The Innostars Award 2018 Highlight

Mr. Alex Kong
Founder & CEO, TNG (Asia) Ltd
 

Alex Kong is Founder and CEO of TNG FinTech Group, which offers the next generation of financial services to the unbanked population of 1.2 billion in Asia through its various e-wallet platforms under the Global E-Wallet Alliance, including TNG Wallet, PhiliPurse, INDompet, XIN Wallet and others.

Under Alex’s leadership, TNG Wallet has recorded rapid development in both user base and transaction volumes, with transactions exceeding US$1 billion within the first two years after launch. Alex’s vision and mission is to provide financial inclusion to the unbanked populations around the world.

Mr. Joe C. Lee
Co-Founder of Kuaidi Group
Chairman, Weyao Holdings Ltd
Founder & Chairman, Klover Fintech

An entrepreneur in innovation and technology, Joe Lee is Co-founder of Kuaidi Dache, a ride-hailing app, which in 2015 merged with Didi Dache to form Didi Chuxing, serving hundreds of millions of customers globally. He is currently Chairman of Weyao Holdings Limited and Founder & Chairman of Klover FinTech, in addition to his public service and advisory role as a non-executive director for a number of tech companies in China.

Born in Hong Kong, Joe is a certified public accountant and holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a master’s degree in accounting from the University of Waterloo, Canada. He is a member of the Guangzhou Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

Prof. Li Zexiang
Professor, Electronic & Computer Engineering, HKUST
Chairman, Da-Jiang Innovations Science & Technology Co Ltd
Chairman, Googol Technology (Hong Kong) Limited

Professor Li Zexiang has been a faculty member of the Department of Electronic & Computer Engineering at HKUST since 1992, where he founded the Automation Technology Center and the Robotics Institute. Since 1999, Professor Li has co-founded several companies with his colleagues and students, including Googol Tech (the first motion control company in China), DJI (a global leader in consumer drone), QKM Tech (an automation company of robotic products and services for manufacturers worldwide) and ePropulsion (an innovative provider of high-performance marine electric propulsion systems). 

In 2014, Professor Li co-founded Clear Water Bay Venture Capital and Songshan Lake Xbot Park to incubate and promote the robotic industry in the Pearl River Delta region. A year later, he was appointed to the Commission on Strategic Development of the Hong Kong Government. In 2016, he co-founded the Hong Kong X-Tech Startup Platform together with Mr. Neil Shen, founding and managing partner of Sequoia Capital China, and Professor Guanhua Chen of the University of Hong Kong. 

Professor Li was among China’s first batch of students to study in the United States, earning a BS in Electrical Engineering and Economics from Carnegie Mellon University in 1983 and later an MS in Mathematics and a PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Mr. Steven Lam
Co-founder & CEO, GOGOVAN
 

Steven Lam is Co-Founder and CEO of GOGOVAN, founded in 2013. Steven is responsible for developing the overall business strategy and driving the growth and profitability of the business across the region. This also includes establishing business partnerships and securing funding. 

Steven brings with him a wealth of entrepreneurial skills. Prior to founding GOGOVAN, Steven started BoxAd in 2010, an advertising company which advertises on lunch boxes in Hong Kong.

Steven earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a focus on global management from the University of California, Berkeley - Walter A. Haas School of Business.

Prof. Dennis Lo
Li Ka Shing Professor of Medicine, CUHK
Co-Founder, Xcelom Limited
Co-Founder, Cirina Limited

Professor Dennis Lo is the Li Ka Shing Professor of Medicine of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). His research interests focus on the biology and diagnostic applications of cell-free nucleic acids in plasma. In particular, he discovered the presence of cell-free fetal DNA in maternal plasma in 1997 and has since then been pioneering non-invasive prenatal diagnosis using this technology. This technology has been widely adopted in over 90 countries. He has also made many innovations using circulating nucleic acids for cancer detection, including the screening of early stage nasopharyngeal cancer. Professor Lo has created an impressive intellectual property portfolio in molecular diagnostics and has co-founded a number of biotechnology companies.

In recognition of his research, Professor Lo has been elected as Fellow of the Royal Society, Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Sciences, Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) and Founding Member of the Academy of Sciences of Hong Kong. Professor Lo has won numerous awards, including the 2016 Future Science Prize in Life Science and the 2014 King Faisal International Prize in Medicine

Mr. Simon Loong
Founder & CEO, WeLab

Simon Loong is Founder and CEO of WeLab – Asia’s leading fintech company – which operates Wolaidai (我來貸), one of China’s largest mobile lending platforms and WeLend, Hong Kong’s leading online lending platform. The company also partners with leading financial institutions which utilize WeLab’s proprietary fintech solutions. WeLab was named in a KPMG-sponsored report as one of the top 100 fintech companies in the world – #6 in China and #33 globally, and was ranked by Deloitte as #1 fastest growing tech company by revenue in Hong Kong and #4 in China.

Simon serves as a board member on the Fintech Association of Hong Kong and an advisor in a number of professional organizations, including Shenzhen Consumer Council, Hong Kong Trade Development Council, and Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce. Simon has a Master of Science in Management (MSM) from Stanford Graduate School of Business and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). He was awarded “Innovation Leadership Achievement in Hong Kong” by The Asian Banker in 2017 and “CEO of the Year” by Capital CEO in 2016. Simon was also named as one of the 20 people shaping Hong Kong’s future in the next 20 years by Chinese media outlet, YiCai (第一財經).