7 PH Executives are Part of the Fortune Most Powerful Women Asia List

The executives who made it to the Fortune Most Powerful Women Asia list come from 11 nations, including the Philippines. 

Fortune has released its Most Powerful Women Asia (MPW Asia) list, which includes seven executives from the Philippines. According to Fortune, the list is a “definitive ranking of female business leaders from across the Asia Pacific region.”

“The 2024 MPW Asia list recognizes women who are redefining the concept of leadership by transforming companies, disrupting industries and driving growth, innovation and business innovation, while inspiring their teams, peers, industries and the next generation of leaders,” Fortune added. 

The women who made the list are based in 11 nations, which are as follows:

• Australia 
• China
• India
• Indonesia
• Japan
• Malaysia
• Philippines
• South Korea
• Singapore
• Thailand
• Vietnam

Over half of the women on the list are CEOs, while 26 are chairpersons. 11 of the women are chief financial officers (CFOs). 

7 PH Executives Join the List

The following Filipina executives from the Philippines are part of the 2024 MPW Asia list:

• GCash President and CEO Martha Sazon (no. 38)
• Robinsons Retail Holdings President and CEO Robina Gokongwei-Pe (no. 48)
• Shell Pilipinas President and CEO Lorelie Quiambao Osal (no. 67)
• Ayala Land President and CEO Anna Ma. Margarita Bautista Dy (no. 73)
• Land Bank of the Philippines President and CEO Lynette Ortiz (no. 82)
• Megaworld President Lourdes Gutierrez-Alfonso (no. 85)
• Filinvest Development President and CEO Rhoda Huang (no. 98)

In a previous interview with The Business Manual, Sazon, who is the highest ranked Filipina on the prestigious list, addressed having to deal with her fair share of bias. 

“As a leader, I’ve made a lot of tough and unpopular decisions that people couldn’t appreciate at first,” Sazon said in the interview. “Sometimes, it doesn’t help that I’m a woman, kasi minsan may kasamang judgment.” [There is bad judgment.]

“As a woman with very strong convictions, I have been criticized as opinionated, even calculated, while men who act the same way may even be praised as strategic,” she added. 

Despite the bias, the GCash President and CEO did not let it stop her, saying “Since I knew I was doing the right thing, I stuck with it even though it was tough.”

Who is No. 1?

Ranking first on the 2024 MPW Asia list is Grace Wang, the chairwoman and CEO of Shenzhen-based manufacturer Luxshare, which she co-founded in 2004 with her brother. 

Today, the company is one of the leading makers of Apple products, including the iPhone, AirPods, Apple Watch, and Vision Pro. According to Fortune, the company is no. 488 on the Fortune Global 500 list with a revenue of $32.8 billion (approximately PHP 1.86 trillion).