaker Oats acquisition. Thanks to her, Pepsi expanded its range and began to produce snacks.
She defied shareholders and analysts, proposed radical product changes, and became one of the most powerful women on the planet. We wrote about why the head of PepsiCo Indra Nooyi will retire on October 3, 2018. She worked for the corporation for 24 years, of which she was a leader for 14 years. Until the beginning of 2019, Nooyi retained the post of chairman of the board of directors in order to transfer the affairs and development strategy of the company.
9. JK Rowling: Riches on the wave of a magic wand
British loser housewife J.K. Rowling wrote six books - enough to spend the rest of her life in luxury and wealth. Rowling is ranked 78th on the Forbes list of the most powerful women in the world, is the richest woman in the UK and can afford to build a mini Hogwarts in the garden.
- The secret of success: the story of the young wizard Harry Potter, written in an Edinburgh cafe, which conquered the world.
- Business Principles: "I never set myself the goal of getting rich."
“Many years ago I received a letter from some organization (it seems from America), which wanted to declare me the entrepreneur of the year. I replied that, unfortunately, I had to give up this title, because it is unlikely that I will ever earn a lot of money. "
“Wealth was never part of my plans. I just wrote a book and thought it was a good book. That's all".
Riches really fell on Rowling suddenly, and at first she did not really know what to do with it - she just spent money left and right. But very soon Joanne learned to control and multiply the income stream that brings her magical world - the production of films, souvenirs, book publishing and so on. In 2012, the Potter series became available electronically at the Pottermore store, which Rowling herself receives most of the proceeds from: she became the first writer to not surrender the rights to electronic sales to publishers. At the same time, Rowling first published the book for adults "The Accidental Vacancy", which became a bestseller simply because it was written by the author of "Harry Potter".
10. Elena Baturina: Moscow, the bells are ringing
In 2010, the former first lady of Moscow and the first Russian billionaire Elena Baturina entered the top three richest business women in the world according to Forbes magazine. In 2012, in an interview with The Times, she estimated her fortune at 1,1-1,2 billion dollars.
- The secret of success: the Inteko company created by Baturina, which began with the production of plastic products (basins and chairs) under her leadership, has become one of the most profitable enterprises in Russia.
According to experts, Elena Baturina's Inteko is a whole era in the real estate market, it is a company that in the early 2000s formed the market and dictated its development. Baturina's activities in the Moscow housing market also caused a lot of criticism - the company was accused of obtaining lucrative contracts due to the fact that Baturina is the wife of Yuri Luzhkov.
- Business principles: “It is very good that I am a woman. A woman will always find something to do. ”
Elena Baturina began to build her career even before meeting with Yuri Luzhkov. After graduating from the evening department of the Ordzhonikidze Moscow Institute of Management, she got a job as a design technician at the Frezer plant, where her parents worked. Then Elena moved to the Moscow Institute of Economic Problems of Integrated Development of the National Economy, was engaged in cooperation in the executive committee, where Yuri Luzhkov was the chairman of the commission. It was there that they met.
"She gave bribes, did not pay kickbacks"
In an interview with the REN TV channel, Baturina admitted that the status of the wife of the mayor of Moscow did not help her to do without bribes to officials. “The principle is very simple: you never know that she is the mayor's wife. Do I have to lose on this? " - said the former owner of Inteko.
“Business is international. You see, this is a purely Russian concept that Russian money should only work for Russia. No, the business should work wherever it suits them. Because when a person realizes himself in business, he realizes his ideas in business. In general, it doesn't matter where they will be implemented ”.
Several years ago, after the dismissal of her husband from the post of mayor of the capital, Baturina sold the company and left for London, where both daughters of the spouses studied. She continues to develop her business internationally. His main direction is investment in real estate, as well as in the hotel business.
