Forbes - USA (2019-12-31)

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DECEMBER 31, 20 19 FORBES.COM

Energy mogul Augustin

Oancea follows a “golden

rule that... is according to

a Romanian saying: Never

follow the path beaten

by others if you want to

succeed.”

ROMANIA

RUSSIA

VIETNAM

MONGOLIA

Businesses in conservative

Poland are tapping a new

customer base: LGBTQ con-

sumers, who tend to have

more disposable income.

POLAND

SPAIN

Mexico City faces a pro-

found water crisis. Water

tanks from Rotoplas ($450

million in sales) are now

a ubiquitous sight on the

metropolis’ skyline.

MEXICO

On Forbes Portugal’s

Power Women list: Paula

Amorim. She runs a $5 billion

empire that includes energy,

fashion and more.

PORTUGAL

JAPAN

When Ashkat Omarov

launched his online airfare

site, Santufei, in 2014, it

crashed on day one. Five

years later, it’s one

of the country’s largest

such sites, with close to

$20 million in revenue.

KAZAKHSTAN

KOREA

Known in Thai fi-

nancial circles as

the “Stock Market

Goddess,” Pattera

Dilokrungthirapop

is the CEO of DBS

Vickers Securities.

THAILAND

KENYA

The lenses made by Eun

Gyeong Park’s Sekonix

power the cameras going

into cars from Hyundai,

Kia and others, enabling

them to judge distance

and traffic conditions.

The emergence of mobile

banking in Kenya—led by

M-Pesa, a fintech startup—

is a boon for customers

(who get easier access to

banks and safer transac-

tions) and for companies

(who get an entirely new

customer base).

“Every book tells a story,”

says Katherine Munro, a

74-year-old South African

whose six-figure library

landed her on a new Forbes

Africa list of the continent’s

largest and most unusual

collections.

The best-dressed men

already wear Kashiyama’s

custom suits. Now it’s

making custom women’s

shoes as well.

A new ranking of Mos-

cow’s most successful

restaurants includes high-

end staples like White

Rabbit and Selfie, as well

as lower-end fare, such

as Boston Seafood & Bar

near the Begovoy District.

Quách Thái Công

is the toast of

Ho Chi Minh City,

one of the town’s

hottest interior

designers. His

recent fee for

making over

a 3,700-square-

foot pad?

$1.5 million.

INDIA

Colmar’s down jackets

have been mainstays

on European slopes for

generations. “Decades of

history have allowed us to

create a clear DNA,” says

Mario Colombo, company

president.

ITALY

If everything

goes accord-

ing to plan

for Amnon

Shashua, whose

company, Mo-

bileye, supplies

autonomous-

driving tech,

Israel will see its

first robo-taxi

by 2022.

ISRAEL

“I have a strong instinct

... [and] most of the
time it will be backed by
some solid work,” says
IT billionaire Shiv Nadar,
who has grown increas-
ingly interested in
philanthropy as his net
worth more than tripled
in the past decade.

Que rico! No. 1 on Forbes

Spain’s list of the 100

richest: Zara founder

Amancio Ortega.

Three Latvian twenty-

somethings have created

what they call a “Tinder for

loans”: an app called Jeff.

Their first market? A world

away in Vietnam.

LATVIA

SOUTH AFRICA

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SLOVAKIA

In America, Marian

Hossa was a hockey

star, winning three

Stanley Cups. In

his native Slovakia,

his frozen-food

company, HO&PE,

has become a major

maker of pierogi

and dumplings.

Mining-dependent Mon-

golia is under pressure to

boost its output of high-

quality coal.