Inspiring the next generation: Turn Capital’s Ho Kheng Lian on investing, impact, and the power of community

Ho’s legal background sharpened her analytical abilities, which have proven indispensable in her investing career.

“The skill sets I took away from my legal career were being a very analytical thinker, organised, fundamental,” she explains. "When people are discussing their problems, I can distil information very quickly and say, ‘I think you should be looking at this instead.’”

In addition to her disciplined approach, Ho emphasises integrity, creative problem-solving, and resilience as essential traits for aspiring entrepreneurs.

She recalls observing her business partner’s rapid adaptability, noting that “a good entrepreneur has to keep firing up creative problem-solving ideas.” 

Through her journey, she has learned that impact-driven businesses can be both financially viable and socially responsible. “When you create value, revenue and respect from investors will actually come,” she says, encouraging young entrepreneurs to view societal impact as a path to profitability.

How has the Red Club x Cartier network impacted your own life?

I have a heart for empowering the next generation of entrepreneurs. Through Red Club and with Cartier’s support, I was able to create the ‘Future of Singapore’ dinner, where I brought 30 founders–early stage, growth stage and late stage founders–all together to share these intimate conversations about challenges they faced.

That night I saw real collaborations that came out of these connections that made me realise this is something very real and special. Some of the younger founders actually got funded through people they met that night. For instance, one of our Red Club members, an art gallery owner, met a venture capitalist during the dinner. He ended up funding one of her art gallery events later on, and also another NFT entrepreneur’s exhibition later. I saw real collaborations come out of that event. I wish I had a community like this when I started.

You’ve invested in and advised several high-profile companies globally. What are the most important qualities you look for in the entrepreneurs behind these companies?

First, integrity is paramount. I’ve learned this the hard way after investing in a US-based company that faced major CEO issues. A founder needs to be someone who takes full responsibility—not just for the business, but for the livelihoods and trust that others place in them. Being a stand-up human being comes first because, when times get tough, the pressure can bring out some ugly things in people.

Second, creative problem-solving is crucial. I’ve seen incredible problem-solving in action with my business partner, Joseph Hua. He launched a dating app called Paktor across Southeast Asia, then acquired a live-streaming company, 17Live, which became a market leader in Taiwan and Japan and listed for US$1.2 billion last year. I remember a particularly challenging boardroom meeting where I watched Joseph tackle every problem thrown at him, firing off solution after solution. It showed me how a truly great entrepreneur can keep rolling with ideas, even under immense pressure. 

Finally, resilience is essential. The entrepreneurial journey is a ‘ring of fire’ every day. I look for people who can pivot, and who will keep going no matter what. 

What advice would you give entrepreneurs about balancing financial success with creating a positive societal impact?

Going back to what I said earlier, creative problem-solving is necessary because impact businesses are a very specific space that some view as not investable. So impact founders have to service those challenges quite differently.

That said, impact and profitability are integrable because when you create value through a business, revenue and respect from investors will eventually come as well. We also need to draw a clear distinction between non-profit versus profitable, revenue-generating, very investable companies making an impact.

Are there other events by Red Club and Cartier particularly meaningful to you?

The Cartier x Red Club Young Leader Award is one. This year, the Red Club Singapore and Australia were the driving countries behind the Young Leader Award. It became our project, our baby, to produce and help create an impact through it. 

Because of the Red Club’s ethos to empower the next generation, the Young Leader Award was created together with Cartier. We ended up being on the same panels with the Cartier team and being very much involved in how we are going to help the awardee’s companies in the future.

As an aside, I represented the Red Club Singapore in Shenzhen in May for the Cartier Women’s Initiative award ceremony. That was important for me because I was then able to help the female entrepreneurs to be connected to funding and potential business development opportunities.

Tell us one memorable experience from these events that stuck with you.

Whether it’s for Cartier Women’s Initiative or Red Club, there are always really great workshops. One very simple example was where we had to write down ‘I am beautiful because...” for ten different reasons, and then stand up and read it out aloud. The idea was that in everyday life, especially for female founders, we tend to dim our light because we don’t want to seem like we are too proud. So we do not talk about ourselves too much and sometimes that affects our personal branding.

The exercise was about helping us understand that we can actually encourage other people by telling them what we have done, which becomes an inspiration to someone else. That’s why I always say being part of Red Club is also about empowering ourselves to empower the next generation. There’s so much power in knowing we don’t journey alone.

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