Dr.SHI $2BN SUNTECH FOUNDER, solar up to 50bn next five years

Shi, 44, is the chief executive of Suntech Power Holdings, one of the new breed of successful domestic China-based companies with global ambitions.

After spending a year at Sydney-based University of New South Wales' renewable energy center in 1988, Shi found himself at a company formed to commercialize the ideas of fellow researchers.

"I never thought this solar business could take off or become commercially viable.