a former factory girl is set to become china's richest woman   worth nearly £49 billion zhou qunfei, 45, will top the rich list after her company lens technology went public on the growth enterprise market, reports the people's daily shares for the company, which supplies protective window glass used in apple devices, have rocketed since the initial public offering (ipo) on march 5 rich: zhou qunfei, who launched lens technology, is one of richest women in china  having risen to 45 times their value, the rise is certain to propel zhou, who owns nearly 98 per cent of the company, to become china's richest woman her husband, zheng junlong, has 14 per cent of company shares, taking their combined ownership to more than 99 per cent microsoft owner bill gates: £455 billion  facebook founder mark zuckerberg: £17 billion  britain's richest person, landlord gerald grosvenor: £77 billion  chelsea owner roman abramovich: £54 billion  virgin founder richard branson: £3 billion  film director steven spielberg: £2 billion  american business tycoon donald trump: 27 million  designer ralph lauren: £42 billion  originally a  'factory girl' in shenzhen, her growth in the industry has earned her the nickname 'queen of mobile phone glass,' commanding an annual salary of more than £15 million according to company sources, zhou worked at bai en for many years and left before founding lens technology   which is now the company's biggest competitor   in 2003 born in the hunan province, she relocated to guangdong where she learned how to make glass for watches before later moving onto the multimedia, consumer electronics and the mobile device screen market she would later dominate big earner: richard branson was worth £3 billion last year  shortly after establishing the company   which specialises in the production of protective window glass, used in mobile phones, tablet pcs, notebook pcs, and consumer electronic products   she moved the factory to her home town of hunan brokers estimate that lens technology's market value could reach 53 billion yuan with zhou's personal worth climbing to 466 billion yuan, or £487 billion it shipped 476 billion pieces of protective glass in 2013, including 451 million for mobile phones and 255 million for table pcs, with a market share of 2337 per cent humble beginnings: zhou qunfei started her working life in a factory and is now thought to be the richest woman in china worth nearly £5 billion (stock image)
apple bai en initial public offering
her company lens technology supplies window glass for apple devices  45 year old started work as factory girl at rival glassmaker bai en  initial public offering has seen shares rocket to 45 times value 