Naruechon The End
Naruechon Dhumrongpiyawut, CEO of Gunkul Engineering, one of Thailand’s largest renewable energy producers, has been named among the 20 powerful businesswomen in Asia in a list compiled by U.S. magazine Forbes.
The company generated 8.5 billion baht ($252 million) in revenue in 2025. It has installed 1,629 megawatts of wind and solar power capacity across four countries and plans to invest 40 billion baht to 50 billion baht by 2030.
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Naruechon Dhumrongpiyawut, CEO of Gunkul Engineering. Photo courtesy of the company |
Naruechon, 43, grew up around Gunkul Engineering, which her father, company Chairman Gunkul Dhumrongpiyawut, founded in 1982 as an electrical equipment supplier.
He was named among Thailand’s 50 richest people in July, with a $750 million fortune. During school breaks, Naruechon spent time at the office doing small tasks, which gave her “a genuine passion for what we do,” she says in an email.
Naruechon earned an undergraduate engineering degree from Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University, followed by a master’s degree in management from Harvard University and an M.B.A. from Boston University.
She returned to Thailand to work at investment bank Country Group from 2011 to 2012, where she learned “how to look at investments, structure deals and create value.” She joined Gunkul full time in 2012.
Naruechon later led the company’s expansion in Thailand and overseas, particularly into Japan in 2014. “We built the (Japan) business from the ground up, and that became the starting point for our later expansion into Vietnam and Malaysia,” she recalls.
Named assistant managing director of business development and strategic planning in 2016 and chief operating officer in 2021, Naruechon says her path taught her “to do the work, understand the risks and have the conviction to move when the opportunity is right.”
Thapanee Techajareonvikul
Thapanee Techajareonvikul, the first woman to lead the 144-year-old conglomerate Berli Jucker, was also named on the list.
Her business includes roughly 2,000 Big C hypermarkets, supermarkets and convenience stores, mostly in Thailand, as well as in Laos, Cambodia and Hong Kong. Retailing accounted for nearly 70% of its 2025 revenue of 166.6 billion baht ($5 billion).
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Thapanee Techajareonvikul, CEO and president of Berli Jucker. Photo courtesy of the company |
The company also makes packaging, household products and personal care items. “We want our products and services to focus on everyday life,” Thapanee tells Forbes Asia.
Thapanee, 50, CEO and president of Berli Jucker, earned an undergraduate degree in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.B.A. from Harvard University.
She joined Berli Jucker as an executive director in 2003 and became CEO and president two decades later. She is also seeking to promote gender equality at the company, where women make up more than half of its 61,000 employees. “In the top management positions, women make up 53%,” she adds.
She aims to increase international sales to 30% of revenue by 2030, from 10% last year, with neighboring Vietnam a particular focus. The country, she says, “is going to be our second home country.”
In May, Berli Jucker acquired fresh foods and consumer goods wholesaler MM Mega Market Vietnam from her family’s privately held TCC Group for 22.5 billion baht. Thapanee plans to add 24 outlets to the company’s 30-store network over the next five years.
U.S. magazine Forbes’ list this year recognizes 20 entrepreneurs, corporate executives and next-generation family leaders shaping the region’s economy.
The honorees work across industries including AI infrastructure, beauty and retail, renewable energy, IT and auto parts.
They represent 12 countries and territories: Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.