Travels from Hong Kong
Victor Chu's speaking fee falls within range: $25,000 to $30,000
Businessman, Victor Chu is committed to building partnerships between China and the outside world in hope of making our planet a better place. He does this through his work as Chairman of First Eastern Investment Group, which was one of the first private equity firms to ever enter China.
Mr. Chu also serves on the board of various international organizations, most notably the World Economic Forum’s International Business Council and the Hong-Kong business council.
Mr. Chu was born in China, but raised and educated primarily in Hong Kong and England. He holds a law degree from University College London and over two decades of experience as a managing and advising member of several Hong Kong financial panels and organizations. Those factors combined with the 150 plus investments First Eastern has made in China, make Mr. Chu highly qualified to represent his country on the global economic scene.
Mr. Chu is the recipient of the Asian Venture Capital Journal Special Achievement Award and the Global Economy Prize.
Mr. Chu is Chairman of First Eastern Investment Group, a leading Hong Kong-based direct investment firm and a pioneer of private equity investments in China. He is also Chairman of First Eastern Investment Bank Limited in Dubai and Evolution Securities China Limited in London. Mr. Chu is a main board member of Zurich Insurance.
Victor Chu has served as Director and Council Member of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Member of the Hong Kong Takeovers and Mergers Panel, Advisory Committee Member of the Securities and Futures Commission, and part-time member of Hong Kong Government’s Central Policy Unit. Mr. Chu is currently a Foundation Board Member of the World Economic Forum and co-chairs the Forum’s International Business Council. He is also Chairman of the Paris-based ICC Commission on Financial Services and Insurance.
Mr. Chu is admitted to practise law in England and Hong Kong. Since 1982 he has practised in the field of corporate, commercial and securities laws, with special emphasis on China and regional investment transactions. He served as Deputy Secretary-General of the International Bar Association (IBA) from 1995 to 2000.
Victor Chu has served on the Governing Council of University College London and the Foreign Affairs University of China. He is a Trustee of Asia House and the International Business Leaders’ Forum, as well as a member of the Mayor of London’s International Business Advisory Council. Mr. Chu’s other civic associations include service on the boards or advisory councils of the International Crisis Group, Chatham House, Harvard Kennedy School, East Asia Institute of Cambridge University, James Martin 21st Century School at Oxford and the Atlantic Council of the USA.
Presenting at the Atlantic Council’s Global Citizenship Awards, Victor Chu defines what it means to be a global citizen, borrowing from Professor Klaus Schwab’s multi-stakeholder concept. Global citizens tackle issues outside their backyard that have long-term implications for their own locality and business; some examples of such issues include climate change, energy conservation, and water shortages. “Major problems of today and tomorrow require multi-stakeholders to go and reach up beyond their self-interest and their own region, to contribute to the common good,” Mr. Chu notes.
He expands on the significance of global citizenship, highlighting the voluntary nature that distinguishes it from national citizenship. “‘Whereas national citizenship is an accident of birth, global citizenship is an act of will,’” he quotes 2013 award recipient, Queen Rania of Jordan. “‘Let's all keep up this will and effort to make sure that we all contribute to global citizenship, to global peace and prosperity, to global common good.’”
Victor Chu addresses the major obstacles that today’s emerging economies face, namely the need to reinvent the traditional export-centered economic system that has served as a pillar and sustainer of growth in the past. “The export-led model which emerging economies in the world generally have relied on so successfully the last ten to twenty years, that model needs to change because the West is slowing down and if you rely on exports for growth, it’s greatly challenging.”
Regarding his own country’s future, Mr. Chu expresses that China needs to resolve various socio-economic dilemmas within its in own borders if it is going to attract long-term capitol from both domestic and foreign investors. “Now we have a situation in China where the disparity between the coast and the rural region is much more startling than before. The demands of the middle classes and the more educated youth are very strong. How the government can meet the aspirations of the young, the have-nots...is hugely challenging.”
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