The sixth self-made female Chinese billionaire is He Qiaonv, who founded landscape architecture and interior construction firm Beijing Orient Landscape.

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Beijing Orient Landscape is publicly traded and He owns about 65% of the company.

FORBES: How China's Self-Made Women Billionaires Earned Their Fortunes

Pennell realized this even more starkly, as he realized that the technology landscape for the Beijing Games was substantially different than it would be for London 2012.

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