5 lessons entrepreneurs can learn from Japan's first self-made female billionaire

folarin okunola

January 27, 2017 11:05 AM

Four decades after starting her business, 82-year-old Yoshiko Shinohara has become Japan's first ever self-made female billionaire.

Yoshiko Shinohara is Japan's first self-made female billionaire.

It may sound hard to believe, but there are only 26 self-made female billionaires in all of Asian history. Yoshiko Shinohara increases that number of people on that very exclusive list to 27.

Shinohara originally launched staffing agency Temp Holdings in 1973 out of her one-bedroom apartment in Tokyo and it took another 40 years to crack billionaire status.

Now, she has achieved so much and even featured on Fortune's list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Global Business. That's why we think there is so much entrepreneurs can learn from her:

1. She was willing to risk everything.

After being introduced to temporary jobs in Europe, Shinohara opened her own temp agency when she returned to Japan. However, temporary employment was illegal in Japan at the time. Instead of changing her business idea, she decided to risk it all. “I used to ask myself: I wonder what it’s like in jail. How big are the rooms? Is there a toilet or a window?’” she says in an interview with Harvard Business Review in 2009.

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2. She never planned to become a billionaire.

Unlike most self-made millionaires and billionaires, Shinohara never wanted to become a member of the 1 percent club. Instead, she "want[ed] to contribute to society through business,” she said. In other words, she just wanted to leave her mark on the world.

3. She put her happiness before her marriage.

Shortly after Shinohara got married, she got divorced. “I realized that I would rather not be married, that this was not the right person for me," she says to HBR. “After the divorce, I said, 'I have to do something with myself.'”

4. She provided an opportunity for Japanese women.

"The importance of women being able to work as well as raise children left an indelible impression,” she said to Forbes Asia. The normal practice in Japan after women married and had kids was for them to become housewives and it was difficult for them to get back into the workforce. Shinohara's company addresses this issue.

5. Employing men saved her business.

Initially, Shinohara's company was proud to employ only women. But then she started to notice a slump in sales and decided to explore the idea of hiring men. Her managers initially refused the idea but she followed her instincts, brought in men and immediately saw an increase in sales. That led her to discover that the right balance of men and women was the backbone to her company's success.

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