“When you’re a self-made man, you start very early in life… You get a drive that’s a little different, may be a little stronger, than somebody who inherited.” – Kirk Kerkorian
Who is Li Ka-Shing?
Age: 84
Networth:US $ 25.5 billion (Forbes)
Education: Drop Out, High School
Hong Kong based business magnate. He is Chairman, Hutchison Whampoa Limited and Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited. Cheung Kong Holdings is a property development and strategic investment company – includes 8 listed companies with combined market capitalization of US $ 104 billion on the Hong Kong stock market as at January 2012; leading Hong Kong based multi-national conglomerate operating in 53 countries and staff strength of 270,000; Hutchison Whampoa handles 70% of Hong Kong’s port traffic and 13 % of the world’s container traffic. Li’s companies built one out every 7 residences in Hong Kong. Besides business through his flagship companies Cheung Kong Holdings and Hutchison Whampoa, Li is personally and extensively invested in real estate in Singapore and Canada. He has personal investment in Facebook and Sportify. Referenced as Asia’s most influential businessman, Li was born in Chiu Chow, China, forced to quit school at the age of 12 and fled to Hong Kong with his family to avoid the perils of war.
Lesson 1: We Don’t All Have to Change the World
“Success can be attained in any branch of human labour. There is always room at the top in every pursuit.” – Andrew Carnegie
Li’s background is like that of many Hong Kong entrepreneurs; he is a refugee from China. Forced to work at the age of 14, after his father suffered from tuberculosis and passed away, Li Ka-Shing absorbed the lessons of desperation which later inspired his success story.
“After 17, I knew I’d have a good chance of starting my own business because I knew I’d been right in my beliefs” says Li Ka-Shing. Li had a dream – to change his world.
In employment, Li rose to become a wholesale sales man in a plastics watch strap company in 1945; Having, proved himself further, he was promoted to a manager and then general manager. He laid the foundation for his future success by studying the latest trends and technologies in the plastics industry which he believed held enormous promise.
Li set up his plastics industry in 1950, at age 22, with the start-up capital of US $ 6,450 (HK$ 50,000) from his savings and money borrowed from friends and relatives, making plastic flowers and toys. According to Li “my factory was not huge. It was in fact small”. By 1960, Li’s manufacturing business was the biggest in Hong Kong in terms of dollar value export. His profit was sufficient to launch him in to real estate investment where he made a fortune. By 1971, Li officially named his real estate company Cheung Kong. His successes in industry and real estate continued; he cultivated contacts and built a strong reputation that set the stage for the purchase of Hutchinson Whampoa in 1979 – Its diverse array of holdings range from some of the world’s biggest port operators and retailers to property development and infrastructure to the most technologically-advanced and marketing-savvy telecommunications operators.
Li’s strategies might not have earned him a page among entrepreneurs who changed the world, but he remains one of the greatest empire builders of our time and the master of his game.
Lesson 2: Poverty Inspires; You Need Not Search Further For Other Sources of Motivation
“Money is like a sixth sense – and you can’t make use of the other five without it.” – William Somerset Maugham
Most successful entrepreneurs say that their primary motivation has been to build something lasting, and not to make money.
What is Li’s ideology on money or lack of it?
On arrival in Hong Kong in 1940, Li’s father died of tuberculosis. According to Li, this was “the most terrible experience during my childhood. I too was infected. The burden of poverty and this bitter taste of helplessness and isolation sort of branded on my heart forever the question that still drive me: Is it possible to reshape one’s destiny? Is it possible to minimize challenges through lessening complexities?”
Li made a promise to his father on his death bed – that “the whole family will have a good life”. Li says “I promised myself that; (and) after saying those confident words to father, I knew that I must work doubly hard for a future.”
“His father’s misfortune made Mr. Li believe that money was somehow a better marker of human dignity…Money became linked to life itself. Money was a means to keep the family together, and it was also a means of keeping a promise…For him, money was a measure of a person’s worth and the key to freedom and independence. In his early years, money became almost a surrogate religion for Mr. Li” -Xu Zhiyuan.
By 1958, Li was already a millionaire.
At his old age, Li still remembers the source of his inspiration. He says “I can still remember poverty. I told my children and grand children that the fruit that you eat will never taste as beautiful as the fruit that I ate during the turmoil of war. You will never cherish it as much as I do”. Perhaps, this is the reason why Li has refused to retire even at the prime age of 84.
