In the recently released list of America's Richest Self Made Women by Forbes, three women are of Indian-origin. Neha Narkhede, CTO and Co-Founder of streaming data technology company Confluent, Neerja Sethi, Co-founder of IT Consulting and outsourcing firm Syntel and Jayashree Ullal, President and CEO of Computer Networking Firm Arista Networks are the three women of Indian-origin whose names have been included in the list.
The Forbes cover for America's Richest Self Made Women featured Serena Williams on the cover; she made her debut in the list this year. The list is a reflection on the fact that “women are creating a more successful business and amassing fortunes than ever before.” The women featured in the list have a net worth of $81.3 billion. The industries in which these women have left their impact include a wide range from entertainment and fashion to science and technology. The minimum net worth to be included in this year’s list is $225 million.
Straight for the second year, Diane Hendricks won the top spot in the list. She is the co-founder and chairperson of ABC supply. She has gained a net worth of $7 billion, up by $2.1 billion from the last year.
Jayashree Ullal
President and CEO of Arista Networks, Jayashree Ullal is an American billionaire businesswoman. Born in London and brought up in New Delhi, Ullal secured the 18th place in the list with a total worth of $1.4 billion. With this, she owns around five percent of the stocks of Arista Networks. She has also served as a director of internetworking products at Ungermann-Bass for four years, before joining Crescendo Communications. Here, she was promoted to the position of vice president of marketing.
“Born in London and brought up in India, she is one of the richest self-made women in America,” said Forbes. She has also been named in the list of five most influential people in the networking industry, for her work at the Arista Networks. Additionally, she is also the first woman to be awarded the Entrepreneurial and Leadership award, sponsored by Silicon India, in 1999.
Neerja Sethi
Neerja Sethi has been ranked at number 23 in the list. As of June 6, she has a net worth of $1 billion. She co-founded the IT Consulting and Outsourcing firm Syntel in 1980, with her husband Bharat Desai, in their apartment in Troy, Michigan. 64-year-old Neerja Sethi has a score of eight in the self-made section and is a mother of two children. When the French IT Firm Atos SE bought Syntel for $3.4 billion in October 2018, Seti got an estimated $510 million for her stake in the company. Though Sethi worked as an executive in Syntel, she didn't join Atos.
Neha Narkhede
CTO and Co-founder of Confluent, Neha Narkhede is ranked at number 60 in the list. Her company is currently valued at $2.5 billion and her total worth is estimated to be around $360 million. She has also contributed to developing Apache Kafka to handle the LinkedIn Networking Site's huge influx of data. The company counts Netflix, Golman Sacchs and Uber as their customers and the company also raised $125 million in January 2019 in a round led by Sequoia Capital, bringing its total funding to $206 million.
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