Asia-Pacific makes its mark, but no one can stop Mr. Slim

The Asia-Pacific region really made its mark on this year's list of the super-rich compiled by Forbes magazine, with the number of APAC billionaires present on the list rising by 80 percent compared to last year. Not only this but the region's wealthiest businessmen also saw their combined worth more than double in the last twelve months.

Furthermore, China now has more billionaires than any country outside the US. India's billionaires, however, are richer - eight made the Top 100 and two, Mukesh Ambani (energy) and Lakshmi Mittal (steel), rank in the Top 5. Mr. Ambani is now the richest man in the Asia-Pacific region and the world's fourth wealthiest person. The wealthiest 100 Indians are collectively worth US$276 billion, while their top 100 Chinese counterparts are worth US$170 billion, as reported by a regional edition of the magazine printed last November.

China lead the way

Despite the Indians' impressive collective wealth, China continue to lead the way for Asia with the number of billionaires more than doubling year-on-year to 64, up from 28 in last year's ranking. The highest-ranking Chinese person on the list is Li Ka-shing of Hong Kong, ranked No. 14 with US$21 billion.

Also among those enjoying an upsurge in fortunes was Robin Li, founder of the Chinese internet search engine Baidu, whose wealth reached US$3.5 billion as his company prospered on Google's abrupt withdrawal from China, due to censorship concerns

The number of super-wealthy from the Asia-Pacific region soared to 234, up from 130 last year, representing an increase to 23 percent of the 1,011 individuals on this year's list. The combined wealth of Asia-Pacific billionaires more than doubled year-on-year to US$729 billion in 2009, up from US$357 billion.

The impressive showing from APAC billionaires is indicative of the region's defiant performance during the global economic downturn. The region generally performed better than many of its western rivals and when the economy came spluttering back to seven percent growth by the end of 2009, the fortune of Asia's billionaires began to brighten, culminating in the storming of the recent rich list.

The rise of the Asian entrepreneur

South Korea and Turkey also made appearances while Australia boasted a dozen billionaires present on the list.

Of the 97 newcomers to the Forbes list, 62 were first-time billionaires from the Asia-Pacific region, nine times more than were on the list last year when the region only offered seven new names to the list.

In the past, Asian royals and aristocrats made the list off the back of hefty inheritance. Now, however, the list is dominated by APAC entrepreneurs who have benefited from developments such as India's relaxation of industry laws in the 1990s and China's embrace of the Internet in the 2000s. However, this doesn't take away from the fact that a significant number of people in the region are suffering in abject poverty with little opportunity to amass fortunes like Ambani and Mittal.

Yet, whereas we might be basking in the glory of the rise of the Asian-Pacific billionaire, none of them could get close to the world's newest wealthiest man - Carlos Slim. He's never used a computer and he wears a plastic wrist watch, but what else do we know about him? Let Business Management APAC enlighten you...

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