No. 5: Kim Beom-seok, alias Bom Kim (Coupang)

Year took up current function: 2010

Sector: E-Commerce

Turnover in 2018: $4.1bn

Growth in 2018: 65%

With 120 million products available, all sectors of activity included, the retailer has established itself nationally thanks to the 25 million downloads of its mobile application. This equals one-half the South Korean population. A master-stroke since, in the land of the morning calm, e-commerce grew 22% in 2018 – a boon of almost 72 billion dollars. Bom Kim has invested heavily in innovation (RocketPay, an intuitive payment-without-file-information service) and last mile logistics (traditionally subject to high fixed costs, due to the need for warehouses etc.). Coupang is backed by the Japanese Softbank's Vision Fund.