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Hong Kong Money Man: The Beginnings of Li Ka Shing
Hong Kong Money Man: The Beginnings of Li Ka Shing
In Hong Kong, they refer to him simply as “Superman.” To the rest of the world, Li Ka-shing is known as one of the most astute businessmen and investors today. What began as a small venture into the plastics industry has grown into a global empire; Li’s fortune is an estimated $23 billion, earning him the ninth spot on the Forbes list of the world’s richest people. From living as a refugee and being forced to drop out of high school, to becoming “Asia’s Most Powerful Man” as ranked by Asiaweek, Li overcame the odds to create one of the most successful stories of entrepreneurship ever to come out of Asia.
Li was born in Chaozhou, Guangdong, in China on July 29, 1928. At the time, China was experiencing much turmoil, and Li’s family decided they had no choice but to flee to Hong Kong. Li was just ten years old, but he was forced to quit his schooling. Once in Hong Kong, the family stayed with Li’s wealthy uncle, whose arrogance about his fortune would have a lasting impact on Li’s views about money.
Li’s father, a teacher whose thirst for knowledge he inherited, passed away from tuberculosis when Li was just 12 years old. It proved to be a life changing moment for Li, whose family was not wealthy enough to afford the proper care for his father. “I was facing life for the first time,” recalls Li. “I was 12 years old, but I felt like a 20 year old. I knew then what life was.”
Almost overnight, Li had become the head of the family, in charge of securing their well-being. At the age of 15, Li found a job with a plastics trading company. Here, he worked 16 hour days selling plastic belts and watchbands until one day he finally got his break. It was right after World War II and Li’s boss needed a letter written. His usual secretary was on sick leave and Li was sent in to replace him. Li’s letters were so well-written that he was promoted to head one of the company’s small departments.
After the promotion, Li asked to be reassigned as a wholesale salesman. “This was actually a more difficult job, but the prospects were better,” he says. By the end of his first year in the position, Li’s sales were seven times higher than any of the seven other salesmen. He quickly rose to become manager, second in command only to the boss. By the time he was 19 years old, Li was offered the position of general manager of the factory.
Keeping himself abreast of the developments in the economy and industry, and particularly with the production of plastics, Li however decided to turn the promotion down. “I was confident about the bright prospects of the plastics industry and I told [my boss] that I would like to start my own business,” he says. “I already knew a lot about the plastics business, including the technology, the market and sales.” With that, Li helped his boss sell the company’s remaining stock and wind operations down, before starting up his own business in 1950.
In Hong Kong, they refer to him simply as “Superman.” To the rest of the world, Li Ka-shing is known as one of the most astute businessmen and investors today. What began as a small venture into the plastics industr...
Entrepreneurs, by definition, are risk-takers, people willing to strike out on their own in order to seize an opportunity and make a profit. But, for Li Ka-shing, the richest man of Chinese descent, risk should not ...
When Li Ka-shing says “yes” to someone, he means yes; he has entered into a contract and he intends on keeping his promise. In 1956, when he was just beginning in the plastics business, Li received an order for a th...
There are many who see the vast fortune of Li Ka-shing and call him a lucky man. Indeed, some of his more superstitious Chinese peers have even suggested that Li owes his success to 1928 – the year he was born, the ...
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In Hong Kong, they refer to him simply as “Superman.” To the rest of the world, Li Ka-shing is known as one of the most astute businessmen and investors today. What began as a small venture into the plastics industr...
The growth in Chinese stock markets -- and the Chinese economy in general -- continues to be fairly staggering:
