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The modern story of women in business becomes more visible in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, when women began to appear publicly as merchants, industrialists, financiers, publishers, beauty entrepreneurs, fashion founders, educators and owners of scalable businesses.
One of the most famous early modern women entrepreneurs in Australia was Mary Reibey, who became a successful businesswoman, trader, shipowner and property owner in colonial New South Wales after her husband’s death in 1811, according to the Australian Dictionary of Biography. She is now featured on the Australian 20-dollar banknote, reflecting her importance in Australia’s commercial history.
In the United States, Madam C. J. Walker became one of the first African American female millionaires by building a hair-care business for Black women in the early 20th century. Encyclopaedia Britannica describes her as an American businesswoman and philanthropist and one of the first African American female millionaires in the United States.
In Europe and North America, the modern beauty, fashion and consumer industries created space for some of the first globally recognised women business founders, including Helena Rubinstein, Coco Chanel, Elizabeth Arden and Estée Lauder. The beauty industry itself was shaped by women entrepreneurs who turned personal care, aesthetics and identity into global business categories.
In Africa, Esther Afua Ocloo of Ghana became a pioneering entrepreneur and microfinance advocate. She began with food processing and later co-founded Women’s World Banking, helping expand access to finance for women entrepreneurs, according to the African Studies Centre Leiden.
This history matters because women’s entrepreneurship did not appear suddenly in the 21st century. It has deep roots, but for a long time it was under-recorded, undervalued and underfunded.
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Representative Early Women Business Pioneers by Continent
There is no single universally accepted global registry of the first women entrepreneurs by continent. Many women operated businesses before formal records, company registries or media coverage existed. Therefore, the following names should be read as representative pioneering women entrepreneurs and business builders, not as a definitive ranking.
In the Americas, important women business pioneers include Madam C. J. Walker in the United States, Maggie Lena Walker in banking, Elizabeth Arden in beauty, Estée Lauder in cosmetics, Olive Ann Beech in aviation, Brownie Wise in direct sales, Oprah Winfrey in media, Martha Stewart in lifestyle business, Arianna Huffington in digital media and Sara Blakely in consumer products.
In Europe, representative women entrepreneurs include Coco Chanel in fashion, Helena Rubinstein in cosmetics, Anita Roddick in ethical consumer business, Laura Ashley in fashion and homeware, Vivienne Westwood in fashion, Sophie Mirman in retail, Dame Stephanie Shirley in software, Sigrid Rausing in publishing and philanthropy, Miuccia Prada in luxury fashion and Jo Malone in fragrance.
In Asia, representative women business leaders include Jaswantiben Jamnadas Popat and the Lijjat Papad co-founders in India, Shahnaz Husain in beauty, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw in biotechnology, Indra Nooyi in global corporate leadership, Zhang Xin in real estate, Cher Wang in technology, Ho Ching in investment leadership, Naina Lal Kidwai in finance, Falguni Nayar in digital beauty commerce and other women who built cross-border business influence.
In Africa, important women entrepreneurs include Esther Afua Ocloo of Ghana, Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu of Ethiopia, Divine Ndhlukula of Zimbabwe, Tabitha Karanja of Kenya, Folorunso Alakija of Nigeria, Swaady Martin of Côte d’Ivoire and South Africa, Magatte Wade of Senegal, Adenike Ogunlesi of Nigeria and Njeri Rionge of Kenya.
In Australia and Oceania, representative women business figures include Mary Reibey, Janine Allis, Naomi Simson, Melanie Perkins, Kayla Itsines, Kristina Karlsson, Carolyn Creswell, Ita Buttrose, Diane Foreman and Theresa Gattung.
These names show that women entrepreneurs have shaped industries as diverse as banking, aviation, cosmetics, fashion, food, media, technology, education, finance, digital platforms and social enterprise. Yet for most of modern history, they had to build in systems designed largely by men, for men and around male access to capital and institutional authority.
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The State of Women’s Leadership Today
The world has made progress, but equality remains far away.
The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2025 found that the global gender gap is 68.8 percent closed across 148 economies. At the current rate, the World Economic Forum estimates that it will take 123 years to reach full gender parity.
The World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law 2024 report found that when implementation gaps are included, women on average enjoy only 64 percent of the legal protections that men do, according to the World Bank. This means that legal equality on paper is not enough. Enforcement, institutions, safety, childcare, access to finance and social norms all determine whether women can actually participate equally in economic life.
The economic case is also clear. Reuters, reporting on the World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law findings, noted that closing gender gaps could lift global GDP by more than 20 percent and effectively double global growth over the next decade.
Yet women entrepreneurs still face structural barriers, including lower access to venture capital, weaker access to collateral and formal credit, heavier unpaid care responsibilities, underrepresentation in technology and AI, lower visibility in international media, fewer invitations to high-level forums, cultural stereotypes about leadership and weaker representation in boards, investment committees and policy spaces.
That is why the World Woman Forum matters. It addresses not only inspiration, but also access: access to the stage, access to global networks, access to investors, access to recognition and access to international legitimacy.
Why Women’s Forums Are Strategic Infrastructure
For many years, women were invited to global events as symbols of inclusion, not always as agenda-setters. They were present, but not always central. They were visible, but not always heard. They were celebrated, but not always funded.
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World Woman Forum 2026 will bring together remarkable women leaders from business, science and technology, education, medicine, culture, diplomacy, media, philanthropy and the social sector.
Among the confirmed distinguished speakers are Dr Olga Azarova (UK), Larisa Miller (USA), Christina Batruch (Switzerland), Dr Liudmyla Stanislavenko (Ukraine), Durga Das (USA-India), Elena Vykhrystyuk (Ukraine), Oksana Zoppini (France), Aminath Ali (Maldives), Cherry Chang (Republic of China), Wendy Silinyana (South Africa), Elena Lee (Kazakhstan), Elena Chirich (Australia), Lyazzat Alshinova (Kazakhstan), Narmina Hasanova (Azerbaijan), Watceilia Varso (Australia), Jamilya Kerimova (Turkmenistan), Dinora Saitova (Kazakhstan), Tatiana Markova (Germany), Viktoriya Trotska (USA), Nazzara Ergasheva (Kyrgyzstan), Dr Irene Khajalia (Georgia), Svitlana Yashchenok (Austria), and many other women leaders from around the world.
This diversity is important. Women’s leadership cannot be represented by one geography, one industry, one language or one model of success. A global women’s forum must include entrepreneurs, diplomats, educators, scientists, doctors, artists, philanthropists, investors, social innovators and family business leaders.
The future of women’s leadership is not uniform. It is multilingual, multi-sector, intergenerational and international. #WorldWomanForum #100NewsTV
The world has made progress, but equality remains far away.
The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2025 found that the global gender gap is 68.8 percent closed across 148 economies. At the current rate, the World Economic Forum estimates that it will take 123 years to reach full gender parity.
The World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law 2024 report found that when implementation gaps are included, women on average enjoy only 64 percent of the legal protections that men do, according to the World Bank. This means that legal equality on paper is not enough. Enforcement, institutions, safety, childcare, access to finance and social norms all determine whether women can actually participate equally in economic life.
The economic case is also clear. Reuters, reporting on the World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law findings, noted that closing gender gaps could lift global GDP by more than 20 percent and effectively double global growth over the next decade.
Yet women entrepreneurs still face structural barriers, including lower access to venture capital, weaker access to collateral and formal credit, heavier unpaid care responsibilities, underrepresentation in technology and AI, lower visibility in international media, fewer invitations to high-level forums, cultural stereotypes about leadership and weaker representation in boards, investment committees and policy spaces.
That is why the World Woman Forum matters. It addresses not only inspiration, but also access: access to the stage, access to global networks, access to investors, access to recognition and access to international legitimacy.
Why Women’s Forums Are Strategic Infrastructure
For many years, women were invited to global events as symbols of inclusion, not always as agenda-setters. They were present, but not always central. They were visible, but not always heard. They were celebrated, but not always funded.
World Woman Forum 2026 is built on a different principle.
It is not designed as a decorative women’s event. It is designed as a platform where women can take part in high-level discussions and panel sessions, share their professional experience and leadership journey, present business, social, educational or investment initiatives, connect with international entrepreneurs, investors and decision-makers, explore new opportunities for cooperation and global partnerships, and become part of an international community of women leaders.
This is how forums become strategic infrastructure. They create the conditions for women to move from local influence to global visibility, from personal success to institutional impact, from isolated leadership to international cooperation.
A woman who speaks on a global stage is not simply telling her story. She is entering the record. She becomes visible to investors, partners, journalists, institutions, governments, foundations, universities and other women who may follow her path.
It is not designed as a decorative women’s event. It is designed as a platform where women can take part in high-level discussions and panel sessions, share their professional experience and leadership journey, present business, social, educational or investment initiatives, connect with international entrepreneurs, investors and decision-makers, explore new opportunities for cooperation and global partnerships, and become part of an international community of women leaders.
This is how forums become strategic infrastructure. They create the conditions for women to move from local influence to global visibility, from personal success to institutional impact, from isolated leadership to international cooperation.
A woman who speaks on a global stage is not simply telling her story. She is entering the record. She becomes visible to investors, partners, journalists, institutions, governments, foundations, universities and other women who may follow her path.
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Outstanding Women of Our Time
World Woman Forum 2026 will bring together remarkable women leaders from business, science and technology, education, medicine, culture, diplomacy, media, philanthropy and the social sector.
Among the confirmed distinguished speakers are Dr Olga Azarova (UK), Larisa Miller (USA), Christina Batruch (Switzerland), Dr Liudmyla Stanislavenko (Ukraine), Durga Das (USA-India), Elena Vykhrystyuk (Ukraine), Oksana Zoppini (France), Aminath Ali (Maldives), Cherry Chang (Republic of China), Wendy Silinyana (South Africa), Elena Lee (Kazakhstan), Elena Chirich (Australia), Lyazzat Alshinova (Kazakhstan), Narmina Hasanova (Azerbaijan), Watceilia Varso (Australia), Jamilya Kerimova (Turkmenistan), Dinora Saitova (Kazakhstan), Tatiana Markova (Germany), Viktoriya Trotska (USA), Nazzara Ergasheva (Kyrgyzstan), Dr Irene Khajalia (Georgia), Svitlana Yashchenok (Austria), and many other women leaders from around the world.
This diversity is important. Women’s leadership cannot be represented by one geography, one industry, one language or one model of success. A global women’s forum must include entrepreneurs, diplomats, educators, scientists, doctors, artists, philanthropists, investors, social innovators and family business leaders.
The future of women’s leadership is not uniform. It is multilingual, multi-sector, intergenerational and international. #WorldWomanForum #100NewsTV