In this incredibly fast-moving highway in which many new lanes are emerging and merging while many are just disappearing, one driver is solidly in control of his AMTD transporter leading the way to many others: Calvin Choi. He is an effective, purpose-driven individual with a clear sense of mission in life and the world.

Photography by Tomy Do
Styling by Jennifer Eym&egrave;re

Yes, Mission-Imagination-Action is what defines Calvin Choi in the simplest fashion. Shortly, you will know why. Many visionaries and successful entrepreneurs have the organic intuition inside them to think, to imagine outside the known boxes, often subscribing to the misquoted statement by Albert Einstein: &ldquo;If we keep repeating the same experiment how can we expect different results?&rdquo; Our world is going through incredibly fast paced transformations, some planned, some unplanned and, some through a completely &ldquo;natural evolutionary process.&rdquo; Some of them will bring forth incredible positive societal value while some, if left unchecked, may spin out of control. So many new societal, economic, environmental, ethical, technological parameters that did not exist less than half century ago suddenly appear in front of us, posing challenges yet opportunities. Nonetheless, in this incredibly fast-moving highway, both physically and digitally, where many new lanes are emerging and merging while many are just disappearing, one driver is bravely steering ahead and navigating in visionary ways his AMTD transporter, taking the lead and paving the way for many others: Calvin Choi. He is an effective mission-driven individual with a clear sense of purpose in life and the world. In his mission, the most important goal is to create value and enlarge value for everyone at stake, including partners, clients, employees etc, and defining the community from the perspectives of AMTD group at the core to extend to the outside world of alliance forces forming an ecosystem - At AMTD, this is known as &ldquo;AMTD SpiderNet.&rdquo; He is driven by and, committed to building a network of organizations in which dignity, respect and innovation are uncompromisingly practiced. People knowing Calvin always praise him for his energy and charisma like a sunshine to give momentum and drive the spirit of others. Calvin likes to imagine, re-imagine and, he likes to think, re-think, and most critically, act decisively and practically, aimly for results. In his convocation address to students when he was awarded an honorary doctorate degree at the University of Waterloo, he said: &ldquo;Ask, Maintain, Teach, Deliver are the four words I live by. In fact, the first letter of each of these words spell out AMTD &ndash; the name of the company I launched five years ago. It started with an idea &ndash; to do things better and smarter, and today, it has grown &ndash; with a diverse group of holdings including financial services, digital solutions, media and culture, education, and property businesses. I refer to AMTD&rsquo;s growth plan - my IDEA strategy - based on the premise where no idea is a bad idea, but ideas, must be practised, torn down, built up, and refined.&rdquo;

One hundred years ago L&rsquo;OFFICIEL was founded in Paris and ran by the Jalou family. Last year, a man from China Hong Kong had an intuition to buy the magazine. Why? Because Calvin imagined a world in which digital means, fashion, lifestyle, gastronomy....can all come together and create a &ldquo;new&rdquo; that can be transformative, innovative, and delivering wellness. Each of these elements are as globally diverse and interconnected as AMTD aims to be, and Calvin is the force that brings them together and mobilizes them in unity.
Anything that integrates Choi&rsquo;s AMTD world emerge through purposeful, sustainable growth, with integrity and belief that everything is better shared. Respect is the seed of the future flowering in all of AMTD&rsquo;s ventures.

Acquisition of France&rsquo;s iconic L&rsquo;OFFICIEL, with over a hundred years of uninterrupted history followed by over a hundred million users all over the world, is AMTD&rsquo;s latest acquisition in the media space. In the full spirit of cooperation and respect, Calvin appreciates the heritage of the magazine and especially retained the Jalou family to stay involved in various executive functions of L&rsquo;OFFICIEL in the SpiderNet ecosystem, with Benjamin Eym&egrave;re, as its CEO. Benjamin&rsquo;s grandfather had been L&rsquo;OFFICIEL&rsquo;s creative director and Chairman for almost a century. This represents the first ever successful global takeover by a Chinese company of a world fashion media powerhouse.
Choi has approached his new venture with a clear strategy for an optimal and sustainable future. He has great regards for the unparalled and historic cultural influence of France on the world stage. In listening to Calvin&rsquo;s conversation with Benjamin, it is clear that they have a good understanding of the forward looking strategy, enjoy listening to each-other&rsquo;s ideas, and are optimistic about an exciting path ahead for the Company&rsquo;s future. Choi is building the next hundred year and beyond for L&rsquo;OFFICIEL based on his dream to build an inclusive and sustainable media platform to serve as the voice of fashion, entertainment and culture, going beyond current norms. Entry into the SpiderNet opens up access to and cross-pollination with the massive talent pool, activities, ventures, and resources of the AMTD world which encompass the diverse aspects of global human day-to-day activities, surrounding the IDEA strategy as devised by Calvin, representing the &ldquo;international connectors,&rdquo; &ldquo;digital solutions,&rdquo; &ldquo;education and training,&rdquo; and &ldquo;assets and services.&rdquo; &ldquo;It is about the totality of a journey-about a lifelong process of building and developing our organization&rsquo;s journey. The whole process should train us and equip us to be a better person along the way, and build AMTD becoming a sustainable company with strengths and uniqueness in the long term.&rdquo;&nbsp;

Following Calvin&rsquo;s key principles, Benjamin devised the execution steps to &ldquo;grow a global brand by respecting where it has come from. That&rsquo;s its intrinsic value, and innovate without boundaries to grow by embracing all the synergies stemming out from the SpiderNet.&rdquo; Benjamin further elaborated that our clients trust us, that&rsquo;s because our voice has been heard for 100 years. This is not new media created without deep roots, it&rsquo;s not social media which comes and goes. We are a Voice - consistent, wide-opened, and we are the Official &ldquo;L&rsquo;OFFICIEL.&rdquo; Benjamin and his team are leveraging the whole ecosystem. The expansion of the media industry with the combined strengths of the Jalou family and the AMTD family is what the ecosystem really means in the case of L&rsquo;OFFICIEL. &ldquo;The ecosystem is the entire family of partners, clients, the east side of connectivity, the west side of the relationship &ndash; the combined network and circle.&rdquo;
Choi shared candidly that his greatest challenge is talent recruitment, not at one point in time, but consistently, continuously, bringing in the very best of the best from each region in the world to support the energy of transformation in the dynamic ecosystem he is building. There is a constant need for innovation, new ideas, new energy, new means to communicate with upcoming generations who will inherit the future of our planet.

"His passion is to empower the innovators and the creators of the world."

Calvin has enough accomplishments at a young age - With the energy of a thousand suns, the deep experience of both East and West from an education in North America and a career in Asia, he is attracting a lot of attention. Choi has significant accomplishments to back up the spotlight. He has worked in the financial industry for decades. AMTD reached unimagined heights within a few years of Choi assuming its helm. AMTD now has 2 listed companies under its belt, including the first ever NYSE and SGX dual listed company. AMTD had the foresight to invest in the emerging FinTech market when it was in its infancy. Choi partnered with Hong Kong Polytechnic University to create the first ever FinTech academy in Asia to deliver Doctoral Degree in FinTech programme. Again, Choi is leveraging and cross-pollinating diverse relationships and connections. Benjamin is now working across those same relationships to explore partnering with PolyU, among other academia partners, to create digital fashion collectibles from L&rsquo;OFFICIEL&rsquo;s archives of over a million images. "We are exploring how we can make the best use of our historical archives into a powerful digital collection." Choi is actively connected and invested in the youths. Choi has projects in the metaverse. Calvin was granted &ldquo;Knight &ndash; Order of Arts and Letters&rdquo; by the Ministry of Culture of France in 2022; awarded &ldquo;Top 10 FinTech Leader&rdquo; &ldquo;Singapore FinTech Leader&rdquo; and &ldquo;Asia FinTech Leader&rdquo; in 2021, 2020 and 2019 by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Singapore FinTech Association; named &ldquo;Asia&rsquo;s Most Influential&rdquo; by the Tatler in 2021; granted &ldquo;Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Outstanding Contribution Award&rdquo; by Hong Kong Ta Kung Wen Wei Media Group, Hong Kong Chinese Enterprises Association, and the Federation of Hong Kong Guangdong Community and Greater Bay Area FinTech Promotion Association in 2021; &ldquo;Young Global Leader&rdquo; by the World Economic Forum in 2017; and selected by the Institutional Investor magazine as one of the global &ldquo;FinTech Finance 35&rdquo; as early as in 2016. He was granted the degree Doctor of Laws honoris causa and the inaugural &ldquo;International Alumni Achievement Award&rdquo; by the University of Waterloo in 2021 and 2019, respectively. Calvin is appointed as a member of nationwide Executive Committee of All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce; a member of Hong Kong Cyberport Advisory Panel under the Hong Kong SAR Government and a member of Hong Kong Government&rsquo;s Prisoners&rsquo; Education Trust Fund Investment Advisory Committee. He has been appointed as the Vice Chairman of China Young Entrepreneurs Association, being the first ever appointed nation-wide Vice Chairman representing Hong Kong and Macau. He also serves as the President of Hong Kong Islands Federation; Vice Chairman of Greater Bay Area Homeland Youth Community Foundation; Chief President of the Hong Kong Youth Association; the Honorary President of the Hong Kong Federation of Journalists, and the Honorary President of Hong Kong Army Cadets Association. Meanwhile, Calvin also serves as the Board Director of ASEAN Financial Innovation Network, which was founded by the World Bank, Monetary Authority of Singapore, and ASEAN Bankers Association. He also serves as a member of the International Advisory Council (China) of Singapore Management University.&nbsp;

Choi calls himself an international connector &ndash; a builder of connectivity. He is being modest. Choi is a 21st Century Dream Maker, creating a safe, resource-rich, platform for creatives and entrepreneurs across all industries, like Benjamin and Vivienne and all other invitees to the SpiderNet, to incubate the culture of the new world across the enterprises of diverse industries. While the world may be awashed with new technology, undiscovered talent, unidentified needs, lost critical communications, who else is creating a single platform where diverse, both well-established and brand-new entrepreneurs can plug into a massive welcoming growth medium where pioneering ideas can be given life and space to flourish? Where else can someone coming from an iconic publishing family have daily access to the elite of sister industries to share and exchange best practices, cutting edge technologies, and explore the future of diverse business platforms within a safe collaborative space? Why is Choi building this platform? What is his motivation? His passion is to empower the creatives and the thinkers of the world, not only those who have already made a name for themselves to whom he is offering a room in which to challenge themselves to grow even bigger. Choi is funding dozens of AMTD scholars to do good around the world. How many great ideas get swept up by a janitor at the end of a school day in any educational institution due to the rigors of the daily grind? He doesn&rsquo;t want simply an East-West fusion, he wants an East-South-West-North fusion. Choi derives his energy and satisfaction by relentlessly investing in the youth and talent of tomorrow, regardless of naysayers.
His intent is soft and without ego &ndash; he seeks to combine diverse value &ndash; a &lsquo;One World&rsquo; concept wherein a consistent approach of empowerment is unleashed to deliver strengthened solutions across combined platforms. &ldquo;An entrepreneur has to be brave in the new world.&rdquo; Choi wants to support their courage as he put it in his final words at his honorary Doctorate Award: &ldquo;Go out there, be brave, and be bold." Choi is a Dream Maker who is converting powerful ideas into sustainable global improvements for the betterment of lives in all communities. We should be watching his actions and reactions.

HAIR &amp; MAKEUP Celine Charpentier @ Atelier 68 PRODUCTION Joshua Glasgow STYLIST ASSISTANT Kenzia Bengel

Calvin Choi: Mission - Imagination - Action

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