Frangou, 46, gave up her Wall Street job to run her own shipping business, and in 2004 she raised $200 million to purchase shipping company Navios. Within a year she led its IPO and has since raised $3.5 billion of debt and equity. She expanded the group, founding two more NYSE-listed companies and one private logistics company, and maintained dividends through the financial crises, when other shipping companies had to cut back.
