Gold Magazine June - July 2013, Issue 27 | Page 14

1

UP FRONT

THE WORLD’S MOST

POWERFUL
WOMEN

Last month Forbes published its annual list of The World’s Most Powerful
Women, made up of leaders in seven categories: billionaires, business, lifestyle (including entertainment and fashion), media, non-profits and NGOs,
politics and technology This year’s list of 100 names features nine heads
of state who run nations with a combined GDP of $11.8 trillion
and 24 corporate CEOs who control $893 billion in annual
revenues, not to mention 14 billionaires valued in excess of
$82 billion. The following are the Top 10.

4

ANGELA MERKEL (58, MARRIED)
Chancellor, Germany

She has served as Germany’s chancellor since 2005 but her biggest
challenge may still lie ahead: she is running for a third term in September’s
general elections. Her hard-line austerity prescription for easing the European debt crisis has been challenged by both hard-hit southern countries
and the more affluent north, most particularly French President Francois
Hollande. She has topped the Forbes list seven times in the past 10 years.

DILMA ROUSSEFF
(65, DIVORCED)

MICHELLE OBAMA
(49, MARRIED)

3

President, Brazil

First Lady, USA
The Harvard graduate and former corporate attorney
actively uses her platform as First Lady to fight
childhood obesity and promote healthier eating and
lifestyles. With 67% of Americans viewing Michelle
Obama in a positive light, she’s more popular than
her husband by far (47%), quite likely because she
spends more time on TV than running the country.
This year she announced the Best Picture for the
Academy Awards.

2

Now at the midpoint of her first term, the former revolutionary is in charge of the world’s seventh-largest
national economy (GDP $2.4 trillion). Despite Brazil’s
size, Rousseff is tasked with pulling the country out of
its slowest two years of growth in more than a decade.
Her emphasis on entrepreneurship has inspired a new
generation of start-ups but many criticize the leader for
favouring pro-development policy over more humanitarian concerns.

MELINDA GATES (48, MARRIED)

HILLARY CLINTON
(65, MARRIED)
Personality, Philanthropist

Co-chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

5

The primary goals of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation this year are to
eradicate polio worldwide by 2018 and get modern contraceptives to another
120 million women by 2020; the Foundation has committed $140 million annually to this cause. The Gates Foundation gave away $3.4 billion last year, the vast
majority to global health programmes, and has made more than $26 billion in
grant commitments since its establishment in 2000.

The former First Lady, US senator and Secretary of State is now a
private citizen but she remains one of the most powerful
women thanks to a strong belief in many quarters that
she will be the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate and the next leader of the
free world. 65% of Democrats say they’ll
vote for her, while another poll has her beating the two Republican forerunners by 52%.

6

SHERYL SANDBERG
(43, MARRIED)

8

7

CHRISTINE LAGARDE
(57, SINGLE)

COO, Facebook

Managing Director, International
Monetary Fund

One year after Facebook’s initial public
offering, the company’s stock is still down
roughly 30% but in 2012, after adding ads to
its mobile news feed, Facebook earned more
US mobile revenue than any other publisher,
with an 18.4% share of the market. Sandberg’s book, Lean In: Women, Work and the
Will to Lead sold nearly 150,000 copies in
its first week and has topped the non-fiction
bestseller lists since March.

French-born Lagarde was an attorney in
the US before her six-year stint as French
finance minister. The first woman to run the
188-country financial organisation has spent
much of her first two years battling the debt
crisis in Europe, facing resistance from Angela Merkel over her push for debt-sharing
among the EU nations and an increase in
bailout funds. There is speculation that she
may run for the French presidency one day.

12 Gold THE INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT, FINANCE & PROFESSIONAL SERVICES MAGAZINE OF CYPRUS

JANET NAPOLITANO
(55, SINGLE)
Secretary, Department of
Homeland Security,
United States
She took on the position as the first
female head of Homeland Security after serving as the third female
governor of Arizona from 2003 to
2009. She now heads the third
largest department in US politics,
overseeing a budget of $48 billion,
a staff of 240,000 and 22 agencies,
including the Secret Service. Napolitano describes her leadership style as
“keeping your eye on long-term vision
while dealing with the crisis du jour.”

SONIA GANDHI
(66, WIDOW)
President, Indian National
Congress, India

9

As the longest-serving chief of India’s ruling
political party, Gandhi holds the reins of the
world’s second-most populous country and
tenth-largest economy. Rumours persist over a
rift between her and Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh, with many expecting Singh to leave office
before the 2014 general elections. In May it
was announced that women commandos of
the elite Special Protection Group may soon be
guarding Gandhi, her daughter and the Prime
Minister’s wife.

INDRA NOOYI
(57, MARRIED)
EO, PepsiCo

10

Nooyi has been busy pushing changes through
PepsiCo this year. For starters, she boosted
quarterly results – revenue jumped 1.2% to
$13 billion – with higher prices and sales of the
company’s snacks like Doritos and Cheetos.
On her initiative, PepsiCo is researching a new
sweetener that could result in trading places
with rival Coca-Cola. Her total compensation
fell by 17% after the company phased out
option awards for top executives for long-term
performance.