Ren Jianxin on International Expansion

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.