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Marina Budiman from Indonesia is the wealthiest female in the region with a net worth of $6 billion, according to real-time data from Forbes.

The 64-year-old is the cofounder and president commissioner of data center company DCI Indonesia, a company established in 2011.

She worked with Sugiri at Bank Bali in 1985 and joined IT company Sigma Cipta Caraka in 1989.

She cofounded Indonet, the first internet service provider in Indonesia, in 1994. She and other cofounders sold their stakes in 2023.

Last year, she ranked eighth among Indonesia’s 50 Richest. She also claimed the 16th place in Forbes’ list of World’s Richest Self-Made Women.

Somurai Jaruphnit from Thailand is the second-richest woman in Southeast Asia with a fortune of $4.4 billion.

The 72-year-old draws her wealth from an 8.42% stake in the holding outfit of the Charoen Pokphand Group, one of the world’s largest producers of animal feed and livestock.

Her late father Montri Jiaravanont was the son of Chia Ek Chor, who along with his brother Choncharoen Chiaravanont, opened a shop selling seeds imported from China in 1921.

CP’s other assets include stakes in Chinese insurer Ping An, Hong Kong conglomerate CITIC and telecom unit True Corp. It also owns Tesco’s operations in Thailand and Malaysia.

Pham Thu Huong from Vietnam ranks third in the region. She also has $4.4 billion in wealth, the same as Jaruphnit, but ranks lower globally than the Thai tycoon.

Pham Thu Huong, deputy chairwoman of Vingroup. Photo courtesy of the company

Huong is the wife of Southeast Asia’s richest man Pham Nhat Vuong, and the couple’s main source of wealth is conglomerate Vingroup and its associated companies.

The 57-year-old deputy chairwoman of Vingroup has a master’s degree in international law from Ukraine. In early February Forbes first recognized her as a billionaire.

She has worked alongside her husband since the early days of his entrepreneurial career in Ukraine, before the couple returned to Vietnam.

The group’s key businesses include electric vehicle maker VinFast, property developer Vinhomes, and hotel chain Vinpearl. VinFast has become Vietnam’s largest EV manufacturer by market share and operates overseas plants in India and Indonesia.

In 2020, she and her husband also established the VinFuture Foundation, a non-profit organization that promotes innovation in fields including health and sustainable development.

Vanessa Hartono from Indonesia ranks fourth with a net worth of $4.1 billion, mostly inherited from her late father, Michael “Bambang” Hartono.

Michael was one of Indonesia’s richest people and owned a stake in Bank Central Asia with his brother, Robert Budi. He died in March 2026 at age 86.

The Hartonos acquired the stake in Bank Central Asia after another wealthy family, the Salims, lost control of the bank during the 1997-1998 Asian economic crisis.

The family initially built its fortune in tobacco and remains one of the country’s largest clove cigarette makers.

The family’s holdings also include prime real estate in Jakarta and popular electronics brand Polytron, which entered the EV market in Indonesia in 2025 with the launch of two electric car models.

Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao from Vietnam secured the fifth spot with $4 billion in wealth.

Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, president and CEO of Vietjet Air. Photo by Read/Thanh Tung

The 56-year-old is Vietnam’s first self-made woman billionaire. She launched her budget airline Vietjet Air in 2011 and took it public in 2017.

Nguyen came up with the idea of launching a low-cost airline while working as a trader, after predicting that demand for air travel in Vietnam would increase.

She also has investments in HDBank, technology, green energy, and real estate, including hotels and beach resorts.