Women creating wealth
The growing numbers of female billionaires alone doesn’t
tell the Athena Factor’s full story. In fact, just as there
are growing numbers of female executives in senior
public company positions, so women are increasingly
often driving billionaire families’ businesses, philanthropic
enterprises and governance. Our research reveals many
examples of growing influence, whether as architects of
business strategy after the death of a founder, guardians of
governance or champions of philanthropy. Over two thirds
of billionaire women in our study are active value creators.
Our interviews and research have identified female
billionaires taking on three roles in addition to that of the
self-made billionaire. While not being mutually exclusive,
these roles are:
// The driver of wealth creation as entrepreneur or in
the family business
// The promoter of family and firm governance
// The passionate philanthropist