Age: 68
Chairman, ZTE
Over the past few years, Hou has managed to take ZTE out of the shadow cast by its larger neighbor, Huawei. Hou, who founded ZTE in 1985, is in the process of transforming his company, one of the world's leading providers of telecom equipment, into a top consumer brand. ZTE is now the world's No. 6 maker of cell phones, and Hou wants to be No. 3 within a few more years. "We still have a long way to go," he says.