The 8 Richest Foreigners in China

Source: Inkstone News, Hurun Rich List

China is a big, lucrative market with 1.4 billion potential consumers. But it’s also a notoriously competitive place where many foreign companies – including Amazon, Uber and Best Buy – have failed.

Still, some enterprising foreigners have managed to become rich and successful in the country.

Five of them even made it onto the annual Hurun China Rich List, which has been ranking the country’s wealthiest people since 1999.

Here are their stories, in descending order from rich to super rich:

8. Grant Horsfield, 42 (310 Million USD)

Born in South Africa, Horsfield came to China in 2006, originally hoping to build a trading company.

But Horsfield quickly realized that Chinese urbanites didn’t need South African products but more relaxed, natural lifestyles – which he knew inherently well by growing up on a farm.

He built a boutique retreat in the bamboo fields of Mount Mogan, in China’s eastern province of Zhejiang, catering to busy people looking for quality getaways.

7. Filip Sedic, 47 (400 Million USD)

A Bosnian-born Swede, Sedic lives in Shanghai. He first found success at LELO, a startup making high-end sex toys. One of its smart vibrators can set you back $15,000.

In 2013, Sedic ventured into cosmetics and beauty products with a company called Foreo. Its vibrating facial brush, called Luna, is a favorite of beauty bloggers.

Foreo made the top-selling facial brushes in China in 2017 and 2018, according to Cosmopolitan China.  

Instead of buying ads in fashion magazines, Luna is mainly marketed by online influencers with massive followings on Chinese social media platforms such as Xiaohongshu.

6. John Oyler, 51 (1 Billion USD)

The Pittsburgh native came to Beijing in 2005. Five years later, Oyler started BeiGene, now listed on the Nasdaq, making and testing cancer drugs in the world's second-largest drug market.

“What China has is the beginning of a very powerful industry,” Oyler told the South China Morning Post in 2017. “It’s not a surprise that so much brilliant talent is coming back from the US or Europe.”

In May, China's State Council issued a healthcare reform directive which included the speeding up of the regulatory approval process for cancer drugs.

Before coming to Beijing, Oyler worked as a consultant at McKinsey and as an executive at oncology firm Genta.

5. Koh Tuck Lye (1 Billion USD)

A venture capitalist, founder of Shunwei Capital and Beijing Resident, originally from Singapore. He invested in Xiaomi, Patsnap, iSpace and other IoT projects. Currently, he sits on the Xiaomi board of directors.

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4. Dan Friis (1.15 Billion USD)

Before China became a hotbed for global fast-fashion chains, many Chinese got introduced to European style through brands such as Only, Vero Moda and Jack & Jones.

These brands are all part of the Bestseller Fashion Group China. They’re well-known among millennials as a stable presence in China’s department stores, but they’re rarely heard of outside China.

In 1996, Dan Friis set up the Bestseller Fashion Group China, collaborating with the Holch Povlsen family, owner of Bestseller Retail Denmark.

Friis, a Dane, attributes much of his company’s success to the Chinese female workforce.

Allan Warburg, his business partner, told the Chinese state media that Chinese men are more reliant on networking and buddy culture, whereas women focus more on doing a good job.

3. Kieu Hoang, 75 (2 Billion USD)

Kieu Hoang, a Vietnamese-born American businessman. He left his native Vietnam with his family after US troops left the country in 1975.

Hoang found his way into the Chinese market by offering a niche high-tech service that China desperately needed.

In 1987, Hoang established Shanghai RAAS Blood Products in collaboration with the state-owned Shanghai Blood Center. His company grew steadily in the 1990s, when high-quality blood plasma was a valuable commodity.

Before Shanghai, Hoang had worked his way up at US pharmaceutical company Abbott Laboratories.

2. Elijah Widjaja - Indonesia (2.7 Billion USD)

Elijah's father went from selling biscuits, to building a multi-billion dollar enterprise. Yet, most of the family's earnings were lost during the Asian Financial Crisis, but they were able to bounce back after their actions in China.

1. Tedy Djuhar (3.4 Billion USD)

The founder of Salim Group, which is Indonesia's biggest company, and the world's largest instant noodle company. Currently living in Fuzhou.

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