Philanthropy is this family’s North Star
A legacy of philanthropy and family values
“Growing up, I was aware that my family was in business,” says Vince Fong, “but I was probably exposed earlier to the philanthropy side.” Even as a young child, Vince and his older brother Jonathan were sent by their grandfather to spend time in various rural areas of China, teaching English in schools that the family foundation had built and funded. “At the time, I complained a lot, because there was no air conditioning, there were bugs everywhere, and the food was all vegetarian,” Vince recalls with a smile. “Now, as an adult, I realise that this was really meaningful. These are very memorable and fond moments.”
Our grandpa wanted to instil in my brother and me these values of being humble and grounded.
Vince’s grandfather, Henry Fong Yun-wah, had been born into relative poverty in 1924 in the city of Heyuan, in Guangdong province, and had moved with his family to Hong Kong at the age of six. He didn’t receive education beyond primary school and instead helped his father run the family’s sesame-processing business. Eventually, that gave way to property investment, and a new business, Hip Shing Hong, was established in 1948. Today, after decades of growth, Hip Shing Hong is one of Hong Kong's largest unlisted real-estate investment companies. Henry passed away in 2022 at the age of 97, but he never forgot where he started – and he expected his grandchildren to remember, too.
Vince Fong has forged his own path as a serial entrepreneur.
“Back then, China was very poor,” says Vince. “Our foundation built the first hospital and schools in our hometown – and went on to complete more than 700 projects across the country during those early years of development.” As a child, he and his brother were never explicitly told why they were sent to visit these rural areas. But the lessons were clear. “Our grandpa really wanted to instil in my brother and me these values of being humble and grounded,” says Vince, “and also the importance of giving back, because there is a huge element of luck in how we got to where we are today.” That awareness and sense of perspective have clearly stayed with him throughout his life.
Forging a path beyond the family business
Today, Vince is a serial entrepreneur, who has forged his own path outside of the family business.“I’ve been lucky, because I have an older brother,” says Vince, referring to Jonathan, who now serves as deputy managing director of Hip Shing Hong beneath their father David. “I was given a lot of flexibility and freedom to roam and do things outside of the business, as long as one of us was going to fully take over the family business.
I love learning, getting my hands dirty and trying different things.
”This arrangement works for Vince, whose personality, he says, might not be well suited to life within a family-owned real-estate company, which moves conservatively by nature and takes a low-leverage approach. “There’s a huge element of stability and sustainability in the business, which basically hinders you from doing a lot of things that could rock the boat,” he says. He acknowledges that this approach has seen Hip Shing Hong survive and thrive for over 75 years, weathering multiple crises and shocks. However, he prefers the freedom of an entrepreneur. “I’m a very curious person,” he says. “I love learning, getting my hands dirty and trying different things.” At the same time, unlike in the family business, in his line of work, “there are no barriers and there is full autonomy”.
Hip Shing Hong, a leading family-owned real estate company, has operated in Hong Kong for seventy-five years. As a member of the fourth generation, Vince Fong is now developing new ventures anchored in Hong Kong, building on the family legacy.
Vince has, he says, “always been entrepreneurial,” even dating back to his primary-school days, when he remembers selling instant noodles to his peers. Yet it was his time studying at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles that really convinced him that he wanted to launch his own ventures. “The entrepreneurial energy there was very strong, and I was seeing people around me creating businesses,” he says. “The biggest catalyst was finding like-minded people who could see the same things and who I could work together with.”
”Given this, rather than being a solo entrepreneur, Vince tends to team up with partners when he launches new ventures. And he has launched more than a few, across a range of sectors, from tech to entertainment to lifestyle. During the Covid-19 pandemic, for instance, he founded Raze, which became one of Hong Kong’s most recognised nanotech facemask brands. Since then, it has evolved into a consumer brand focused on fragrances, perfumes and personal care. He also launched Stick Stack with Hollywood mogul Scooter Braun, a company with offices in Hong Kong, Los Angeles and Shanghai that incubates brands for global celebrities and serves as the production powerhouse behind large-scale merchandise programmes for major record labels and artists across the Asia-Pacific. Alongside these businesses, he also has what he calls “passion projects,” such as MagicRoom, a fast-growing house music collective that supports artists, nurtures homegrown Asian DJs, and brings international acts to Asia from Europe and North America.
For our family, philanthropy is honestly a bigger North Star than the business.
Recently, however, Vince has spent an increasing amount of time on the energy infrastructure that underpins AI, which is “basically real estate for AI,” he says. His latest venture, Highrise AI – a spinout from leading digital infrastructure company Hut 8 – develops and operates high-performance data centres optimised for AI workloads. Highrise provides advanced GPU infrastructure and scalable computing solutions to start-ups and enterprises training frontier models. “I’m bullish on AI,” says Vince. “I believe that no matter what happens in AI, infrastructure isn’t going away, energy isn’t going away, and the ability to power these different amazing applications isn’t going away.”
The office building in Hong Kong where Vince Fong’s family office is based.
”It’s a lot to juggle. So, how does Vince divide his time – and focus – across so many projects? “I’m only ever CEO of one venture at a time, and I spend 80% of my time on that venture,” he explains. Generally, he leads the company until it is developed and stabilised, then passes the baton on to a leadership team, whilst remaining involved to offer strategy and guidance. “Whenever I hand over leadership, I give equity to those taking the reins – free of charge – because there should always be a correlation between effort and potential upside.” This 80-20 balance is something he has had to learn, however. “One of my biggest struggles nowadays is saying no to things,” he says. “It takes a lot of effort to make sure you’re continuing to be focused and not jumping from one thing to another, which is a bit more like some of my earlier trades.”
At the end of the day, we want to be remembered as the people who actually contribute back, instead of being the ones who made the most money.
There have been other tough lessons, too. When he was starting out, his family background felt like a burden in certain respects. “When you’re younger and less mature, there’s an insecurity, this little chip on your shoulder,” he says. “I felt that I really needed to prove myself, to prove that I’m not just from a family but creating my own path.” He would occasionally avoid taking the easiest path – asking a family friend for a business connection, for instance – to show that he could make it on his own. “As time went on, I realised that none of that matters,” he reflects. “Honestly, if that’s your advantage, play into it.” At the end of the day, he notes, even a friend won’t invest in your venture if it’s a weak idea: “If it’s not a good business or you’re a bad business person, people won’t keep supporting you.”
Balancing tradition and innovation in a changing world
Despite his activities outside of the family business, Vince is still involved in Hip Shing Hong in a few key ways. While he doesn’t have any active duties, he sits on the board. He also provides his father and brother with advice around some of the trends and topics that he encounters in his work outside the family firm; advice that isn’t “biased” by proximity to the company, he says. “We also have our own family office that is off-balance-sheet from the corporation,” he says. “Probably my largest involvement is there, helping with tech investments outside the scope of real estate.” Here, he spearheads investments in a range of sectors, from consumer to AI and biotech.
However, its two foundations – The Fong Shu Fook Tong Foundation and Fong’s Family Foundation – are still absolutely central to Vince and his family’s sense of identity. “For our family, philanthropy is honestly a bigger North Star than the business,” he says. To this day, 10% of the company’s profits are dedicated to charities. While the major focus, when the family’s foundations were set up in the 1970s and 1980s, was on education and healthcare, “some of those core needs are very much covered by the government nowadays,” he says. Today, instead, the foundations invest more in supporting frontier research in healthcare, identifying funding gaps and investing in places where new cures might be found.
“At the end of the day, we want to be remembered as the people who actually contribute back, instead of being the ones who made the most money,” says Vince, channelling his grandfather Henry Fong Yun-wah’s values. “We’re fortunate that we got to where we are, so we’re balancing that equation. Hopefully we’re also setting an example for other families to follow.”