Locomotive of the
world’s economy
Pictet’s investment
experts on Asia’s growth
prospects and the
challenges ahead
Asian consumer giants
Expanding and diversifying in
the region in food and drink,
retailing and medicines
Global challengers
World-class businesses
in shipping, electronics
and airlines
Next generation
Young entrepreneurs
tackling change in
Asian markets
The Aga Khan University
Leading the way in education
for global development
issue fifteen | summer 2014 | focus on asia
Foreword
Napoleon is reported to have said that when China awoke, the world would
shake. This has proved prophetic: since turning outwards 35 years ago, the
Chinese economy has grown at an unprecedented rate and is expected to
become the world’s largest economy within the next two decades. Other
emerging markets in Asia have also grown remarkably in recent years, and
under the leadership of exceptional entrepreneurs, world-class businesses
have emerged – often now led by next generation descendants of the
founding families.
We have therefore devoted this issue of Pictet Report to Asia and the
people who have contributed to its success. We start with a discussion by
three of Pictet’s investment experts on the prospects for the region, which
has been showing signs of a slowdown in economic growth. They see grounds
for optimism over the medium to long term, provided difficult issues can
be resolved as Asian countries continue their journeys to becoming
developed economies.
The remainder of this issue introduces some very distinguished
entrepreneurs in the region. Some are members of venerable business
dynasties: Richard Eu has revitalised a traditional Chinese medicine business
with 19th century roots; Hans Michael Jensen heads a Hong Kong company
co-founded by his great grandfather in 1895; and Nishita Shah Federbush
represents the fifth generation of an Indian trading family that migrated
from Bombay to Bangkok.
Others are scions of more recently founded businesses: Teresita
Sy-Coson is at the helm of her father’s retail empire; Dee Poon has relaunched
her mother’s luxury shirt brand; Adrian Cheng is deploying his artistic
interest in his grandfather’s businesses; Chotiphat Bijananda is counsellor to
his father-in-law’s companies. And two of the entrepreneurs founded their
own businesses: Pierre Chen and Koh Boon Hwee, both in manufacturing
electronics components.
Finally, we have an interview with the President of the Aga Khan
University, which is based in Pakistan and an important part of the Aga
Khan Development Network. We hope that you will enjoy learning
more about Asia, its exceptional businesses and one of its leading
development institutions.
Philippe Bertherat
Partner, Pictet
June 2014
Cover Image–Lujiazui financial district, Pudong, Shanghai, China. Shot by Jonathan Leijonhufvud.
Pictet editorial team–Ninja Struye de Swielande and Olivier Capt
Design & editorial consultancy–Winkreative | Writer–John Willman
Photography–Beat Schweizer, Antoine Doyen, Rebecca Toh, Theodore Kaye, Sonny Thakur,
Oliver Clasper, Carmen Chan
Summer 2014 ISSN 1664-008X
For subscription information please contact: [email protected]
contents
Insight from Pictet
The philanthropist
Asia Roundtable
p4
01 Firoz Rasul Aga Khan University
p24
The entrepreneurs
03 Richard Eu Eu Yan Sang
p8
03 Koh Boon Hwee Credence Investment p21
05 Pierre Chen Yageo
p12
02 Chotiphat Bijananda TCC
p18
06 Teresita Sy-Coson SM Group
p28
04 Hans Michael Jebsen Jebsen & Co
p34
02 Nishita Shah Federbush GP Group
p38
Next generation
p46
04 Dee Poon PYE
04 Adrien Cheng New World Developmentp42
01 Pakistan
01
02 Thailand
05
04
03 Singapore
04 Hong Kong
05 Taiwan
02
06
06 Philippines
03
pictet report | summer 2014
focus on asia
contents
3
Pictet on Asia
Locomotive of the global economy
After remarkable economic growth in recent years, Asia’s emerging markets face new challenges. But there are grounds for optimism about the prospects over the medium to long
term, according to three of Pictet’s investment experts
‘The easy part of
growth is done’
Emerging markets have been the locomotive of the world’s economy since the financial crisis, responsible for some 80 per cent of
global growth over the last five years. Much
of that growth has come from Asia, where the
region’s emerging economies continue to grow
at above-average rates. Pictet expects their
share of global GDP to rise from 17 per cent to
30 per cent over the next two to three decades,
while Europe’s share will fall by half.
There are, of course, many hurdles to
be jumped if Asia’s emerging markets
are to achieve their potential. ‘The easy
part of growth is done,’ says Bhaskar
Laxminarayan,
Chief
Investment
Officer for Pictet Wealth Management
in Asia (pictured left).
‘Investing money to build factories
and create jobs for producing exports
can still provide pockets of growth, but
structural reforms are needed to raise
productivity and address the growing demands of domestic consumers.
Growth rates will remain ahead of the
global average as per capita income
rises and demographic trends remain
positive, but growth will not be as easy
to achieve as in the last 10-15 years.’
For economists and investors, China
pictet report | summer 2014
focus on asia
is always the subject of intense scrutiny and it is now in a transition phase,
according to Christophe Donay, Head
of Asset Allocation and Macro Research
for Pictet Wealth Management (pictured
next page).
‘Since 2007, China has been moving
from a pure, investment-based export
economy to one increasingly producing for domestic consumption. All
emerging markets must go through
this phase, but managing the transition is like landing an airplane in
foggy weather: a soft outcome is not
certain. Meanwhile, the pace of growth
of investments in China is reaching
unsustainable levels, due to excessive
credit. Investment represents 45 per
cent in the Chinese economy. This ratio
won’t hold in the long run: historically,
Japan saw this ratio peak at 36 per cent
and South Korea at 38 per cent.
‘China’s government and central
bank seem to be very aware of the
risk of a crash and are managing
the transition in a smart way. Their
stop/go policy approach of providing more credit in some periods and
less in others is designed to maintain
steady growth. But forget the previous insight from pictet
5
‘Growth rates will
remain ahead of the
global average as per
capita income rises
and demographic
trends remain
positive’
6
insight from pictet
turbo-charged real growth rates: the
new economic model will grow at
around 7 per cent annually, against
more than 11 per cent on average
between 2001 and 2008.’
Lan Wang Simond, a Financial
Analyst and manager of the Pictet
Total Return Mandarin Fund (pictured
above right) is more optimistic about
China’s growth prospects. ‘The new
administration’s commitment to big
bang restructuring could open up
great opportunities by giving more
scope to market forces and loosening the heavy hand of government,’
she says. ‘Privatisation of state-owned
assets – which are often badly run –
could free up enterprise and reduce
the country’s high debt-to-GDP ratio.
However, this will involve confrontation with the vested interests of
those in power who will have to give
up some of their privileges if market
forces are to drive the economy.’
Redirecting productive assets from
export-led output towards domestic
consumption is not something the
government can impose, she adds.
‘With an export-led economy, government investment can stimulate GDP
growth immediately. But you cannot
order people to consume more. A social
safety net is needed to make them less
dependent on savings so that they are
more willing to consume. The government has begun to provide minimum
health and pension insurance, but this
will take time to make an impact.’
India, the second largest Asian
emerging economy, faces similar challenges according to Bhaskar Laxminarayan. It still has some potential for
growth under the old model, with 600
million people under the age of 30 and
scope for more investment to match
Chinese levels. But the government has
failed to create the right environment
to attract foreign direct investment.
‘India has not done nearly enough to
improve the ease of doing business by
overhauling the rules and regulations
for companies and modernising the tax system.’
He also sees scope for further investment-led growth in the ten ASEAN
countries which have formed a freetrade area of some 600 million people.
‘Indonesia, for example, has a young
population but its economy has been
largely driven by natural resources and
there is plenty more to do. Thailand
has been subject to start-stop growth,
while the Philippines is beginning to
realise its potential. As in China and
India, providing services for domestic consumers is critical to meeting the
huge demand in these countries.’
The populations of Asia’s emerging
economies are ageing 'faster than oldage welfare provisions can be created, a
critical factor behind high savings rates
that deter consumption. However, Lan
Wang Simond detects an interesting
change in China’s ‘after-80s’ generation
– those born following the introduction
of the one-child policy. ‘Their consumption is very different from that of their
parents, and more like that of western
countries. They save less, so they can buy
the latest iPhone and eat in restaurants.’
She also identifies challenges in
the movement of people to the cities.
‘Urbanisation, which is now over 50
per cent, has contributed nine percentage points to annual growth. But much
of the movement has been low quality – farmers doing construction work
and household work. Under the hukou
system, they are still registered where
they were born and that is where their
children must be educated. This has
created a two-speed city population in
which they and their children remain
pictet report | summer 2014
focus on asia
as outsiders who do not benefit from
urbanisation. Reforms to integrate
them more into the urban economy
could raise growth rates.’
India is perhaps a decade behind
China in urbanisation, according to
Bhaskar Laxminarayan. But with a fastgrowing youthful population, raising
productivity is essential to stimulate
growth and avoid social unrest among
young people. While it would be hard to
follow China in moving so many people to the cities in such a short period, other initiatives are making an impact.
‘The fragmentation of rural areas is
changing and supply chains are being
streamlined. The role of middle men in rural areas is being reduced by the Aadhaar unique identification card, which allows the government to
pay farmers directly through automated systems. Technology is a gamechanger here.’
Can the necessary restructuring
be implemented in Asian emerging
markets without creating resistance
from those adversely affected? Christophe Donay says that Latin America
has shown that economic transition in
emerging markets often leads to social
disruption, popular unrest and then
economic retrenchment. The challenge
in Asia is to manage the shift better by
giving people a stake in the future. ‘The
best way to achieve that is increasing
wages gradually to demonstrate that
tomorrow will be better than today as
the rules change.’
One other question hanging over
Asia’s emerging markets is the environmental impact of their often polluting
power stations and factories. Lan Wang
Simond says that China has put it top of
the agenda for central and local government in response to public concern.
‘Social media are full of talk about
PM2.5, a measure of particulate concentration in the atmosphere. It is invisible
but very harmful to humans when it
gets into their lungs where it is carcinogenic. The safe level is 25, but PM2.5 in
Shanghai reached 600 at the end of 2013.
City-dwellers living in a toxic atmosphere have to wear face masks.
pictet report | summer 2014
focus on asia
‘Now the political priority is pollution control in the big cities at all costs.
In Beijing, all the coal-burning power
stations are being replaced by gas-burning generators. The determination to
clean up the environment is impressive:
after 30 years of creating the growth
that produced pollution, China is now
spending a lot to get rid of it.’
Christophe Donay says that the
search for new technologies to protect
the environment could be a positive
influence on Asia’s emerging markets.
More regulation could weaken market
forces and hold back development,
whereas new technological solutions
might provide an innovation shock
that would stimulate growth. ‘Economies like China need to increase their
productivity and move up the value
chain in their products and services. The
development of ecological technologies
could encourage that transition and
boost growth.’
China’s industrialisation has been
particularly polluting, says Bhaskar
Laxminarayan, but awareness of the
problem is growing fast throughout the
region. Much is already being done in
rural areas, and while there is much
more to do in Asia’s urban areas, newer
cities are being developed with greater
emphasis on environmental policies.
‘Environmental pressures won’t
change the growth prospects and do not
undermine the investment case. It has to be part of the assessment when
investing in Asia, but it is likely to be a positive factor.’
The challenge in
Asia is to manage
the shift better by
giving people a
stake in the future
insight from pictet
7
Richard Eu
Healer of a Singapore-based Chinese medicine business
The great–great–grandson of a Chinese feng shui expert
rescued the family’s traditional Chinese medicine business
from oblivion, and has expanded its operations to more than
300 retail outlets across Asia and Australia
8
entrepreneurs: singapore
pictet report | summer 2014
focus on asia
It is often said that the problems emerge in family businesses in
the third generation – as they pass from rags to riches, and back
again. In the case of Eu Yan Sang, a traditional Chinese medicine
retail chain started in 1879 in present-day Malaysia, that was
exactly what happened: when the son of the founder died, he
divided his industrial, banking and finance empire between
his 13 sons. By the mid 1970s, most of the assets had been sold or
liquidated, and it fell to Richard Eu, a fourth-generation family
member, to rescue the medicine business. Today, Eu Yan Sang is
a flourishing business spanning two continents, capitalising on
the growing interest in natural health.
‘I had grown up with the business – I would accompany
my mother to the shop to buy herbs when I was a child,’ he
says. ‘But I never thought I would join it: I have no scientific
background and it felt very alien to me. I studied law in
London, and then became a merchant banker, and although
my father asked me if I would join the family bank, I had no
interest in commercial banking. But in my early forties, my
uncle retired as executive director of the medicine business
and I joined as General Manager at the end of 1989. I saw an
opportunity in the trend towards natural health as people
in the West moved away from reliance on pharmaceuticals.’
Eu Yan Sang had just one shop in Singapore and five in
Malaysia, and the family had a separate business in Hong
Kong. But some of his relatives were unhappy and sold the
business to another company. He was kept on to run the
medicine business for the buyer which was interested only
in the listed company. And three years later, he led a buyout,
later acquiring the Hong Kong business in 1997, bringing
it all back under family control – one of the few occasions
when a family has been able to do that.
‘That gave me a sense of accomplishment, but we also
needed a vision to develop the business. I was keen to
explore the concept of “natural wellness”: pharmaceutical
treatments cure diseases, but they are not the only
solution; natural medicines take a preventative approach to
maintaining good health. Health-care in Western medicine
is really disease-care these days, and the cost is a big issue
pictet report | summer 2014
focus on asia
entrepreneurs: singapore
9
– much of it spent keeping patients alive in the last year of their life. If we can keep people healthier for longer
so that they die a natural death, we can keep them out of
hospital and save money.’
The Eu family involvement in traditional Chinese
medicine began in the 1870s, with Eu He Song, a geomancer
or feng shui expert from Foshan in China. His son, Eu
Kong, went into tin-mining in Perak, a Malay state, opening
a medicine shop in 1879 to care for his opium-addicted
miners and importing medicinal herbs. His son Eu Tong
Sen – Richard’s grandfather – built up the mining business
and went into rubber, becoming known as the King of Tin
and Rubber. But splitting up the businesses between his
13 sons, combined with hefty death duties and a 50-year
delay in winding up his estate, led to a serious decline in its fortunes.
Once back under the leadership of Richard Eu and
three cousins, Eu Yan Sang International was listed
on the Singapore Stock Exchange in 2000. It has since
grown rapidly, and now has more than 200 traditional
Chinese medicine outlets in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong
Kong, Macao and China. It has factories in Hong Kong
and Malaysia, and sells about less than 20 per cent of its
products to other retailers. And in 2012, it bought a chain
10
entrepreneurs: singapore
‘I was keen to explore
the concept of “natural
wellness”’
pictet report | summer 2014
focus on asia
‘The two types of medicine
– Western and Chinese –
are not alternatives but
complementary’
pictet report | summer 2014
focus on asia
of loss-making Australian health-food stores, where it now
has 70 Healthy Life outlets.
As part of his ‘natural wellness’ concept, Richard Eu
has set up 30 clinics in Singapore and Malaysia, which for
regulatory reasons can practise only Chinese medicine.
However there are two integrated medical centres in Hong
Kong which offer both Chinese and Western treatments.
‘We take an inclusive approach,’ he says. ‘The two types of
medicine are not alternatives but complementary.
‘This can work very well. For example, a cancer patient
may require chemotherapy or radiography which are harsh
on the body. In Western medicine, there is not very much
to deal with that, but Chinese medicine can help fortify
the body before treatment and help it recover afterwards
for the next round. Our Chinese medical practitioners are
familiar with Western diagnostic tools such as blood tests
and X-rays.
‘Traditional Chinese medicine is also very effective in
natural fertility treatment. When we started this, we tended
to be the last resort but increasingly we are the first option
because it’s much cheaper than in vitro fertilisation and has
a good chance of success. We can also solve some chronic
conditions such as asthma and persistent coughs. And we offer alternatives to painkilling drugs for migraines and
the like.’
International expansion is on the agenda for the future,
though Europe is not a priority because of high regulatory
hurdles. Elsewhere, finding partners is often the best way
to navigate different laws on retail ownership, as it was
in Australia. Richard Eu also sees more opportunities in
health foods and in finding new ways to market products
– it already has a restaurant which could be a good way to reach new customers. As a listed company, it is easier to
finance such projects.
For a man who has passed his 60th birthday, Richard
Eu has a perhaps unexpected hobby: as he puts it, he tries
to sing a bit. It was something he started doing as a student
in London in the Swinging Sixties, but stopped for 20 years
until picking it up again. ‘I have a band which includes my
third son, and we play whenever we can. We perform for
charity – mostly classical rock between 1950 and 1975. It is
a good balance: you don’t think of anything else because
you’re mixing with people who don’t talk about business.’
Will his children become involved in the business? It seems likely. His 29-year-old son has just joined from
private equity, and is working in the Australian operation
to develop his entrepreneurial skills. And his sister’s
daughter has also just joined the company: a qualified
traditional Chinese medicine physician, she is working on
product development.
The prospects for continuity in the business, a
principle established by his great–great–grandfather in a
20-character poem, thus look good. ‘The poem tells us that
to be successful, you have to follow the righteous path,’ he
says. ‘It’s a good value to have.’
entrepreneurs: singapore
11
12
entrepreneurs: taiwan
pictet report | summer 2014
focus on asia
Pierre Chen
A Taiwan electronics tycoon with a passion for art
The founder of a Taiwanese company that makes essential
components for electronic products has become one of the world’s top 10 art collectors, using his wealth to promote dialogue between Eastern and Western artists
If you own a smartphone, you are indirectly a customer of Yageo, a Taiwanese
company that supplies components to
manufacturers such as Apple, Samsung
and Nokia. Your desktop computer, tablet
or notebook may contain essential parts
made by the same company, as do home
appliances and cars. A wide range of electronic gadgets that are now essential
to everyday life rely on Yageo for their
‘passive components’ – those that are not
sources of energy.
pictet report | summer 2014
focus on asia
‘We supply almost 320 components used in today’s smartphones,’ says Pierre Chen, the company’s founder. ‘And
we are helping our customers to maintain the fast pace of
innovation which customers desire – Apple is already planning the iPhone 6 and 7 with many more functions. The
challenge for us is to create the new components they need
and reduce the size of what they already contain, while
always improving their performance. When a customer has a new design in the pipeline, our engineers sit down
with them to develop the components in the months before
the launch.’
Yageo started modestly 30 years ago, making machine
tools in Taipei, Taiwan’s capital city, with turnover of less
than USD1 million a year. It began producing components
to demonstrate its machines to potential buyers and to
train their staff, and gradually components manufacturing
became its main business. The company started to expand
by acquiring companies to fill the gaps in its range so that
it could offer customers a complete range of products.
Today, it is a global company with annual turnover of more
than USD1 billion, employing 12,000 people – one-third in
Taiwan and the rest in Europe and China.
In 1993, the company became the first passive components maker to list on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, when
it floated 40 per cent of the shares. Access to the capital
markets gave it the firepower to finance acquisitions, and
in the following years it bought resistor manufacturers
entrepreneurs: taiwan
13
‘High tech can
be quite boring
at times, so you
need something to
balance your life’
14
entrepreneurs: taiwan
in Singapore and Germany. In 2000, however,
it transformed its prospects by paying EUR680
million to acquire the semi-conductor and
advanced ceramic components subsidiaries of
Philips, the Dutch electronics manufacturer.
‘We were already quite international but we
became a truly international company with this
acquisition,’ says Pierre Chen. ‘It allowed us to
bring in some very good people, though there
were major cultural issues: we all shared the same
vision, but we differed over how to improve efficiency and it took around eight years to really
merge the two operations. But when the financial
crisis broke in 2008, our strong finances helped us
survive when others went under.
‘Today we have European production sites
in countries such as Germany, the Netherlands,
Portugal, Spain, Poland and Hungary. And our
aim for the next five to ten years will be further
mergers and acquisitions to enhance our core
competences. We have three independent directors with expertise in finance, M&A law and industrial manufacturing who can help the company
review opportunities.’
Yageo’s business strategy has two elements.
The first is to maintain leadership in technology
by constant innovation. The second is to offer a
pictet report | summer 2014
focus on asia
just-in-time service to customers, which gives
Yageo a powerful competitive advantage over
other companies with good quality technology.
‘Our competitors typically have lead times of
three or four months, while we can deliver a new
order in a week. This helps our customers to hold
less inventory, which is a costly expense and may
result in them holding stock that has been superceded. Because we have 2,000 customers, we can
hold the stock – if one customer doesn’t want it,
we have another 1,999 who may be able to use it.
Our IT system can link customers to our production units and suppliers so they can call up stock,
and we help them to improve their IT systems and
logistic efficiency.’
The majority of the company’s sales are in
Asia, with the rest mostly in Europe. ‘We are not
in North America, and we need to do something
there. Over the next three to five years, I would
like to seize any opportunities there, especially as
labour costs rise in China and manufacturing is
moving in some cases back to the US.’
As for the next generation, he is clear that his
children will have to prove their capabilities if
they are interested in joining the business. His
daughter Joy Chen used to work for UBS, the Swiss
investment bank, and has now joined the components manufacturer at the Suzhou science park
in China. ‘The management team needs capable
people if the company is to survive, and I know it
takes time for young people to prove themselves
and learn from experience.’
In addition to his industrial prowess, Pierre
Chen is noted for his activities as an art collector. He started collecting 25 years ago, focusing
on works from the 1990-2005 period where he
could find good paintings on the market with a
visible price. ‘One of Francis Bacon’s paintings
was auctioned in Europe a few months ago and
fetched more than USD142 million. Fifteen years
ago, I paid USD3.8 million for a similar work.’
He has been rated among the world’s top pictet report | summer 2014
focus on asia
10 collectors by the magazine ARTnews, among
the likes of Bernard Arnault of LVMH, Philip
Niarchos from the Greek shipping family and
private equity investor Leon Black. His collection
of modern and contemporary art includes works
by Francis Bacon, Andy Warhol, Cy Twombly,
Roy Lichtenstein and Gerhard Richter, as well as
contemporary works from China and Japan.
His Yageo Foundation works to increase
understanding between Eastern and Western art
communities through dialogue. It also promotes
and introduces Eastern artists to the Western
market. The sale in 2006 of Danshui, an oil painting by Taiwanese artist Chen Chengbo, fetched
almost HK$35 million, setting a world record
for the purchase of an oil painting by an ethnic
Chinese artist – part of a sale of contemporary
Chinese works to raise funds for the Foundation’s
sponsorship activities.
Pierre Chen says that art is very important to
him – a passion. ‘High tech can be quite boring at
times, so you need something to balance your life.
Art to me is part of life, along with sports, culture,
music and cooking. I like to live with paintings in
my offices and my homes, which include those in
Hong Kong and Tokyo. And I certainly don’t keep
them in a storeroom – if art is just an investment,
it’s no fun any more.’
entrepreneurs: taiwan
15
16
pictet report | summer 2014
focus on asia
Chen’s residence, Taipei, Taiwan
pictet report | summer 2014
focus on asia
17
18
entrepreneurs: thailand
pictet report | summer 2014
focus on asia
Chotiphat Bijananda
Family counsellor to a Thai conglomerate
The son-in-law of one of Thailand’s most distinguished
entrepreneurs is using his investment banking experience to
help the family manage acquisitions that diversify the beverages
and property business into new markets and sectors
TCC is one of Thailand’s biggest conglomerates, with
interests in sectors ranging from food and drink to
property and insurance. Although it is dominant in
local and regional markets, the group is little known
outside southeast Asia – but that is changing fast
as it expands its operations around the world. All
five of the founder’s children work for TCC together
with their spouses, including Chotiphat Bijananda,
whose 20 years’ experience as an international banker
is proving invaluable to the group as Director of TCC’s subsidiaries.
Founded by Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, TCC
originated from Thailand’s spirit distilling
industry. Mr Charoen is ethnic Chinese, the
sixth of eleven children of a street vendor who
came to Bangkok from southern China – the
name Sirivadhanabhaki was granted to his
family by the King of Thailand in 1988. He left
school at the age of nine to work and started
supplying distilleries producing Thai whiskey,
which were a state-run monopoly. He acquired
a licence to produce his own alcoholic drinks,
and by the mid-1980s was operating all the large
state-owned distilleries, controlling the market
for inexpensive local spirits.
In 1991, he went into beer, initially in
partnership with Carlsberg, the Danish brewer,
and within five years dominated the local beer
market. The 1997 Asian financial crisis was a
challenge, but he acquired the state-owned
distilleries when they were privatised and used
the cash generated by the liquor business to buy
pictet report | summer 2014
focus on asia
up land and property at bargain prices. In the
following years, he bought a controlling stake
in the Thai food and bottling company Berli
Jucker, floated the ThaiBev alcoholic beverages
business on the Singapore Stock Exchange, and added insurance businesses, hotels,
residential apartments and agricultural land to
TCC’s stable.
His son-in-law is responsible for the
insurance businesses and advises the family
on its portfolio investments. But he also acts
as an in-house investment banker for TCC’s
corporate investments, and was deeply involved
in the USD11.2 billion acquisition of Singaporelisted beverage group Fraser & Neave which
was completed in early 2013. This landmark
step, against stiff competition, has raised the
global profile of TCC and that of its founder and chairman.
‘There were a lot of synergies with F&N,’
says Chotiphat Bijananda. ‘In addition to
beverages, food and property, there was printing
and publishing – we own retail bookshops in
Thailand. One of the attractions of F&N was its
Asia Pacific Breweries subsidiary, a joint venture
with Heineken that brewed Tiger beer and other brands. But Heineken did not want to work with us and decided to buy out F&N,
giving us cash rather than the asset. However,
F&N still had a non-alcoholic beverages business
selling more than 100 products in Singapore
and Malaysia, as well as a brewing operation in Myanmar. And its property arm included
entrepreneurs: thailand
19
retail, commercial, office and residential
developments and serviced apartments.’
Apart from these synergies, the purchase
was also part of the founder’s long-term strategy
to expand outside Thailand and acquire F&N’s
property expertise. For his son-in-law, the
lengthy acquisition process involved getting past
several hurdles, including fending off rival bids
and resolving the dispute with Heineken over its desire to buy Asia Pacific Breweries rather
than go into partnership with ThaiBev. Once the
deal was done Chotiphat Bijananda’s challenge
was to structure it financially to create value for the group.
‘My key responsibility was to make sure
that the family got its money back and made
a profit on this very large investment. The
Chairman’s oldest son runs the beverage side
and his youngest son the property side and it was their responsibility to get the synergies
from the merger. My job was to devise the most
efficient structure.
‘We knew that F&N was a listed holding
company, and such companies normally trade
at a conglomerate discount because investors
prefer to invest in single-sector companies. So
we decided to split F&N between beverages and property to capture the higher value while
trying to avoid conflict with the 10 per cent
minority shareholders who were mostly longterm investors. We were able to do that in a way
that made everybody happy by giving them
identical shares in the two new companies, which
were together more valuable than their stakes in F&N alone.’
Perhaps TCC’s best-known assets globally are
its hotels, mostly five-star establishments run by
international management companies under
brands such as Hilton and Westin. They include
the Plaza Athenee hotels in New York and
Bangkok, The Park International in London and
an InterContinental and two other hotels in
Australia. There are also 30 hotels in Thailand,
20
entrepreneurs: thailand
Chotiphat Bijananda’s advice for family businesses
• Always think about the risk – we had a lot
of investment in Thailand and we are now
diversifying the risk to other countries
• Focus on what you know – we started from
beverages, went into property, then consumer
products, finance and agriculture, and all these
are areas in which we feel comfortable • Don’t over-reach – we try not to invest in
anything that is too big for us. The Chairman’s
wife, Khunying Wanna Sirivadhanabhakdi,
says we should only borrow up to the amount
of cash we have, so if the business goes
bankrupt, we can repay the loans
• Make sure that all the family is happy with investment projects – everyone must be comfortable
many in tourist destinations such as Koh Samui,
Chiang Mai and Phuket, ranging from two-star
establishments for backpackers to luxury six-star
Le Meridien and Banyan Tree hotels.
As in many parts of Asia, the growing middle
class is underpinning sales growth in sectors
such as food, drink and leisure. ‘We may have to
adapt our strategy in some sectors such as the
hotel business, moving down into the second tier
in certain places to cater for the mass market.’
The family business model is still very
powerful in Asia, Chotiphat Bijananda says.
‘Even though we can’t access the capital markets
as much as publicly listed firms, there is a lot of
liquidity in the market to finance growth. The
family is a strong sponsor, and invests with a
10-, 15- or even 30-year vision – unlike public
companies, which focus on quarterly results. We
can be flexible and make quick decisions and
having worked with the Chairman for a long
time, I see how he can act efficiently. He always
takes a look at the worst case first, and only then
looks at the best case.
‘Also, family businesses are good investors in
cyclical businesses such as property. The family
will support the business in downturns, when
others divest.
‘For our family, all the children have joined
the business and focus on the five core businesses,
while the parents are still involved helping the
siblings work together. When it comes to the
next generation, the principle will be that the
family has the first rights. If they are interested,
they will be given a chance subject to their
capabilities: they have the right to try and prove
themselves. If they want to do something else or
work for another business, that’s fine of course. ’
pictet report | summer 2014
focus on asia
Koh Boon Hwee
Singapore’s distinguished turnaround adviser
The distinguished corporate executive and entrepreneur
chaired several of Singapore’s largest companies and has
founded a private equity firm that provides growth capital and expertise for small and medium enterprises
pictet report | summer 2014
focus on asia
entrepreneurs: singapore
21
Singapore is one of the world’s most
dynamic economies, home to famous
brands, a fast-growing financial hub and
an increasingly entrepreneurial society.
At the centre of many of these activities
over more than 35 years has been Koh
Boon Hwee, whose achievements also
reach throughout South-East Asia. His
expertise has proved invaluable to large
multinationals, family businesses, start-up
companies and non-profit organisations.
Today, Boon Hwee’s main focus is on
Credence, a private equity fund he
founded with two long-term associates
in 2006 to provide growth capital for
small- and medium-sized enterprises.
The fund has raised SGD200 million,
and targets companies in advanced
manufacturing, information
and
communication technologies, services,
supply chain logistics and consumer
sectors. All five of their investments
so far are in ventures headquartered
in Singapore, but Credence is also
interested
in
opportunities
in
Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.
Speaking in the firm’s office in the
heart of Singapore’s start-up company
hub, he says that entrepreneurship
has flourished among young people
in Singapore and other countries in
South-East Asia.
‘For my generation, our aspiration
when we left school was to work for a
company and build a career. I would
22
entrepreneurs: singapore
have great difficulty in persuading
my children that that made any sense at all. Young people now want to do something new, to start
a business – so there is a lot of
entrepreneurial activity.’
Boon Hwee’s career did indeed
start at a company, with Hewlett
Packard in 1977. He rose to become
its Managing Director in Singapore
between 1985 and 1990, and the
company wanted him to move up.
However, there were no opportunities
to do so in Asia and because he did not
want to move to the US, he left the
company and joined the Wuthelam
Group, a business owned by a single
family. He was its first professional hire from outside the family, and
the aim was to professionalise the
company and prepare the owner’s son
to take over.
As part of the deal, he would be
allowed to create a new business,
with the family matching his
investment. So in 1991, he launched
an electronic manufacturing service
company in partnership with four
ex-HP colleagues. The company was
listed in 1997 just before the Asian
financial crisis and continued to grow,
becoming the world’s 16th largest in
the industry, with USD1 billion of
revenues. At that point, Celestica, the
world’s number four in the business,
based in Canada and interested in its
‘In Silicon Valley,
“superangels”" can
fill the financing
gap, but not here’
pictet report | summer 2014
focus on asia
manufacturing sites in China, made
an offer they could not refuse. ‘We
hadn’t thought of selling, so it was
a very emotional decision – we were
industrialists who built companies!’
Two of his partners were older
than him, so they took the money and
stepped back from management. But
the other two were younger and, at
the end of their two-year work-out at
Celestica, the three men decided to
start Credence, primarily with their
own funds, which they had already
been investing together informally. In
2011, with a proven track record, they
decided to raise outside money, which
Credence uses to offer growth capital
to companies with revenues of USD30100 million – something that can be
hard to raise.
‘There are a lot of people prepared
to invest seed funding of up to USD1 million to try out ideas through
to proof of concept. And raising
USD10-15 million to finance mass
production and commercialisation
is not a problem. But there is a Series
A gap for growth capital of, say, USD3-5 million because investments
of that size are not viable for the big
venture capital funds. In the US,
“super-angels” in Silicon Valley can fill
the gap, but not here.
‘Our approach is operationally
driven, not financially driven,’ he adds.
‘We work closely with management
on strategic planning and execution
to professionalise them: identifying
operational resources, improving their
efficiency and expanding regionally
and globally. With only SGD200
million to invest, we have kept our
investments close by, where it is easier
to watch over them.’
In parallel with Boon Hwee’s
corporate
and
entrepreneurial
activities, he had also become a
favoured candidate for roles on the
boards of large Singapore companies.
He was appointed Chairman of
Singapore Telecom in 1986, which he
prepared for privatisation and survival in a more competitive market
– staff numbers had to be cut from
14,000 to 9,000.
pictet report | summer 2014
focus on asia
In 2001, he became Chairman of
Koh Boon Hwee’s tips for
Singapore Airlines, only to face a series budding entrepreneurs
of challenges: 9/11 in 2001, the 2002
Bali bombing and the SARS epidemic • Don’t go with the first idea that
jumps into your head. Think
of 2003. ‘It was an interesting time,’ about it, especially what you can
he says. ‘But the brand was strong and do differently that will command
air travel a necessity, so the passengers a premium
came back. Even so, the SARS epidemic • Don’t underestimate the time
needed to reach checkpoints, or
led to the airline’s first quarterly loss, the amount of money you need. but we still spent USD200 million I always advise people looking for
refurbishing the 777 fleet, expenditure start-up finance to double their
estimates. If you don’t need it,
that most businesses would have fine – but if you run out before
deferred. When passengers returned proof of concept, the company is
we had the best planes and we picked probably dead • Build a team. There are plenty of
up quickly.’
entrepreneurs with good ideas,
In 2006, he became Chairman of the but they have to execute them,
Development Bank of Singapore (DBS and that needs capabilities such as
Bank), just before the financial crisis. sales and marketing
‘I must stop going into companies,’ • Just do it – you can think about
he says ruefully. DBS’s toxic assets it for ever. Young people have
were not very significant, but with nothing to lose, because they can
always go back to a job and they
the danger of contagion from weaker will have learnt a lot for counterparties, the bank carried the future
out a pre-emptive rights issue and emerged stronger.
In addition to his commercial
positions, Boon Hwee is also involved
with several non-profit organisations
including as a director of the Hewlett
Foundation which disburses hundreds
of millions of dollars annually for
programmes with various aims
such as reducing global poverty and
limiting the risk of climate change.
He also chairs the Board of Trustees of
Singapore’s Nanyang Technological
University, whose activities include
support for spin-offs started by postgraduate students and faculty. ‘If they
make a lot of money, we hope they will
give some of it back to us!’
He continues to hold several board
positions at companies such as Yeo Hiap
Seng, a Singapore food and drink group
controlled by the Ng family, who are
friends of his. This, too, has presented
him with interesting challenges in
expanding production from Singapore
and Malaysia to Indonesia and
Cambodia – he expects the company to
double in size within five years.
‘I suppose you could describe
me and my partners as turn-around
advisers,’ he says. ‘When there’s a
problem, we’re the fixer-uppers!’
entrepreneurs: singapore
23
Firoz Rasul
Building capacity to support
global development
The President of the Aga Khan University leads the work of
a centre of knowledge founded by the Aga Khan to help the
people of developing countries tackle their problems
24
the philanthropist: pakistan
pictet report | summer 2014
focus on asia
A few years after Prince Karim Aga Khan IV
had become the 49th hereditary Imam (spiritual leader) of the Shia Ismaili branch of
Islam, he decided to found a university. His
ancestors had founded Cairo almost a thousand years earlier, as well as its al-Azhar
University, which is the world’s oldest university still operating. He wanted to create a
centre of knowledge to advance global development in the modern world, and called
together a group of distinguished advisers
under Derek Bok, the then President of
Harvard, where His Highness had graduated with a history degree. They concluded
that developing countries needed leaders and
the capacity to help solve their own problems,
drawing on their cultural heritage in ways
that foreign aid workers could not.
And so the Aga Khan University was
launched in 1963, based in the Pakistani
city of Karachi at the geographical
centre of the Muslim world. Today,
it has 2,500 students worldwide,
around half in Pakistan and the rest
studying on campuses in Kenya,
Tanzania, Uganda and the UK. For its
first 30 years, it concentrated on health
sciences and education, specialisms
recommended by the Bok group
because those were what the countries
it was operating in desperately needed.
‘In health, we focused particularly
on nursing,’ says Firoz Rasul, who
became the University’s second
President in 2006. ‘Nursing is at the
heart of successful healthcare, because
patients spend much more time with
nurses than with doctors. This is true
for hospital treatment, but more so for
villages in Africa and Asia where there
are no doctors and it is nurses who
provide the care. And since most of the nurses are women, empowering
them as leaders in their communities is
a priority.
‘As for education, all these countries
were trying to educate their young –
first with universal primary education,
then secondary schools. But they didn’t
necessarily spend money on tertiary
education, and they soon realised that
they didn’t have enough teachers for
primary and secondary education
because it is universities that teach
teachers about their subjects. These
countries also realised that they were
hampered in achieving their targets in
other sectors: they didn’t have enough
engineers to build roads, water experts
or agronomists. The importance of a
university became very clear: it wasn’t
just for the elite or the very rich; it was
a fundamental requirement for the
development of the country.’
Mr Rasul adds that the Aga Khan
saw a need for the people in developing
countries to establish cultural links
with their own histories to be effective
in their development activities.
‘Universities have a massive role
to play in helping write history by
drawing on knowledge that may
be held in oral forms. His Highness was
very
emphatic
on
the
importance of culture: a sense of
belonging, a sense of history is as important in development as food on
the table, clean water and good schools
and clinics.
‘He also felt that a university would
help these countries create leaders
who could build the institutions
necessary to help them grow: business,
social, political, legal and charitable
institutions, professional bodies and
trade organisations for farmers and the
like. He always emphasises the role of
civil society in economic development.’
The University follows the US
model for higher education, based on
a four-year broad-based degree before
students specialise in graduate schools.
The language of teaching is English,
and preparatory courses are offered for
those who do not speak it or need to
be brought up to speed. In recruiting
students, it is ‘needs-blind’: students
are admitted on merit, and only then
does the question of funding arise.
Those who cannot afford to pay the
fees will be provided for, though it is a
principle that everyone pays something
– however small.
Despite its origins in the Ismaili
community, the University is a nondenominational, secular institution
that does not teach religion, and does not ask students to follow it.
Mr Rasul estimates that the Ismaili
population among students, faculty
and staff is a very small minority –
probably less than 5 per cent. He says it
is seen as a national institution in every
Students are admitted on merit and those who cannot afford to pay will be
provided for, though it is a principle to pay something – however small
pictet report | summer 2014
focus on asia
the philanthropist : pakistan
25
country it operates in: in East Africa,
for example, there have been Aga
Khan schools and clinics for decades
and many government ministers have been educated in the schools.
Today, the University is expanding
into the liberal arts, such as humanities,
social sciences, economics, journalism,
architecture, political science and
public policy. It has carried out research
over the years, but all research projects
were expected to be carried out in
villages or slums.
‘The Aga Khan and his advisory
team believed that it should be seen as university of the real world and not an ivory tower disconnected from
the population around it. In the last five
years, however, we have been starting
bench research in the University in two
fields: stem-cell research for diseases
that affect the developing world, often
in different ways from the developed
world; and research into understanding
how children learn to read and count.’
The University has just one campus
in a developed country: the Institute for
the Study of Muslim Civilisations in
London. Working with London’s School
of Oriental and African Studies and
the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge
and Edinburgh, its mission is not
just to study history or doctrine, but
also the civilisations and cultures of
Islam. ‘There is a rich array of music,
architecture, art and literature from
countries in Africa and Asia with
Muslim populations, majority or
minority. The Institute’s job is look
at the past, to record and explain, but
also at the present where migration is
leading to problems of integration –
of Pakistanis in the UK, North Africans
in France, Turks in Germany and so on
– which the host populations are often
struggling to understand.
‘But its studies are also important
for contemporary Muslim societies,’
adds Mr Rasul, ‘with many countries
discussing constitutional reforms
based on Sharia law, about which
there are different interpretations. The
Institute provides scholarly workshops,
taking no positions but encouraging
open dialogue to bring out thoughts
and ideas to help countries understand
better how they can turn a set of
wishes and a philosophy into laws that
govern the lives of people. Locating
the Institute in London gives us the
academic freedom to hear to all points
of view, even those that people may feel
uncomfortable with.’
The University is one of 10
institutions that are part of the Aga
Khan Development Network, which
has an annual budget of around USD1
billion and is working in more than 30
countries, mainly in Asia and Africa.
Other members of the network include
the Aga Khan Foundation, Fund for
Economic Development and Agency
for Microfinance, and although they
are all independent, they work together
so that their different pursuits interact
and reinforce one another. But the
Aga Khan does not see himself as a
philanthropist, says Mr Rasul.
‘His Highness sees it as his duty as a
Muslim leader to help the underprivileged
improve their own lot in life’
26
the philanthropist: pakistan
‘His Highness sees it as his
duty as a Muslim leader to help the
underprivileged improve their own
lot in life. He does so in partnership
with true philanthropists, such as
Bill Gates, who donate their money to
achieve certain objectives and is one of
our largest funders. Mr Gates believes
that the network can help realise
his wishes to tackle diseases such as
malaria, polio and HIV/AIDS, and
improve health outcomes for women
and children through education.
We also work with government
development partners such as the US
Agency for International Development
and similar organisations in countries
such as Canada, the UK, Germany,
France and Japan.
‘The Aga Khan Foundation is an
operating foundation which receives
money to carry out projects in the
field that work to improve health,
education, habitats, livelihoods and
the environment. These can be in
villages, but also in towns where
restoration projects train people
in skills that create employment
which continues when restoration is
complete. His Highness sees himself
as a developer of harmonious, socially
cohesive, economically empowered
societies that are looking to improve
their own lot in life. We never use the
words “charity” or “philanthropy”,
because we provide the support they
need to improve their own quality of
life for themselves.’
Before becoming President of the
University, Mr Rasul had spent much
of his life in Canada. Born in Kenya and
educated there in Aga Khan schools, he
went to the UK to study engineering
and then to Quebec where he took a
Masters in Business Administration at
Montreal’s McGill University.
He and his wife – a graduate of
the University of Toronto – decided
that Canada was a good place to
bring up a family, and they moved to
Vancouver where his business career
led to involvement with two successful
technology start-ups.
It was after the second had taken
off that the Aga Khan asked him to
pictet report | summer 2014
focus on asia
The Founder and Chancellor of the Aga Khan University, His Highness the Aga Khan, presenting degrees to graduates
become President of the University. He
had already been involved with four
Aga Khan projects in Canada: the Aga
Khan Museum and the Ismaili Centre,
both iconic buildings in Toronto; and
in Ottowa, an ambassadorial building
and the Global Centre for Pluralism.
The latter, which was set up with the
Canadian Government, studies how
successful societies can be forged in
multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multireligious countries.
He still has a home in Vancouver,
where his mother and most of his
pictet report | summer 2014
focus on asia
children and grandchildren live. He
spends around a week a month in the
University’s headquarters in Pakistan,
but he is constantly travelling between
its campuses and its international
partners. ‘Pakistan was a revelation
in many ways,’ he says, ‘with different
working practices, decision-making
processes and government ways of
working – all in a country with big
ethnic and religious differences.’
But despite issues of leadership in
Pakistan and his native Kenya, he sees
that both are beginning to change and
develop, regardless of government.
‘The business community, education
institutions, health bodies and
cultural institutions have continued
to grow. That is because of the strength
of civil society, which as we said earlier
is the key to development and in
which our graduates are playing an
increasingly important role.’
the philanthropist: pakistan
27
28
entrepreneurs: philippines
pictet report | summer 2014
focus on asia
Teresita Sy-Coson
At the helm of a retail and banking empire in the Philippines
A shoe store in Manila has grown
into one of the largest conglomerates
in the Philippines, with interests in
retailing, shopping malls and banking
that meet the needs of the country’s
growing middle class
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focus on asia
As a young child growing up in Manila, the capital
of the Philippines, Teresita Sy-Coson worked parttime in the family shoe store while still at school
– as did her younger sister and four brothers. After
graduation in 1970 with a commerce degree, she
began working full-time at the store, with a focus on
merchandising that quickly doubled sales. Two years
later, her father asked her to open his first department
store in Manila, launching a retail empire which has
since become the largest in the country. Today, she is
Vice-Chairperson of SM Investments Corporation,
the listed family holding group, Chairperson of
BDO Unibank which is majority-owned by SMIC,
and holder of board positions in several SM Group
subsidiaries.
Teresita Sy-Coson’s father is Henry Sy, a Chinese
Filipino who has become one of the richest
businessmen in the Philippines. Born in China,
he emigrated to the country and started selling
rejected and overrun shoes. He opened a small
shoe store in Manila in 1958, the first step in
creating the SM Group, which today has diverse
interests in the Philippines and further afield.
Joining the family business was destiny for
Teresita and her five siblings, she says. ‘As family
members, we were taught to work whenever we
had time. There was no choice but for everyone
in the family to help out wherever we could. And
as the business grew, we all became involved in
different areas.’
The department store that she opened at the
age of 22 was innovative for Manila, where the
middle class was still relatively small and where
most people shopped in outdoor markets or
small street shops. But aspirations were rising,
and customers flocked to the air-conditioned
department store to do their shopping out of
the tropical heat. Despite opening at a time of
economic crisis, it proved successful and was the
first of many.
Ten years later the family launched its first
shopping centre. Today it owns more than
230 stores nationwide, close to 50 malls in the
Philippines and five more malls in mainland
China. And according to Teresita Sy-Coson, the middle class market has been growing
steadily as more Filipinos work abroad and send
money home.
‘That group of people accounts for about a
third of our retail business, while the rest are
local residents where we are strongest in the
middle income market. Digital communications
entrepreneurs: philippines
29
‘I still like to wander around, to feel the pulse on the ground’
are changing tastes, so we focus on
premium brands, leaving luxury
brands to others. We are also
upgrading our malls and our SM Mall
Asia is the biggest in the country.
These premium malls are attracting
more international brands such as Uniqlo, Forever 21 and Zara.’
She says she often finds it hard
to explain her success in the retail
market, especially since she had
no qualifications or training in
merchandising. She tended to follow
her instincts and her upbringing
meant that she was prepared to
work long hours. She also feels
that her origins in a modest Manila
neighbourhood may have helped her
identify with the customers. ‘We grew
30
entrepreneurs: philippines
up in a place where haves and have-nots came
together. I always liked to walk around and
see how people lived. And I still like to wander
round, to feel the pulse on the ground.’
As for the mall business in China, the strategy
is to grow it slowly and steadily. ‘While there are
differences between China and the Philippines,
we have chosen to open in areas which are similar
to our own developing market. That means
away from the wealthier urban areas, targeting
communities with consumers like our own.’
The other focus of her work has been the
family’s Banco de Oro which in the 1990s was
relatively small. She used the same approach
developed in retailing, targeting the rising
middle class with longer opening hours,
branches in malls and new products and services.
By 2006, BDO was the country’s fifth largest bank
and had acquired a minority stake in Equitable,
the third largest. The two banks merged in 2007
to create BDO Unibank, which she chairs and
which is now the country’s largest. SMIC owns
a majority stake, with the remaining shares
publicly traded.
A challenge for both the retail and
banking businesses is the potential growth of
e-commerce, which is relatively underdeveloped
in the Philippines. However Teresita Sy-Coson
expects it to grow with the middle class.
‘In retail, there are customers who don’t
have time to come to our stores, and growing
numbers, especially among digital-savvy younger
people, who want to do their banking online. It
will take a while to grow, but we are prepared for
that, seeing e-commerce as complementary to
bricks and mortar right now.’
Such long-term planning is typical of
family businesses, which tend to be less
motivated by short-term profit than publicly
owned companies. Each decade has seen SMIC
break new ground, from department stores,
to shopping centres, to malls and property
development. The listing of the Holding Group
put pressure to expand, says Teresita Sy-Coson,
but it also provides a source of capital. ‘Because
we grew up in an entrepreneurial family, we have
maintained an entrepreneurial spirit – the way
we do things is very hands-on. The organisation
is relatively flat, and while we rely a lot on
professional managers, our focus is more on
action than process.’
Although she had no choice in joining
the family business, she does not expect to
be succeeded by her three children from her
marriage to the late Louis Coson, a Chinese
pictet report | summer 2014
focus on asia
Teresita Sy-Coson’s tips for next
generation entrepreneurs
• Work together with the longterm vision that makes family
businesses successful for
shareholders
• Stay close to your market. While
professional managers will do
that, if at least one family member
does so, he or she can reinforce the
family’s long-term perspective • Encourage the risk-taking that
family businesses can manage
to create long-term success. My
father thought 20 years ahead, and
took risks with that perspective
pictet report | summer 2014
focus on asia
lumber tycoon. One son and one daughter have
graduated and are professionals who work for
others, while her daughter is still studying
the arts in London and is unlikely to join the
company. ‘It was hard for me in a sense that none of them wanted to follow me. But my
brothers’ children are more obedient and they
follow their fathers – four or five are already in
training,’ she says smilingly. ‘And even if there is no continuity, professional managers can run
the businesses for us.’
Teresita Sy-Coson attributes much of her
success to her father, who always encouraged his
children to work hard, be frugal and strive for
the best. He remains Chairman of the holding
company, but has gradually withdrawn from
involvement in the business as his children
have matured in their roles and learnt to work
successfully together.
‘Asia is young and I am sure our family
companies will become more like those in
Europe where some children decide not to join
their family businesses, while others will stick
with it through the generations. I guess that is
human history!’
entrepreneurs: philippines
31
32
pictet report | summer 2014
focus on asia
SM AURA PREMIER, Taguig City, Philippines
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33
Hans Michael Jebsen
A Hong Kong company with roots in Denmark
A trading company founded by two Danish
families has been acting as a bridge between
Asia and Europe for more than a century'
they appreciate the presence of others. You don’t
see people eating alone in a restaurant: that
would be absolutely unthinkable. They have a
‘round-table’ mentality.
‘Because of these differences, we have a
cultural bridging function. And while we can’t
change the way we are from birth, we can open
our eyes towards the realities of cultural
diversity – and we appreciate it. When in China,
you’d better like it here: if you don’t, you’re in
the wrong place!’
The founding families came from a Baltic
shipping port in the German state of Schleswig
which is today part of Denmark. The company’s
‘Our corporate culture combines a European early trading activities were mainly in industrial
sensitivity to local markets with Asian ways goods, mostly exported from Germany which was
of operating,’ says Hans Michael Jebsen, great rapidly industrialising, but with some consumer
grandson of one of the founders and Chairman of products too. It started to brew beer and distribute
the company since 2000. ‘In Europe, individuals it in northern China, for example – and Blue Girl
are interested in being given a free hand in the Beer is today a flagship brand with a quarter of
way businesses are run. But in Asia, priority is the Hong Kong market. The company has now
given to the communal feeling, and there is a built up a large portfolio in metals and plastics
great urge to work in teams. People here like to products, supplying the car industry as well as
be in groups: they travel in groups, not because managing brands such as Porsche in China, the
they can’t afford individual tickets but because fastest growing automotive market in the world.
When Jacob Jebsen and Heinrich Jessen co-founded
Jebsen & Co in 1895, it was as a shipping agency
based in Hong Kong, then a British colony. Their
two families had long shipping traditions and in
the mid-19th century had expanded their reach
to Asia – Europe’s new frontier. China was the
pre-eminent destination for European shipping,
and Jebsen & Co, like many similar enterprises,
quickly moved into trading with the vast Chinese
market. Today, it has become a diversified company
with interests in distribution, marketing and
manufacturing, which prides itself on its blend of
European and Asian values.
34
entrepreneurs: hong kong
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entrepreneurs: hong kong
35
Speaking in his beautiful mansion on The Peak, with
stunning views over Hong Kong Island, Hans Michael
Jebsen says that the first generation were sailing on
uncharted waters when they came to China. ‘They relied on compradors [Chinese middlemen] to sell on the goods
they imported and to guarantee payments. The
relationships with the families of those compradors
prospered through our history: despite interruptions
caused by the Second World War and the Cultural
Revolution in China, we had built up trust with them. That
was our real heritage – the asset of our business is not bricks
and mortar but our reputation as a reliable and trustworthy
trading partner which treats China as its own turf but acts
like trusted guests.’
An early move by the company was the opening of a Hamburg office in 1909, but its global reach has greatly
expanded in recent years. In 1963, Jebsen and Jessen (SEA) was established in Singapore to run operations in the ASEAN region, managed today by Johann Heinrich
Jessen, great-grandson of the other founder. Companies
have also been set up in Korea, Australia, Taiwan and
Vietnam, and the Hamburg office runs the Europe and
Australia businesses – the latter an exporter of raw
materials, mainly to China.
Hans Michael Jebsen grew up in Denmark and pursued
many interests in his youth, but he found the company
was in his DNA, as was the desire to ensure continuity
in the business. ‘So the idea of becoming a businessman
and living out in Hong Kong was with me from early on.
I joined the company at 22 when my father died, though it was a challenge to combine running the business with
still learning about it.’
He is therefore keen that any of his children who
want to follow him into the business should have the
opportunity to learn about the business before taking on responsibility.
‘We’ve always taken the view that the children
should have the chance to develop their own talents and
interests and only join the company if that is what they are
interested in. But every family company wants to anchor
the continuity of its values in the business, and if a child is
interested they should have the opportunity to come to the
bridge. However, they should first earn their own feathers
so that they are ready to contribute and manage.’
Today, the company has four business groups: consumer
products, beverages, industrial manufacturing and luxury
products. ‘In this region we’re now in the business of
distribution and marketing of branded products, as well as
of the industrial products exported by China.’
One priority for the company is developing its corporate
philanthropy programmes, which cover three sectors:
the arts; eye health, which provides consultations and
operations for people in China; and environmental issues.
‘It is important to make staff aware of the necessity to
offset carbon emissions. I want to get people involved in
36
entrepreneurs: hong kong
The first generation were
sailing on uncharted waters
when they came to China
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focus on asia
these activities, so that they feel they can have an impact.
And we have to lead by example in all of this.’
He sees plenty of challenges ahead for the company.
‘China is the opportunity of the century, but it requires the
ability to work in a market of great size and diversity which
is still in its fermentation stage,’ he says.
‘The speed of development has been phenomenal,
and e-commerce has caught on faster than anyone
expected. Asian societies vary tremendously – perhaps
more than European cultures. But they are very young
societies whose consumers want the latest technology, and
have an increasing desire for quality and for the world’s top brands.’
And he sets out a very Chinese justification for the
family’s philanthropic activities. ‘The gap between rich and
poor has widened, and they live in parallel worlds these
days. People from privileged backgrounds who go from
elite universities to fast-track careers in the upper echelons
never meet the majority who lead very challenging lives
with little chance to develop their talents. So there is lots to be done to bridge these two worlds and break down the boundaries, because social harmony is at the root
of prosperous societies.’
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Hans Michael Jebsen’s tips for
budding entrepreneurs
• Follow your instincts: don’t deal
with people you wouldn’t want
to deal with in your private life.
You have to like the people you
work with
• Don’t rush into things: listen
and think, and then listen more
and think again before you make
a decision. The pace of market
dynamics can be very dangerous • Avoid being driven by material
motives – that leads into a dead
end. Money should be used to
create something: most successful
people are aiming to find
solutions that make peoples’ lives better
entrepreneurs: hong kong
37
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Nishita Shah Federbush
The new face of Thailand’s
venerable trading dynasty
The 33-year-old Boston University graduate and licensed pilot
represents the sixth generation of an Indian trading family on the board of its corporate empire, promoting its brands
globally as it diversifies into other activities
As someone who became a director of one of
Thailand’s biggest businesses in her early 20s,
Nishita Shah Federbush lives life in the fast lane. She
represents the next generation of the Shah family on
the board of GP Group and on those of its companies
in sectors ranging from shipping and mining
to pharmaceuticals and aviation. Described as the new
face of the group, she also created a high-end fashion
label, leads the Group’s corporate social responsibility
initiatives, is an instrument-rated pilot and enjoys
sailing, while being a wife and mother.
Nishita’s career with GP Group began after she
graduated from Boston University School of
Management, but she says she had never seen
herself working anywhere else.
‘It was a natural progression after growing
up in the family business and hearing all about
it. I know it runs counter to many people’s
philosophies but my father was very keen to
have all his children working with him, being
sure he could give us the very best, well-rounded
experience. Neither I nor my brother or sister
have ever worked outside the family, and since my
mother works for it too, all five of us are involved.’
GP Group is a holding company for the
many businesses of an Indian family that began
trading in Bombay more than 150 years ago. The
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Group’s modern history began in 1868 when a
second generation member set up the Gangjee
Premjee Company in what was then Burma, to
export rice from Burma, Vietnam and Thailand
to the Middle East and Africa. Having moved
its base to the Thai capital of Bangkok in 1918, it
grew fast and the family adopted the surname
Shah, Gujarati for ‘merchant’ or ‘trader’. Nishita’s
father Kirit added a wide variety of goods,
services and agricultural products to its trading
activities, and later coal, steel, cooking oil and
canned goods.
In the 1980s, he founded new companies,
including Precious Shipping, a fleet of dry
bulk freighters which is listed on the Thai
Stock Exchange. Other activities included
pharmaceuticals, real estate and construction,
and by 1996 the family had interests in more
than 150 different companies. The 1997 Asian
economic crisis was a setback, but the GP Group
as it had become enjoyed a remarkable recovery,
building a global presence through its exports
and joint ventures in other countries. Today,
Precious Shipping is Thailand’s second largest
shipping company – one of several boards on
which Nishita sits with her father.
‘I am Managing Director of GP Group, but
in some ways that just feels like a title because
next generation: thailand
39
‘I hope we’ll be celebrating another big anniversary in
30 years – 175th – like those old Japanese and European
businesses with long-term success and continuity’
the Group is so very diverse: it is a collection of
small gems and rough diamonds that we hope to polish to reveal their worth. We have always
relied on professional management and my
father has always stressed the need to separate
management from ownership – there should
be no “guest appearances” by family members
dispensing advice! So my role is to shape the
Group’s culture as we go into the next generation.
I love meeting people, and I really enjoy finding
the next-gen recruits.
‘We celebrated 145 years of the family
company last December, and as we head for the
150th anniversary, I’m looking after marketing
and branding and bringing in new talent as
people retire over the next few years. My father
is a real entrepreneur and backs projects people
bring to him or finds people to run companies
based on his ideas. The challenge for the next
145 years is to build on what has been achieved 40
next generation: thailand
and take strategic decisions about where and how
else to invest.’
Nishita Shah Federbush says that the family
members all have different strengths, and try
to play to them. Her sister focuses on the Mega
Pharmaceuticals business, which started as a
small company producing gelatin capsules for
the medical profession in the 1980s and has
spawned dozens of labs manufacturing almost
100 different drugs and nutritional supplements
in 25 emerging countries in Asia and Africa.
Her brother is the family representative on the
recently acquired Christiani & Nielson, a listed
construction company which is Thailand’s oldest.
And her mother runs all the hospitality and
services businesses, including a travel agency
and the Thai operation of Jet Airways, her sister’s
Indian airline.
One of Nitisha’s own initiatives was the
launch five years ago of the Burn Baby clothing
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Making her mark
1992 Nishita becomes the largest
shareholder in Precious
Shipping when it lists on
the Thai Stock Exchange,
less than a decade after her
father founded the fleet of dry bulk freighters.
2002 On graduation from Boston University, she is appointed Director
of Precious Shipping,
becoming Thailand’s
youngest director of a public company.
company and its Nsha fashion label, a slightly
abbreviated Sanskrit word for ‘intoxicated’ that
also evokes her own name. She has since taken a
break from this demanding business following
her marriage to Maxwell W. Federbush II, scion
of the New York real estate family, and the
birth of her first child. Her son is now two – ‘a
most entertaining young man’ – and she or her
husband always try to be with him.
‘I have a great support system, with a great
husband, and whenever possible we try to make
sure that at least one of us is home. And if we are both travelling, my parents are often
available. When nobody is in town, we
take him with us now that he’s a bit older.
Without all this support, I wouldn’t
be able to do it all in the same way – I don’t know how single moms do it. I’ve always
tended to take on too much, but since having a baby, I’m focusing my business activities because there isn’t enough time to do all the
things I want to do.’
She regards the Shahs’ GP Foundation
as one of her most important commitments,
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2008 Launches the Burn Baby
clothing company and its
Nsha international fashion
label on three continents.
2013 Organises GP Group’s 145th
anniversary celebration,
lists Mega Pharmaceuticals
on the Thai Stock Exchange
and continues focus on
technology and sustainable
development.
supporting the Queen Sirikit Centre for Breast
Cancer in Bangkok. ‘The doctor in charge, Dr
Khris Chatamra, is truly impressive,’ she says.
‘He has built up the hospital from an abandoned
building to the premier cancer treatment institute
in Thailand. As with any charity, rather than look at the cause, we look at the people and we were so impressed with him. We try to support people
like him in a big way, rather than spread our
support too thinly.’
Her vision for the future? ‘I hope GP Group
will be celebrating another next big anniversary
in 30 years – our 175th – having become like
those old Japanese and European businesses
with a reputation for long-term success and
continuity. I also want to write a book and make
a video to encapsulate the history of the family
and the Group before it is all forgotten. And then
I hope to continue our growth in the technology
sector, and take it into new fields like sustainable
farming, especially in Africa.
‘Above all I want to provide an environment
for my children that equips them to do what they
eventually choose to do – whatever it is.’
next generation: thailand
41
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Adrian Cheng
An artistic revolution in Asian retailing
The third-generation member of a family with interests in
retailing, property, hotels and infrastructure has adopted an
entrepreneurial approach to rebranding the business through
museum retail projects in Hong Kong and Greater China
Adrian Cheng is a man with a mission: he wants to
modernise the family business by using his interest
in arts. The business, built up by his grandfather,
includes the world’s largest jewellery retailer and
an extensive property empire that stretches far
beyond its Hong Kong base. Now working in senior
roles in both the jewellery and property operations,
he has radical plans to develop the group in a
market that is constantly expanding and evolving.
‘Chinese consumers are changing very fast,’ he
says. ‘Particularly in the cities, they are now more
focused on design, and they want eco-friendly
products – they are interested in sustainability.
They care more about health and lifestyle. They are
becoming more global as they travel around the
world, and less local in the brands they buy. They
want information about the history of products
and the materials they are made of, whether they
are buying a flat or selecting a jewellery design.
They are interested in customised, one-of-a-kind
products that reflect their individuality.’
His priorities for meeting the needs of this
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new generation of consumers are development
and innovation. On the development side, the
challenge is to attract and groom new talent and
leadership for the business. He also wants to
restructure operations, to make them simpler and
leaner with a clear vision.
He has created innovation labs to devise new
products focused on contemporary art and design,
which can add value in all the group’s operations.
‘We have to reinvent ourselves constantly with
new ideas and innovative products to surprise our
customers.’
The family business originated in Macau with
Chow Tai Fook, a jewellery retailer owned by the
father-in-law of Adrian Cheng’s grandfather.
After the Second World War, his grandfather
moved to Hong Kong to expand the business in
the British territory, taking it over after the death
of his father-in-law. Together with his son Henry,
he began investing in commercial and residential
real estate, expanding into businesses such as
hotels, utilities and infrastructure across China. As
New World Development, the property company
next generation: hong kong
43
‘You have to respect the heritage and values of the family business, but also create your own values and a new vision’
listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 1972, and today has a market cap of around USD10
billion. Chow Tai Fook was valued at USD16
billion when it listed in 2011.
Henry Cheng now runs the family
businesses, but his children are all involved:
Adrian is an executive director and General
Manager of New World Development and an
executive director of the jewellery business with
responsibility for strategy, branding, marketing
and e-commerce; his younger sister Sonia
manages the hotels; and Brian, the youngest,
runs the infrastructure business.
Speaking in his office high in the New World
Tower in Central, Hong Kong, Adrian Cheng
says that joining the family business was not
something he had particularly planned to do.
‘I had studied in the US for 10 years, and after
graduating from Harvard, I moved to Kyoto
to study Japanese art. After a period as an
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next generation: hong kong
investment banker, I felt ready to join the family
business – but only if I could be entrepreneurial
and add value. So in 2006, I joined the business
to list the department store arm of the group,
going on to join the jewellery operation in 2009
and New World Development in 2010.’
In all his activities for the group, he deploys
his artistic knowledge and expertise. In the
2,000 jewellery stores, for example, he takes
a keen interest in design, ranging from rings
for China’s growing mass market up to pricey
customised pieces for the VIP segment, which
accounts for up to 10 per cent of sales. ‘We
have one million VIP customers in China and
100,000 in Hong Kong, and every year we invite
them to an auction where we sell a very small
number of unique pieces.’
Chow Tai Fook’s customers are mainly
women, mostly married and typically over 30,
and they buy pieces designed to reflect Chinese
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Making his mark
2006
Joined the New World
Group, the family’s property business, and Chow Tai Fook, its retail
jewellery chain.
2009 Opened the first K11 Art Mall
in Hong Kong’s Masterpiece
development, founding the K11 Art Foundation in the following year.
heritage and authenticity. ‘We have new-born
baby products, marriage products and even
women’s self-reward products. In China, 50 per
cent of luxury sales are to women – more than
70 per cent of Chinese women work. They can
support themselves, they are self-confident and
they buy their own jewellery and diamonds.’
There are also opportunities to deploy his
artistic approach in the property business.
The art entrepreneur successfully created
a new hybrid model combining art and
commerce and introduced the new museum
retail concept K11, building high-end lifestyle
art malls, offices and serviced apartments in
Greater China. In 2009, he opened the first
K11 Art Mall in Hong Kong’s Masterpiece
development, and K11 Shanghai in 2013. A
further 17 are planned across China over the
next five years. The malls draw on the work of
the K11 Foundation, a non-profit organisation
which grooms contemporary Chinese artists
and runs public art education programmes. The foundation also promotes Chinese art
abroad by collaborating with museums such as
New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and
the Palais de Tokyo in Paris.
‘We put the programmes and exhibitions
into K11 Art Malls, Offices and Residences, as
well as independent art spaces. The artists can
carry out community engagement in these
places, and the public gain access to their work.
These aren’t galleries, by the way – we don’t sell
the works, but we give the artists money to do
the work and we promote them for free. It’s art
for the masses.’
Adrian Cheng is also an art collector in
his own right, with a foundation that collects
global masterpieces and a personal collection of
emerging contemporary art focused on Chinese
artists. He visits global art fairs in Basel and
Paris and has just curated his first exhibition,
on the popular Chinese artist Zhang Enli, at
Art Basel Hong Kong in May 2014. And he has
staged China’s first ever Monet exhibition in
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2011
Introduced the Chow
Tai Fook High Jewellery
Collection, auctioned each year to the retailer’s VIP customers.
2012
Appointed as General
Manager of New World
Development, the biggest listed entity in the family business.
Shanghai’s new K11 Art Mall, with 55 pieces
from Paris’s Marmottan Museum.
He also promotes sustainable art forms
and displays a striking piece in his office made
from recycled materials such as old curtains
and tablecloths. ‘A lot of people think it must
be by a famous artist,’ he chuckles, ‘but it was
the work of a bunch of elementary schoolkids. I
want to show the next generation that everyone
can be an artist, and that you can use recycled
materials to make beautiful art.’
He sees all of these activities as part of his
drive to be a family entrepreneur in a rapidly
changing world. ‘You have to respect the
heritage and values of the family business, but
also create your own values and a new vision,
a new platform for new products. All of that is
doable, but it takes a lot of time to extend the
family business to a new level. I am young, and I am still learning.’
next generation: hong kong
45
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Dee Poon
Launching a clothing brand in modern China
A fashion heiress is working in her mother’s business,
which makes shirts for the world’s leading fashion houses,
creating branded garments suitable for the fast-changing and
aspirational Chinese menswear market
Dee Poon is a scion of a Hong Kong fashion dynasty, yet when she decided to enter the business it was
on a small scale. She set out to develop a line of men’s
shirts for a retailing arm launched by her mother in the 1980s, which are now sold through stores in
Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and two other Chinese
cities. The venture might seem unadventurous
given the greater scope to sell fashion for women, but
she sees the men’s market as a better way to achieve
her ambition of creating a clothing brand that is
relevant to today’s fast-changing market.
‘I grew up in fashion – in factories, in shops, at
fashion shows. When I started here, I dabbled in
fashion which tended to be centred around me
but ended up being all about me. That’s much
less gratifying than being in men’s shirts, which
allows me to learn about other people and to
stretch myself. The women’s market is mostly
about fashion, but men’s tailoring is more about
style and functionality and it’s very detailoriented. Women’s fashion can go anywhere, but
with men it’s about specific sartorial gestures and
if you go too far, it’s no longer wearable.’
It would be hard to imagine a better family
history for a young entrepreneur with ambitions
to enter the fashion trade. Dee Poon’s mother is
Marjorie Yang, owner of Esquel Group which
was founded by her father and is the world’s larg-
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focus on asia
est producer of premium cotton shirts, supplying fashion houses such as Ralph Lauren, Tommy
Hilfiger and Nike. Dee Poon’s father is Dickson
Poon, the Hong Kong luxury goods retailer who
owns Harvey Nichols, the iconic fashion store in
London’s Knightsbridge, as well as a host of franchises and licences for leading luxury brands.
After graduating in philosophy at Harvard
University in 2004, Dee Poon gained her first experience in the industry by working as a buyer
for a year at one of her father’s retail businesses in
China. She was fresh out of college and recalls the
experience as being scary, though she succeeded in restoring it to profit. She was then recalled
to Hong Kong to become the manager of PYE, Esquel’s shirt retailing arm, which was founded
by her mother in 1984. Her role has since evolved
into being Chief Brand Officer for PYE.
‘I spent the first year making a lot of mistakes, but I made fewer in years two and three
and built up a team. And I realised we had a lot
of advantages, being based in Hong Kong and
having a manufacturing background, so I spent
two years rebranding the company with a newer version of PYE. We’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how to make the brand relevant to our
customers, about Asia looking outwards from a Chinese base. We launched the first rebranded
store in Hong Kong two years ago, and while I’d
next generation: hong kong
47
‘The women’s market is mostly about fashion, but men’s
tailoring is more about style and functionality ’
48
next generation: hong kong
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focus on asia
Making her mark
1984 Marjorie Yang, Chairman of Esquel Group, creates
PYE, a luxury shirt brand
offering perfect dress shirts
for men on the go.
2009 Dee Poon, Marjorie Yang’s
daughter, joins PYE as Chief
Executive Officer.
like to say it was complete, we’re still working on the brand structure.
‘We’re focused on quality and the effects of
our actions. As a vertically integrated business,
we think about its sustainability – its impact on
our people and our communities. As a manufacturing company, we want our industry to change
the lives of people entering the market economy.
It’s in our blood, part of our family heritage. And
we want Esquel to develop from making shirts
for other brands to having its own brand that is marketed directly to the consumer.’
Being vertically integrated offers real
challenges in fulfilling the vision. ‘We start with seed research and cotton farming practices and look at ginning, spinning and weaving. Our cotton farms are in Xinjiang [the autonomous region in China’s northwest] around Kashgar in the far west, and our supply chain involves many hands. We touch a lot of people,
and that’s special.
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focus on asia
2010 Dee sets out to revitalise
the PYE brand, enlisting
Hong Kong designer Stanley
Wong for its signature shirt
sculpture. 2012 PYE is relaunched with
the opening of its Hong
Kong store, designed by
Taiwanese architect Ray
Chen.
‘We’re designing a new eco-undershirt for Earth
Day and we wanted to make something that really changed the amount of water, energy and
chemicals in a garment. So we came up with a
“bleach, no-dye” approach: bleach is natural, but
we don’t add the fasteners and whiteners to make
the garment perfectly white. So it had to be ivory,
but we used the whitest cotton – creating a new
product by starting with the yarn. Fashion used
to be the tail-end of the process, but now we engineer the product to create the garment we want.’
Although she is working in a family company, she does not see it as inevitable that
she will eventually run it just because she is a blood-relative of the Chairman. ‘My boss is not a family member, and I’m here because I’m good
at my job. I’m sure that someone could do it better, but we haven’t found them! I love working close to my mother and although I miss
a lot of things about North America, I like being
around my family.’
next generation: hong kong
49
acknowledgements
The success of Asia’s businesses reflects the remarkable talents
of the entrepreneurs who created them – talents that are
often passed down to their successors and are still apparent
in today’s young, next-generation family members. Provided
that the Asian economies can maintain high growth rates and
overcome the challenges that lie ahead, they will continue to
make their mark on the global economy.
We should like to thank all of those who shared their
inspiring stories with us and spoke of their ambitions for
the future. From Hong Kong, they were Adrian Cheng, Dee
Poon and Hans Michael Jebsen. Teresita Sy-Coson gave a
perspective from the Philippines, as did Pierre Chen from
Taiwan. In Singapore, we interviewed Koh Boon Hwee and
Richard Eu, and in Bangkok Nishita Shah Federbush and
Chotiphat Bijananda.
We are also grateful to Firoz Rasul for telling us
about the Aga Khan University and His Highness’s other
development initiatives. Finally we thank the three Pictet
investment experts for their overview of the state of the Asian economies: Christophe Donay, Lan Wang Simond and Bhaskar Laxminarayan.
in the next issue of pictet report The entertainment entrepreneur
Guy Laliberté founded Cirque du Soleil in 1984 with a staff of 73 and built a global phenomenon whose 5,000 employees
now entertain around 15 million people worldwide each year. He went on in 1995 to create Cirque du Monde, a ‘social circus’ programme that works with at-risk youth in 80 communities throughout the world. And in 2007, the
Laliberté Foundation launched an ambitious campaign to
ensure that water is accessible to all, today and forever. In an interview, he explains how it all started and what has
inspired his philanthropy.
50
afterword
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focus on asia
Pictet report
Pictet
Pictet Report is published by
Pictet Group on a periodical basis.
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of specially commissioned interviews and discussions on particular
investment and business themes of
topical interest.
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today one of Europe’s leading independent wealth and asset managers,
with more than CHF390 billion in assets under management and custody at
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