Zhou Qunfei facts for kids

Zhou Qunfei (born in 1970) is a very successful Chinese businesswoman. She started a big company called Lens Technology that makes touchscreens. These are the glass screens you touch on your phones and tablets.

In March 2015, her company's shares were sold to the public on the stock market. This made her very rich, with about US$10 billion. She became the richest woman in China. By 2018, she was known as the world's richest woman who built her own fortune.

Early Life and Education

Zhou Qunfei was born in 1970 in Xiangxiang, a place in Hunan province, China. She grew up in a poor family and was the youngest of three children. Before she was born, her father had an accident and became partly blind. He was a skilled craftsman who made things like bamboo baskets and fixed bicycles to support the family.

When Zhou was five, her mother passed away. As a child, she helped her family by raising animals to eat and sell. She was a bright student and the only one of her siblings to go to secondary school. However, she left school at age 16. She then moved to Shenzhen to live with her uncle and work as a migrant worker.

In Shenzhen, Zhou chose to work for companies near Shenzhen University. This allowed her to take classes at the university in her free time. She studied many subjects and earned certificates in accounting, computer operations, and customs processing. She even got a license to drive commercial vehicles.

Starting Her Career

Zhou Qunfei once dreamed of becoming a fashion designer. But she found a job making watch parts for a small family business. She earned about 180 yuan a month. She wasn't happy with the working conditions and decided to quit after three months. She wrote a letter explaining why she was leaving but also thanked them for the chance to work. The factory boss was impressed by her letter and offered her a promotion instead.

When that factory closed, Zhou decided to start her own company in 1993. She was 22 years old and used her savings of about HK$20,000 (around US$3,000). Her cousin encouraged her to start her own business. Her company began in a three-bedroom apartment with her brother, sister, their spouses, and two cousins. They promised customers higher-quality watch lenses. Zhou was very involved in all parts of the company. She even fixed machines and created better designs for them.

In 2001, her company got a big chance. They won a contract to make mobile phone screens for a large Chinese electronics company called TCL Corporation.

Lens Technology Company

Lens Technology in Liuyang, Hunan, China

In 2003, while still making watch faces, Zhou's company got a request from Motorola. Motorola wanted them to create glass screens for their Razr V3 phone. This was a time when the phone industry was changing from plastic screens to glass ones.

After this, Zhou Qunfei started a new company called Lens Technology in 2003. She named it "Lens Technology" so that people searching for "lens" online would find it. Soon, the company received orders from other phone makers like HTC, Nokia, and Samsung Electronics.

When Apple launched its first iPhone in 2007, Lens Technology made its touch screens. This helped Lens Technology become a very important company in the industry. Today, Lens Technology mainly provides touch screens to big electronics companies like Apple, Samsung, and Huawei. About 75% of its money comes from Apple and Samsung. The Apple Watch also uses glass and sapphire crystal screens made by her company.

By 2017, Lens Technology had about 90,000 employees. It was expected to produce more than a billion glass screens and had 32 different factory locations.

Major Achievements

On March 18, 2015, Lens Technology started selling its shares on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. This day was also the 22nd anniversary of Zhou's first company. The company's stock price quickly went up, making Lens Technology the biggest technology company to go public in China in early 2015.

Zhou Qunfei owns a large part of Lens Technology. When the company went public, her wealth grew a lot. She became the richest woman in China, taking the place of Chen Lihua. She is also known as the world's richest self-made woman and one of the wealthiest women in the technology world.

Zhou has been recognized by many important lists:

• Forbes magazine listed her as #61 in 2016 Power Women.
• She was #205 in 2016 Billionaires.
• She was #18 on the 2015 China Rich List.
• She was #30 in 2015 Richest in Tech.
• Fortune magazine ranked her #18 on their 2016 Most Powerful Women of Asia-Pacific list.
• Bloomberg ranked her as #211 among the world's billionaires.

Personal Life

Zhou Qunfei was married to her former factory boss and had a daughter. They later divorced. In 2008, she married Zheng Junlong, who also worked at the factory. As of 2015, he was on the board of Lens Technology. They have a son who lives with them at their family home in Hong Kong.

Zhou has said that she loves her work so much that it feels like a hobby. She also enjoys mountain climbing and playing ping pong.

Zhou Qunfei's journey from a poor background to becoming a very rich and successful businesswoman has inspired many people in China. In an interview, she shared that the secret to her success was her strong desire to learn new things.

See also

In Spanish: Zhou Qunfei para niños