ChemChina

Ren Jianxin was born in Lanzhou, Gansu Province in January 1958, of Hebei ancestry; during the Cultural Revolution he worked as a 'sent-down youth' in Dunhuang from 1974-1975, then worked at the Lanzhou Chemical Machinery Research Institute from 1975-1984, later earning a mechanical engineering degree from the Open University of China and an MBA from Lanzhou University (1994).

In 1984, Ren used a loan of RMB 10,000 and seven young employees to start Bluestar Company, an industrial solvents factory, which later became China National Bluestar (Group) Company, a joint venture with the Blackstone Group.

Starting in 1996, Ren built the ChemChina empire by taking control of more than 100 troubled chemical factories across China -- which remained government-owned -- turning around a fragmented, loss-making state sector into what became the 265th-largest company on the Fortune Global 500.

Ren led ChemChina's roughly $43 billion acquisition offer for Swiss agribusiness company Syngenta, one of the largest overseas acquisitions by a Chinese company, and holds board chairmanships at both ChemChina and Italian tire manufacturer Pirelli.

Founded Bluestar in 1984 as a small industrial-solvents factory and grew it into China National Bluestar Group.

From 1996, consolidated more than 100 troubled, government-owned chemical factories into what became ChemChina, later pursuing the acquisition of Syngenta.

ChemChina grew into the Fortune Global 500's 265th-largest company and completed the roughly $43 billion Syngenta acquisition, with Ren also becoming chairman of Pirelli.