At 15, Tarek Mueller started
his first business, an online
shop that sold poker
accessories. Today his
e-commerce startup,
About You, is Hamburg’s
first unicorn.GERMANY
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Medical tourism abounds
in the region, but experts
warn that the industry will
likely face a tough dose of
consolidation and a push
toward better procedures.36
FORBES.COM DECEMBER 31, 20 19FRONTRUNNERAcross the planet, these 34 licensed
editions span five continents, 27
languages and 24 time zones.
They all share the same mission:
celebrating entrepreneurial capitalism
in all its guises.GEORGIA
INDONESIA
“We are promoting
women as subjects, not
objects,” vows Laurent
Milchior, cochairman
of lingerie maker
Etam Group.FRANCE
All success takes place
in the “past tense,” says
Zhang Ruimin, the ap-
pliance king of China.
Thus, Haier Group, the
manufacturing company
he runs, is focused solely
on the future—and the key
to that, he says, is unleash-
ing the power of individual
employees.CHINA
BRAZIL
ANGOLA BOLIVIA
CZECH REPUBLIC
CYPRUS
GREECE
Few people under 35 drink the
herbal digestif Unicum anymore, leaving
centuries-old beverage maker Zwack
searching for a new product.HUNGARY
When the Soviet Union
collapsed, Tamaz Daush-
vili cornered the market
for a basic home good:
window blinds.ARGENTINA
DUBAI
WORLD
OFFORBES
Diego Fenoglio’s fam-
ily is chocolate royalty in
Argentina, where they’ve
been in the industry since
the 1940s. His Rapanui ice
cream and chocolate have
grown to a nearly $800 mil-
lion business—and he’s the
rare Argentine with a sweet
outlook on the country:
“When there is a crisis, the
Argentine eats ice cream.
When he is happy, he eats
chocolate.”Since 2016, Vodafone
Greece has invested nearly
$550 million to upgrade
the country’s
telecom infrastructure.Maria Borges made a
name for herself as a
supermodel—appearing
five times in the Victoria’s
Secret Fashion Show—and
now wants to become
a real estate investor,
starting in the capital
city of Luanda.The new Impact Entre-
preneurs Fund—launched
during the recent Slum
Summit on combating
poverty—will support
economic development
in Brazil’s impoverished
favelas.Life in Bolivia this autumn
“was completely halted
for three weeks by mostly
peaceful civic protests”
over elections, says Forbes
Bolivia publisher Fred
Breede. “Friends and fami-
lies gathered in every cor-
ner. No business opened—
only banks, grocery stores
and gas stations during the
morning.”Former NHL player
Jaromir Jagr, 47, is still
lacing ’em up, playing for
the Klando Knights in the
Czech Republic, which
recently rejoined the
league’s top tier.
After conquering Cyprus’
local insurance market,
Christos Christodoulou,
CEO of Trust Insurance,
intends to look beyond
the island.The country’s startup
scene is thriving—with five
unicorns already and sev-
eral more promising young
companies, such as John
Marco Rasjid’s Sociolla.A Forbes Middle East
package on the top real
estate companies is led by
Wasl Asset Management,
which controls 40,000
residences in Dubai.