Three daughters of prominent Malaysian business tycoons have earned places on Fortune’s 2026 Most Powerful Women Asia list, highlighting the growing influence of women in some of the region’s most recognizable business empires. Among those recognized is Kuok Hui Kwong, daughter of Malaysian billionaire Robert Kuok, who ranked 34th on the annual list of 100 influential business leaders across Asia.
The recognition also includes Nerine Tan Sheik Ping, daughter of Berjaya Corporation founder Vincent Tan, and Sarena Cheah, the eldest daughter of Sunway Group founder Jeffrey Cheah. They ranked 91st and 92nd, respectively, in Fortune’s 2026 ranking.
The list recognizes women whose leadership, business performance, and influence help shape companies and industries across 14 Asian markets. Its selections reflect the importance of executives who manage major organizations, oversee strategic investments, and influence the direction of businesses in an increasingly competitive regional economy.
For Malaysia, the recognition places several prominent businesswomen in the spotlight at a time when leadership succession, corporate expansion, and women’s representation in senior executive positions remain important topics in the business world.
Although the three women come from wealthy business families, their professional responsibilities extend across hospitality, property development, finance, and consumer businesses. Their inclusion provides an opportunity to examine how they are shaping the companies they lead and contributing to their families’ established business legacies.
Kuok Hui Kwong Ranks 34th on Fortune’s 2026 List
Kuok Hui Kwong secured the highest ranking among the three Malaysian tycoons’ daughters, taking 34th place on Fortune’s 2026 Most Powerful Women Asia list. She serves as chairman, group chief executive officer, and executive director of Shangri-La Group, the international hospitality business associated with her father, Robert Kuok.
Although Kuok Hui Kwong is Malaysian by family background, Fortune identifies her as a representative of Hong Kong SAR because of her leadership role at the Hong Kong-headquartered hospitality group.
Her appointment as group CEO in August 2025 marked an important development in the leadership of Shangri-La. She had previously served as an executive director of Shangri-La Asia since June 2016 and became chairman in January 2017, giving her years of experience in the company’s governance and strategic direction before assuming the top executive position.
Shangri-La operates a portfolio of hotels and resorts across international markets, making its leadership responsible for navigating changing travel patterns, competition in luxury accommodation, and the evolving expectations of global guests.
According to Fortune’s profile, the group generated approximately $2.2 billion in revenue in 2025. Its scale illustrates the commercial responsibilities attached to Kuok Hui Kwong’s position and the importance of strategic decisions affecting the hospitality business.
Her background also extends beyond hotel management. Kuok Hui Kwong previously served as managing director and chief executive officer of SCMP Group, the former corporate parent of the South China Morning Post, from 2009 to 2012. She has also served as a director of the Bangkok Post, giving her experience in media and corporate leadership.
She graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in East Asian Studies. Her educational background and experience across different industries have contributed to a career spanning media, corporate governance, and hospitality.
Her position on Fortune’s list reflects the scale of Shangri-La’s operations and her responsibilities in overseeing one of Asia’s best-known luxury hotel groups. As the company continues to compete in the international hospitality market, her leadership will be important in determining its future growth and strategic priorities.
For the wider Kuok business family, her role also represents a significant example of the next generation taking on senior responsibilities within an established business empire.
Nerine Tan Sheik Ping Takes the Top Executive Role at Berjaya Corporation
Nerine Tan Sheik Ping ranked 91st on Fortune’s 2026 Most Powerful Women Asia list. She is the daughter of Vincent Tan, the Malaysian businessman who founded Berjaya Corporation, a diversified conglomerate with interests across several sectors.
Tan’s professional responsibilities have expanded in recent years, culminating in her becoming the sole CEO of Berjaya Corporation earlier in 2026 after previously serving as co-CEO.
The leadership change places her at the center of the group’s executive decision-making. As sole CEO, she is responsible for helping direct the conglomerate’s operations and strategic priorities across its various businesses.
Berjaya Corporation has interests spanning consumer services, property, hospitality, and other commercial activities. Managing a diversified group of this scale requires executives to balance the performance of individual businesses while responding to economic conditions, changing consumer demand, and investment opportunities.
Tan also holds directorships at several Berjaya businesses, including Sports Toto, one of the group’s established operations.
According to information published by the group, she has led Sports Toto’s sales strategies since 2007. Her experience includes navigating challenges associated with illegal gaming operations and the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
These responsibilities illustrate the practical demands of leadership in a business that operates in a regulated and competitive market. Maintaining performance requires attention to sales strategies, operational efficiency, compliance, and changing consumer behavior.
Her elevation to sole CEO represents an important step in the development of Berjaya’s leadership structure. It also highlights how executives from the next generation of a family-controlled conglomerate can assume greater responsibility for its future direction.
Fortune’s recognition brings additional attention to Tan’s role as she leads the group through its next phase. The challenge will be to strengthen business performance, manage the different demands of the conglomerate’s operations, and identify opportunities for sustainable growth.
Sarena Cheah Ranks 92nd as Sunway Group Expands Its Property Business
Sarena Cheah, the eldest daughter of Sunway Group founder Jeffrey Cheah, ranked 92nd on Fortune’s 2026 Most Powerful Women Asia list.
She serves as executive deputy chairman of Sunway Group, a Malaysian conglomerate with interests in property development, construction, healthcare, education, and other sectors.
Her career at Sunway began in 1995, when she joined the business as a junior executive. Over the years, she gained experience in corporate finance, internal audit, business development, and property development before moving into senior leadership.
This progression gave her exposure to different aspects of the group’s operations, including financial oversight, business planning, and investment decisions. She later led Sunway’s property development arm before becoming executive deputy chairman in January 2025.
One of her notable recent achievements was leading Sunway’s acquisition of MCL Land from Hongkong Land in September 2025. The transaction, valued at approximately 2.4 billion Malaysian ringgit, or about $590 million, involved the property developer’s Singapore and Malaysia business.
The acquisition was significant because it expanded Sunway’s presence in two established property markets and strengthened its development portfolio. It also demonstrated the group’s willingness to pursue strategic investments to support its regional growth ambitions.
Cheah had earlier played a role in the merger of Sunway Holdings and Sunway City, a major corporate restructuring that helped consolidate the group’s businesses. She was also involved in the listing of Sunway Real Estate Investment Trust, known as Sunway REIT.
These transactions reflect her involvement in corporate expansion and the development of Sunway’s investment platform. For a conglomerate operating across several industries, such decisions can influence its long-term competitive position and ability to attract investment.
Sunway’s development from a tin-mining business into a diversified conglomerate illustrates the scale of the enterprise she now helps lead. Its operations span industries that contribute to Malaysia’s urban development, education, healthcare, and consumer economy.
Her inclusion on Fortune’s list recognizes her executive responsibilities and role in steering the group’s growth strategy. As Sunway pursues opportunities in Malaysia and overseas, her leadership will remain relevant to the company’s future direction.
Three Malaysian Businesswomen, Three Different Leadership Paths
Although Kuok Hui Kwong, Nerine Tan, and Sarena Cheah share family connections to prominent business founders, their leadership roles illustrate different approaches to managing large organizations.
Kuok Hui Kwong leads an international hospitality group with a strong presence in the luxury hotel market. Her experience in media and corporate governance adds another dimension to her career, while her appointment as group CEO places her at the center of Shangri-La’s global strategy.
Nerine Tan’s role at Berjaya Corporation involves overseeing a diversified conglomerate with businesses serving different consumer and commercial markets. Her move from co-CEO to sole CEO represents a significant development in the group’s leadership structure.
Sarena Cheah’s work at Sunway Group is closely linked to property development, corporate restructuring, and strategic acquisitions. Her experience in finance and business development has supported her progression into a senior position at one of Malaysia’s major diversified groups.
Their careers demonstrate that leadership in family businesses involves more than maintaining an established name. Executives must make decisions about investment, competition, governance, and growth while adapting to changing economic conditions.
The three women also operate in different geographic and commercial environments. Shangri-La serves international hospitality markets, Berjaya maintains a diversified business portfolio, and Sunway combines property and infrastructure-related operations with healthcare and education.
Their rankings therefore reflect different forms of business responsibility rather than identical career paths. Each leader’s influence is connected to the size, scope, and strategic direction of the organization she manages.
Three Other Malaysian Businesswomen Also Make the List
The 2026 Fortune ranking features more Malaysian businesswomen beyond the daughters of the three tycoons.
Ng Wei Wei ranked 85th. She became the first woman to serve as CEO of UOB Malaysia in 2022, marking a milestone in the leadership of the banking institution.
Joanne Rodrigues ranked 99th and serves as group chief financial officer of Affin Bank. Her position involves financial oversight and supporting decisions that affect the bank’s financial management and business strategy.
Yik Sook Ling ranked 100th and serves as chief financial officer of Public Bank. Her role places her within the senior financial leadership of one of Malaysia’s established banking groups.
The inclusion of these executives is significant because their career paths differ from those of the three business tycoons’ daughters. Their positions in banking highlight the role of professional management and financial expertise in shaping corporate performance.
Together, the five Malaysian women featured in the ranking represent leadership across hospitality, property, diversified business operations, and financial services. Their inclusion illustrates the range of industries in which women hold senior decision-making responsibilities.
It also provides a broader picture of Malaysian women’s representation in business leadership, extending beyond family-owned conglomerates to include executives who lead major financial institutions.
What Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Asia List Represents
Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Asia list recognizes 100 business leaders across 14 markets in the Asia-Pacific region. Its 2026 edition highlights women whose leadership, company performance, and influence contribute to the direction of major organizations.
The ranking includes executives from sectors such as technology, banking, manufacturing, hospitality, and consumer services. Its breadth reflects the diversity of Asia’s business environment and the different ways corporate leaders shape markets and institutions.
The list is not simply a recognition of personal wealth or family connections. Leadership positions, business performance, and the scale of responsibility are central to understanding why executives appear in the ranking.
For women working in senior corporate positions, recognition on such a list can bring greater visibility to their achievements and the industries they represent. It can also encourage broader discussions about leadership development, succession planning, and women’s representation in decision-making roles.
The recognition of Kuok Hui Kwong, Nerine Tan, and Sarena Cheah is particularly notable because each is helping lead a business associated with a prominent Malaysian founder. Their positions demonstrate how established companies can evolve as responsibilities pass between generations and executive teams develop new strategies.
At the same time, their inclusion alongside banking executives and other corporate leaders shows that women’s influence in Asian business extends across different professional backgrounds and organizational structures.
Conclusion
The inclusion of Kuok Hui Kwong, Nerine Tan Sheik Ping, and Sarena Cheah on Fortune’s 2026 Most Powerful Women Asia list highlights the growing visibility of women leading major businesses across the region.
Kuok Hui Kwong ranked 34th as chairman and group CEO of Shangri-La Group, while Nerine Tan placed 91st following her move to the sole CEO role at Berjaya Corporation. Sarena Cheah ranked 92nd as executive deputy chairman of Sunway Group, where she has helped oversee major property investments and corporate development.
Their recognition reflects the responsibilities they carry within some of Malaysia’s most prominent business groups. Alongside Ng Wei Wei, Joanne Rodrigues, and Yik Sook Ling, they also demonstrate the breadth of Malaysian women’s leadership across hospitality, property, and banking.
As Asian businesses navigate changing markets and new opportunities, the experiences of these executives offer a look at how leadership, strategic decision-making, and succession can shape the next generation of corporate growth.
