|  Mr.
Li Ka-shing is the Chairman of Cheung
Kong (Holdings) Limited and Hutchison
Whampoa Limited. Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited is the flagship
of the Cheung Kong Group which has business operations in 57 countries
around the world and employs about 260,000 staff. In Hong Kong alone,
the Group includes 8 listed companies with a combined market capitalization
of approximately HK$821 billion. Hutchison Whampoa Limited is a
Fortune Global 500 company.
Born in 1928 in Chiu Chow, a coastal city in
the southeastern part of China, Mr. Li fled to Hong Kong with his
family to avoid the perils of war. His father suffered from tuberculosis
and passed away in Hong Kong. Shouldering the responsibility of
looking after the livelihood of the family, Mr. Li was forced to
leave school before the age of 15 and found a job in a plastics
trading company where he labored 16 hours a day. By 1950, his hard
work,
prudence and his pursuit of excellence had enabled him to start
his own company, Cheung Kong Industries. From manufacturing plastics,
Mr. Li led and developed his company into a leading real estate
investment company in Hong Kong that was listed on the Hong Kong
Stock Exchange in 1972. Cheung Kong continued to expand by acquiring
Hutchison Whampoa and Hongkong
Electric Holdings Limited in 1979
and 1985 respectively.
Based in Hong Kong, the Cheung Kong Group's businesses
encompass such diverse areas as property development and investment,
real estate agency and estate management, hotels, telecommunications
and e-commerce, finance and investments, retail, ports and related
services, energy, infrastructure projects and materials, media,
and biotechnology. Mr. Li is a strong believer in synergy-the power
of combined efforts. This belief is reflected in his naming his
company Cheung Kong Holdings after the Yangtze River that flows
through China, a great river that aggregates countless streams and
tributaries. The Times in the United Kingdom and Ernst & Young
UK jointly named Mr. Li as the Entrepreneur of the Millennium at
the turn of the century.
Mr. Li believes that an equitable society can
only be achieved if each and every individual is ready and willing
to do his or her part. In 1980, Mr. Li set up a charitable foundation
with a mission to enhance the impact of its philanthropy through
two strategic objectives: to nurture a culture of giving and to
foster creativity, constructive engagement, and sustainability through
supporting capacity empowerment focused projects. To date, the Li
Ka Shing Foundation and other private charitable Foundations established
by Mr. Li have supported numerous charitable activities with grants,
sponsorships and commitments of over HK$8.7 billion.
Mr. Li also founded Shantou
University in 1981 in Shantou, China, to engineer reforms in
China's education system. Shantou University has nine colleges including
a medical college with five affiliated hospitals. With students
enrolling from all parts of China, the university has approximately
6,500 undergraduate and 1,500 graduate students.
 In
recognition of his philanthropic efforts and his contributions to
society, Mr. Li has received Honorary Doctorates from the University
of Cambridge, the University of Calgary in Canada, Peking University,
and the University of Hong Kong, among others. Mr. Li, a Justice
of the Peace, has also received the Grand Officer of the Order Vasco
Nunez de Balboa from Panama, The Commander in the Leopold Order
from Belgium, Knight (Commander of the Order) of the British Empire,
the Grand Bauhinia Medal of Hong Kong, and the Commandeur de la
Légion d'Honneur from the French Government.
Mr. Li has two sons. The elder son, Victor, now serves as Managing
Director and Deputy Chairman of Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited,
Deputy Chairman of Hutchison Whampoa Limited, and Chairman of Cheung
Kong Infrastructure Holdings Limited and CK Life Sciences international
(Holdings) Inc. Mr. Li's younger son, Richard, is Chairman of PCCW,
one of Asia's leading information technology and telecommunications
companies.
17th Mar, 2008 |
