We couldn't have been happier with the calibre of speakers, the energy and engagement of the audience, the food and service at the Marriott, and the overall result. Thanks to everyone's generous support, we raised almost HK$4mn for our research and programmes which we are naturally thrilled about. We are very grateful to our main sponsors - Bloomberg, Facebook and Kering - for their contribution to this stellar result. 

All of our speakers had memorable messages for the audience. Our keynote speaker, Sabrina Peng - Vice President of Ant Financial Services Group and Partner of Alibaba Group  - spoke eloquently about joining Alibaba straight out of university 17 years ago when the name “Alibaba” would raise eyebrows and giggles. She also shared the importance of having dreams and the value of mentors and friends to provide perspective during challenging times. 

Shiza Shahid - Co-Founder of the Malala Fund - shared her passion for leveraging philanthropy, venture capital, technology and the media to drive scalable social impact. Shiza’s new initiative - Now Ventures - is a seed stage venture capital fund and platform dedicated to enabling early-stage companies with transformative solutions for a prosperous world - as she says, it is vehemently not about pizza-delivering drones! 

Meanwhile, here is what Erika Irish Brown - Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion at Bloomberg -  had to say in her own words: “Today, more than ever, there is a strong business case for fostering a more diverse and inclusive tech sector. Technology drives growth, addresses society’s most pressing issues and transforms global markets and traditional business. And it is imperative that our companies and organisations come together to increase access, innovation and talent”. 

A big thank you also to Sheryl Sandberg, Ruth Porat and Jean Liu for their inspiring video remarks.

We look forward to seeing everyone at our International Women’s Day Lunch in March - details coming very soon!