The Richest Woman and Her Papers
‘Wastepaper is like a forest. Paper recycles itself, generation after generation.’
Just five years ago, Zhang Yin and her husband were driving around the United States in a used Dodge minivan begging garbage dumps to give them their scrap paper. She and her husband, who was trained as a dentist, had formed a company in the 1990s to collect paper for recycling and ship it to China. It was a step up from life back in Hong Kong, where she had opened a paper trading company with $3,800 to cash in on China’s chronic paper shortages. Her companies take heaps of waste paper from the United States and Europe, ship it to China and recycle it into corrugated cardboard, which is then used for boxes that are packed with toys, electronics and furniture that is stamped “Made in China” and often shipped right back across the ocean to American consumers. After the boxes are thrown away, the cycle starts all over again.
As a result of her entrepreneurship, Zhang Yin (pronounced Jang Yeen) is now among the richest women anywhere in the world, including Oprah Winfrey, Martha Stewart and eBay’s chief executive, Meg Whitman. Her personal wealth is estimated at $1.5 billion or more, with members of her family worth billions more. Most of the world’s richest women inherited their wealth: from the Walton women of Wal-Mart fame to the daughters of the men who created Mars candy bars, L’Oréal cosmetics and BMW.
Ng Weiting, who was her partner in Hong Kong in the 1980s, says Ms. Zhang was driven and tough and had figured out how to get the best performance out of her workers. Analysts say Ms. Zhang’s ebullient personality made her a great saleswoman and a sharp deal maker. Ms. Zhang jumped to No. 5 this year in the Forbes ranking of the wealthiest people in China, from No. 107 last year, largely because of the huge public stock listing.
