“I respect anyone who is willing to contribute his time, energy, and resources to helping the needy.”
BACKGROUND
Mr. Li Ka-shing is chairman of Cheung Kong (CK) Hutchison Holdings, CK Property Holdings, and the Li Ka-shing Foundation. CK Hutchison Holdings invests in port development and operations as well as health and beauty retail products in Asia and worldwide. Mr. Li regularly appears on lists of the wealthiest in Hong Kong, Asia, and the world. As of 2016, it is estimated that he has donated more than USD 2.5 billion making him one of the most generous persons in Asia.
Born in Chaozhou China, Mr. Li fled in 1940 to Hong Kong after the Japanese invasion. When he was 12, his father died of tuberculosis, and Mr. Li was forced to discontinue his education and find work. He worked for a watch-strap manufacturer and then in a plastics trading company for 16 hours a day. In 1950, Mr. Li started his own company, Cheung Kong Industries, and developed it from manufacturing plastic flowers to developing real estate. Today, Cheung Kong is involved in banking, construction, cell phones, retail, hotels, electricity, ports and shipping – nearly every aspect of life in Hong Kong. CK Hutchison Holdings operates in over 50 countries and employs 300,000 staff. The Li Ka-shing Foundation, established in 1980, is headquartered in Hong Kong with an office in Toronto Canada. Known as his “third son,” the Foundation focuses on education, health research, and projects in rural China.
MOTIVATION
Among the areas that Mr. Li is most passionate, education rises to the top. His struggles during childhood weigh heavily on him; he described his youth as being devastated by despair, loneliness, and helplessness. World War II and his family situation prevented him from pursuing formal education, so he gives generously to educational institutions. One of his most well-known gifts was the establishment of Shantou University in 1980 near his hometown. He hopes to shape it into a Western-style academic institution. Mr. Li also aspires to nurture a new philanthropic attitude, a new culture of giving, in Asia. “I respect anyone who is willing to contribute his time, energy, and resources to helping the needy,” he told the Chronicle of Philanthropy.
IMPACT
The Li Ka-Shing Foundation has granted approximately HKD 14.5 billion dollars (USD 1.9 billion dollars) in charitable donations, and approximately 90 percent has supported education reform initiatives and medical services in the Greater China region. Shantou University, a signature project of Li Ka-shing, is the only public university funded by a private foundation in China and educates more than 8,000 students using innovative instructional approaches. More than 120 million students and 17 million medical patients have been served through the Foundation’s various efforts.
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