Who Is Rafaela Aponte-Diamant? World's Richest Self Made Woman

Rafaela Aponte-Diamant has a staggering net worth of 28.6 billion dollars, according to the Forbes 2023 list. With her on the list, women account for only close to 3.6% of the world's billionaires yet it is news to be acknowledged. She is the 43rd richest person on the list. She was born to Israeli bankers in Switzerland and in 79 years, she is the highest ranking female founder.  

Journey to Becoming The Richest Female Founder

Her journey as a billionaire came into action during the 1960s when she met her husband, Gianluigi, during a trip to Capri Islands, where he was the ship captain. Two of them went to Switzerland and Gianluigi worked as a banker. After a few years, they took a loan of 200,000 dollars and started their business in the shipping industry with their first shipping cargo, Patricia.  It was a genius move from their end to navigate through this industry by creating easiest and least trafficked routes for cargo, which mostly channelled from Europe to Africa. The husband-and-wife duo co-founded the 'Mediterranean Shipping Company' where they each own 50% stakes. 

They soon acquired a second ship named Rafaela and then subsequently went on to acquire 17 other ships. They expanded their business by operating holiday cruises under 'MSC Cruises' which boomed their business. The most profit they earned was during the pandemic in 2020–2022. According to Forbes, they made several investments and acquisitions, which significantly made them earn 28 billion dollars in 2022 itself. "As container shipping rates soared from 2020 to 2022, the Apontes began to use some of that extra cash to make some acquisitions. In June 2021, they bought back a 10% stake in Terminal Investments Limited for $1.6 billion, two years after selling a minority stake to Singapore's sovereign wealth fund. Three months later, they acquired a 74% stake in Brazilian publicly traded logistics firm Log-In Logistica for $314 million. Three months after that came their biggest deal in years, a $6.4 billion bid to take over the African transportation  and logistics operations of French conglomerate Bolloré Group." 

Women and Economic Integration

Currently, Rafaela serves on the board of the MSC Foundation, which was established in 2018 and primarily looks after the interior of the cruise ships. Even though it is a great feat to have another woman in the billionaires list, it is just not enough. For decades, men have dominated the billionaire and millionaire club through all age groups but women have only taken limited seats in those clubs. It is time we gave women the same agency, independence and power as men. It is time we let women be the stakeholders of every industry and economic policy because women lift economies. With more than 50% of the world population being female, it is necessary that we include and integrate women into economic demographic with more accountability and space to grow.