Business Practices for Sports & Sustainability: Building Resilient, Innovative, and People-Centred Initiatives

Jessica Ng
Founder, The Jessica Company

Executive Vice-Chair and Chief Executive Officer
South China Financial Holdings Limited

Non-executive director
South China Holdings Company Limited
i-CABLE Communications Limited

Jessica has over 20 years of leadership experience in the media and financial service sector. As Executive Vice Chair of South China Financial Holdings, she leads the financial services business of South China Group.

Jessica launched her namesake magazine JESSICA in 2000 which soon became the highest circulation women’s magazine in Hong Kong, with the aim of inspiring women to pursue their life dreams. Later she established the JESNetwork, a community founded on the JESSICA Most Successful Women Award, with the mission of connecting, inspiring and empowering women, to create a collaborative space for women in entrepreneurship, sustainability, technology and sport. For over two decades, JESSICA has been a beacon of empowerment for women in Hong Kong and beyond, and to further her mission and vision, ensuring that the impact remains authentic and powerful, The JESSICA Company was established as a standalone corporate entity in 2024.

The Jessica Charitable Foundation was formed in 2012 as a charitable institution under s.88 of the Inland Revenues Ordinance, with the aim of supporting social initiatives empowering women and youths. The annual JESSICA Run is the foundation’s signature fundraiser and family and amateur runners’ event, to arouse awareness on physical and mental health, to raise funds for non-profit organisations in Hong Kong.

Jessica sits on various women and youth support associations, including the position of Board Member and Treasurer of the The International Women’s Forum Hong Kong Chapter, and Ambassador of the Ocean Park Conservation Foundation, Hong Kong.

She holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from King’s College London, University of London in the United Kingdom and was admitted to the Hong Kong Bar in 2006. She is an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and a member of the Standing Committee of the 13th Hebei Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. She also previously served as a member of the 11th, 12th and 13th Tianjin Municipality Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

Moraine is currently engaged with the Laureus Sport For Good Foundation in partnerships, fundraising, and development for the Asia-Pacific region. Coming from a strong sporting heritage, her journey began in 2009 as a junior national track and field athlete, a key contributor to her passion for pursuing sustainable sport for development and youth empowerment.

Throughout her professional career, Moraine has extensive experience in commercial marketing and event management, giving her opportunities to collaborated with commercial brands and National Sports Associations in Hong Kong, including M-Mark events, and many other local and regional sports initiatives and events. Presently, she serves as a trusted advisor for several sports and youth development NGOs, including the Hong Kong Association of Athletics Affiliates, Hong Kong Water Sports Council, and The Hong Kong Award for Young People, actively contributing to development endeavours in Hong Kong. Fuelled by a profound passion for instigating positive transformations, Moraine strive to harness the unifying influence of sports to reshape communities.

James commenced in his role as Chief Executive Officer at Hong Kong China Rugby in June 2024, having previously held senior roles with Saudi Olympic Training Center, UK Sport (the UK government funding agency for elite sport), the English Institute for Sport, Loughborough University, the Rugby Football Union and HKCR, where he worked as General Manager of performance. He has also served as the head coach of the England and Great Britain student 15s and 7s teams.

James joins the HKCR at a time of significant change, and opportunity, both for the organisation and rugby in Hong Kong. He has extensive experience in sports leadership, funding, budget planning, performance and operations which enables him to work closely with an extensive range of stakeholders to deliver the HKCR’s new strategic plan. James is a passionate people developer and places great importance on developing leaders.

As well as having a lifelong passion for sport, James is an outdoors enthusiast, having a very keen interest in nature and the environment having contributed to humanitarian and conservation work on expeditions and as a disaster responder.

Prof. Howard Ling is the Chief Consultant of Impact Incubator, and the Professor of Practice at Baptist University. Howard began his social entrepreneurial journey in 2004. He has consulted over 100 social enterprises and raised over HKD 300M for these enterprises. He also serves as a consultant or advisor to many foundations, and education institutions in Hong Kong and Macau. He was awarded the Medal of Honour (MH) by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), and the Hong Kong Humanity Award in 2017 for his dedicated public and community services, particularly his contributions to the development of social enterprises.

Hong Kong SAR Government Committee & Macau SAR Government Committee:
Administrative Appeal Board – Panel Member (2015 to Present)
Betting and Lotteries Commission Committee Member (2019 to Present)
Transport Tribunals’ Panel – Panel Member (2019 to Present)
Social Enterprise Advisory Committee Member (2009 to 2015)
Ping Wo Fund Advisory Committee Member (2013 to 2019)
Strategic Development of IT in Education Steering Committee Member (2022 to Present)
Social Welfare Bureau (Macau SAR) – Consultant of Social Enterprise Scheme

Education, NGO & Social Enterprise Responsibilities:
Community Chest – Admissions, Budgets & Allocations Committee Member
YMCA Hostel Services Committee – Board Member
Hong Kong Education City (HKEdCity) – Director of the Board
Bishop Hall Jubilee Secondary School – Director of the School Board
Kowloon Tong Primary School & Secondary School – Director of the School Board
Lok Sin Tong – Yeung Chung Ming Primary School – Director of the School Board
Direction Association for the Handicapped – Honorary Consultant
Mbaby Doula Social Enterprise – Director and Social Enterprise Consultant
Joint Publishing Cultural Charity Fund – Director of the Board
The Yeh Family Philanthropy – Grant Committee Member
Changing Young Lives Foundation – Council Member
Baptist University – Associate Director of The Centre of Entrepreneurship
Lingnan University – Chairman of the Advisory Board for Doctor of Policy Studies
& Programme Advisor of Lingnan Entrepreneurship Initiative
The Chinese University of Hong Kong – Consultant of Sustainable Knowledge Transfer Fund

My Sustainability Goals for 2024:

1. To increase the awareness of commercial and residential recyclable collection service
2. To issue a legal-binding guideline on charity formation and charitable fund-raising