As we all know, March 8th is International Women’s Day every year, a significant day championing and celebrating the achievements of women worldwide. This year, AmCham used this date to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of our Women of Influence (WOI) Awards. This set of awards began in 2003 as the vision of a group of pioneer women AmCham members, who felt that this kind of recognition was missing in Hong Kong at that time. Today, companies are very aware of gender issues and the critical nature of diversity to society and to their business, several very respectable women’s organizations have sprung up in Hong Kong, and there is a number of such prestigious awards. But back then, our WOI awards pretty much stood alone….

These AmCham WOI awards are still going strong! So on March 8th, at the Regent Hotel, thanks to generous sponsors and passionate supporters, AmCham started this meaningful 20th anniversary celebration day with a thoughtful afternoon Summit exploring the Past, Present and Future of Hong Kong women. This was followed by a gala awards banquet, with nine different awards and short inspirational “Ignite Talks” contributing to a lively evening for over 450 guests. It should be mentioned here that the highlight of the evening was the presentation of a Lifetime Achievement Award to Beverly Sunn, one of those pioneers who initiated the Women of Influence Awards back in 2003. You can read more about that day’s celebration in this issue.

Also in this issue is a fascinating interview with one of the finalists in this year’s WOI Award—Starbucks Asia Pacific President Emmy Kan, as well as two articles on women who have set up non-profits in sports. Plus there are stories on logistics and cryptocurrency, our Business Sentiment Survey, a personal view of Hong Kong by our editor, and a reprint of two articles on Hong Kong by Stephen Roach.

AmCham HK has had a very busy beginning to the Year of the Dragon, with the preparation of this Women of Influence gala celebration, with the publishing of our 2024 Business Sentiment Survey, with visitors and programs sandwiching the Chinese New Year, and with getting ready to revive our China Conference, for the first time in four years, in April. More on that in the next issue…. Meanwhile, hope you enjoy reading this March/April issue!