Madam Ho Ching is the Chief Executive Officer of Temasek Holdings for the last 15 years, and is also the wife of the current Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong. Her inherent strength, influence and status can be judged from the fact that she is considered the 28th most powerful woman in the world.
Believing in the powerful philosophies of Confucianism, Madam Ho Ching has led Singaporeans respect cultural values, honour authority, be loyal to good leaders, prefer order & hard work, and focus on education. She is regarded as a highly reverent leader in Singapore, whose guidance and management have helped this strip of land emerge as a centre of opportunities. Always calm and balanced, she reflects an aura of fascination, sincerity and earnestness, and in her pursuit to develop Singapore as a symbol of purity and growth for the rest of the world, she has helped create a magical synchronicity with the skyscrapers and the speed of entrepreneurial life.
Keeping the devotion of the people intact towards their ancient philosophy while adding the flavor of the modern life and modern values, she has offered not only the women a direction and motivation towards reaching the zenith, but also the men a sense of entrepreneurial white heat of desire, where everyone has been equally contributing to national growth.
She is a symbol of women power and gender equality in Singapore, and her ingenious initiatives in the spheres of education, healthcare and welfare & development of children have offered everyone a chance to do their best and achieve the most desired.
Final Equilibrium
Madam Ho Ching has actively contributed in creating an equipoise where every Singaporean is committed to endeavour towards nation building, despite diversity of race, language, and religion, which has actually brought more opportunities of growth and harmony.
Understanding and promoting diversity in her organization and beyond, she has guided Singapore to seize a powerful role on the world stage of business and opportunity, leading to better business outcomes. Grasping the fact that there are more than 7,000 multinational companies in Singapore, and more than 1.1 million foreigners are living and working in Singapore, which is almost one-third of the overall workforce of 3.4 million people, she has accorded due respect to this diversity, and facilitated all to be a part of the fabric of Singapore.
Her focus on diversity has led to development of talent, creativity and innovations, as everyone gets a chance to grow and try & deliver better results. This is actually one of the reasons why people find Singapore attractive for business and jobs, because diversity is part of Singapore’s DNA now and differences actually create chances of improvement, higher productivity and growth. Her efforts have delivered the desired results, and Singapore is poised to become the world’s first smart nation.
She led Singapore to celebrate SG50, i.e. 50 years of their independence in 2015, and she is already on course to SG100, tearing down barriers to growth and harnessing Singapore’s strength in diversity. For this she has taken initiatives to make the quantum leap in productivity and ensure that every individual in Singapore feels appreciated and his/her sense of diversity is respected.
Madam Ho Ching has been leading from the front to remove any dissonances that may have existed in Singaporean economy by focusing on harmony and nation building, and she has truly corrected the errors of the past, leading the people of Singapore back into a Golden Age.
Gift of Midas
She possesses the gift of Midas, a touch that turns everything into gold. Every time she was given an assignment, she succeeded in repositioning and growing her organization or the country.
She began her career as a simple engineer at the age of 23 with the Ministry of Defense of Singapore, and quickly climbed up the success ladder to lead the defense procurement agency of the ministry as the Director of Defense Material Organization and Deputy Director of Defense Science Organization.
She is a distinguished Engineering Alumnus of the National University of Singapore and an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Engineering, Singapore. She received a Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical, 1st class Honours) and the Master of Science (Electrical Engineering) from Stanford University.
She has also served as the Chief Executive Officer and President of Singapore Technologies Pte. Ltd., as the Chairman of GlobalFoundries Singapore Pte. Ltd., as a Director of SembCorp Industries Ltd. and has been the Chairman of the Board at Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd.
Her academic and career achievements are attributed to her willingness to take calculated risks, and under her leadership, Temasek Holdings invested in a $14 billion dollar fundraising round by Ant Financial, an affiliate of Alibaba. An ever-dynamic leader, she has transformed Temasek Holdings from a Singapore-focused firm into an active investor in Asia and the world, and under her directives, it has grown to a net portfolio of S$ 308 billion (US$ 235 billion) as on 10 July 2018.
Deep Respect for others
Madam Ho Ching has been personally and professionally active in community service and charitable organizations, and in her public service over the years has served on various statutory boards and agencies, including as the Chairman of the Institute of Molecular Agrobiology, in the Economic Development Board, the National Science & Technology Board, the Singapore Institute of Standards & Industrial Research, and the Productivity & Standards Board. For her public service, she has been awarded the Singapore Public Administration Medal and the Public Service Star Award by the Singapore Government.
She is the Patron of Assisi Hospice, and the founding Chairman of Trailblazer Foundation Ltd, which is a charity organisation providing funding for education, health, sports and community welfare.
To respect her various contributions for her country, she was also inducted into the Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations’ Singapore Women’s Hall of Fame, which honors outstanding women of Singapore in all fields of endeavor. She is the perfect statement: without chains and without fear; a woman who did not fear to be the interpreter of a reality that had all the qualities to blossom but which seemed to be limited by tradition, becoming not only the key to restore all the brightness to a special culture, but also becoming a model for women that constitute it, a new road to admire and to undertake, for all the new young people who can now build an even more prosperous, richer Singapore.
With this aim and with a tenacity that few possess, Madam Ho Ching has been living her professional success supporting various community service and charitable organizations. Diversifying in the various sectors, from education, to health, from the wellbeing to the growth of the future generations of Singapore, with a careful and conscious eye, she has asserted through her actions that without the care towards external people it would not be possible to progress in her country.
She is the perfect balance between professional and moral success, and through deep respect for others, life and nature, she has shown to her people and to the world that consistent hard work can deliver almost anything.
A woman, with a nature of the earth, strong, stable, quiet and at the same time soft because life is shaped in it, Madam Ho Ching has realized the way of heaven and consequently its own sacred nature, facilitating the path through which all things return to their proper place. Being able to fully develop one’s own nature, she has understood the possibility to realize also the nature of other beings, becoming transforming forces and supporters of heaven and earth: in a total cooperation with oneself, entering a triad with heaven and earth.
