By Brian Yeung for Hong Kong Economic
Journal
Photograph by: Robert Kwong
Translation to English by: Sunny Chiu
“Many people believe
beauty pageant is all about ‘beauty’ but I think
intelligence carries more weight than beauty,” says Andrea
Eng, Canada’s first ever Chinese representative at a global pageant
contest.
Never an admirer of
her own charm or glamour, Eng referred to her pageant
journey as a mere accident. Eng was in her early twenties
then but never got carried away. Instead she dedicated
herself to a career in the real estate business, and became
the advisor to a number of Asian tycoons, specializing in
overseas investment.
In the wake of Asia's
rise, global enterprizes nowadays hope to attract Asian
investments. But Eng had already been identifying investment
projects for Asian investors as early as 30 years ago. She
was once described by
The New York Times as the “first woman to broker
commercial real estate to Asians in North America”.
“I believe every
person is born with a gift. You just have to find your gift
as quickly as possible. Business is my gift – I’m able to
see opportunities differently from anyone else,” she says.
Hong Kong
Economic Journal
in Hong Kong
WESTERN VIEW
Malcolm Parry, Vancouver magazine
editor
2019 September
