A Woman’s Calling: HSBC explores the attributes that help Hong Kong’s leading businesswomen shine

Working in a very different field but sharing similar sentiments, Vicky Lau, Tatler Dining’s Chef of The Year, the owner and executive chef of Tate Dining Room, Mora, Ān Soy and Date by Tate, believes empathy is one of the attributes that make women strong leaders. In her own kitchen, where the workforce is over 50 per cent female, she seeks to promote three core values: creating strong, empathetic teamwork; giving every employee a voice; and ensuring everyone is invested in rooting for the cause. “For our business to garner success and culinary plaudits, a high-energy, supportive, one-team culture, irrespective of colour, creed or gender, is absolutely everything.”

Lau predicts “equality may take 30 years to be truly equal. So we need to do more, and act now.” Her recipe for success is centred around both supporting and enabling her people and staying true to her commitment to sustainability. Following her passion, the graphic designer-turned-chef opened Mora in 2022, a modern French-Chinese restaurant with a menu dedicated to soybeans, and then launched Ān, a new collection of homemade lifestyle and gourmet soy products.

While Lau freely admits the focus on sustainability is challenging, she hopes to leverage her resources to have more impact on food security. “I don’t want to be simply labelled as a ‘fine-dining chef’,” she says. She is, for example, a keen supporter of Feeding Hong Kong, the city’s first food bank dedicated to redistributing surplus food stocks to charities who help people in need. Lau said that taking her team to volunteer and help pack food was a powerful reminder of the importance of food mindfulness, an eye-opening experience for everyone and a vital reminder that we simply cannot be wasteful.

For Maggie Ng, HSBC’s head of wealth and personal banking, Hong Kong, striving for diversity, equality and inclusion takes many forms. She believes the most important thing is to lead by example and nurture a workplace that gives space for the voices of women to be heard and offers opportunities for them to excel.

A focus on gender equity needs to be part of the DNA of every successful business. With a wealth of experience in the finance industry under her belt, and leading an HSBC wealth and personal banking workforce that’s 58 per cent female and 38 per cent are in senior management roles, Ng certainly knows what it takes to be an impactful leader of the quest to build a more equitable world.

She credits her drive to promote female workplace empowerment to her personal experiences working within enlightened organisations keenly focused on diversity, equality and inclusion. “Aside from my family upbringing, I have been particularly fortunate that my work environments have inspired and shaped both my outlook and indeed confidence to inspire and lead others,” she says. “I think it’s vital to make sure as leaders that we encourage women to step up and stay true to their strengths and their career ambitions. If I can play my small part, then I will feel that my own career has been both rewarding and worthwhile.”

Staying true to yourself and having the courage to follow your calling also extends beyond the office. As a mother of three, Ng believes being a role model means setting an example at home as well. “A number of years ago, I left the banking industry and founded my own company. The reason I did that was to demonstrate to my kids that getting a job or being a banker is not your only choice,” she says. After nearly two decades in banking, in 2017 she co-founded FinEX Asia, the world’s first fintech wealth management platform using blockchain technology and an AI risk model to optimise fixed income dividend returns. It was her second career change, and one that had her family at its heart. Taking yet another turn in her career, in 2020, Ng joined HSBC. “Everyone has a different purpose in life,” she says. “I have to lead by example. The key message I want my kids to take away is to know what your purpose is and have the courage to pursue it. That is success.”

Looking to the future is also a top priority at HSBC. “We are positioning ourselves as the bank for the future, and in the last few years we’ve invested a lot into digital ventures,” says Ng. As a leading bank for more than 150 years that aims to be here for another 150, HSBC will ensure its capabilities and people are future-proof as well, she says.

As highly successful and influential figures in their respective fields and working mothers with busy family lives, Kwok, Lau and Ng are all dedicated supporters of empowering women in leadership roles. Ng believes showing vulnerability and care in the right circumstances makes for stronger leaders.

By combining forces, women can collectively effect change. By harnessing this belief, we can shape the future and further empower the next generation of leaders.

The information contained in this article has not been reviewed in the light of your individual circumstances and is for information purposes only. It does not purport to provide legal, taxation or other advice and should not be taken as such. No client or other reader should act or refrain from acting on the basis of the content of this article without seeking specific professional advice. 

Issued by The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited.