Yao was born and raised in Chongqing, China. With her Bachelor from the Sichuan University she moved to Germany and started her studies in Communication Science at the University Augsburg in the mid 1980ies. For a woman from China, this was a courageous step, symbolic of her entrepreneurial ethos: to do what nobody else does. After her second university degree, Yao Wen joined the Siemens AG Headquarter Global Procurement & Logistics in Munich.
From 1992 to 1996 Yao was responsible to establish international procurement offices (IPO) for Siemens Group in China and Hong Kong. From 1997 on she was leading the Siemens Business Unit “Third Party Business” in Munich. Yao was in charge for the development of global sourcing strategies for German and European Blue Chip companies, especially out of Asian procurement markets. As department head, she met her future business partner, Dimitrios Bachadakis, with whom she dared to take the step into entrepreneurship in 2004.
Yao Wen co-founded CIP after a successful Management-Buy-Out of the entire Siemens Business Unit together with Dimitrios Bachadakis. Since then both are sole shareholder and expanse the international business and established several companies.
As Chairwoman of CIP, Yao has steered the Group of Companies through joint ventures and exclusive partnerships with leading global energy enterprises. Yao Wen pursues an approach of building bridges between Asia and Europe. By way of her relationships with high-level decisions makers in the public and private sectors, Yao has enabled businesses in China, Europe and the Middle East to grow. Openness and transparency in business relationships are the basis for her achievements.