Pansy Ho on the influences that have driven her

learned from a very early age how to manage projects. It was when she was at a Catholic secondary school in Hong Kong that the daughter of casino magnate Stanley Ho was encouraged to participate in extracurricular activities and manage projects.

Now the managing director of Shun Tak Holdings, Ho manages the various business units of a group that is worth billions of dollars. Her most recent achievement was the listing of MGM China Holdings, of which she is chairwoman and executive director. MGM's property, the MGM Macau casino, is a five-star integrated casino and luxury hotel resort located on prime waterfront property.

Ho says it was the experience of leading her classmates in those early days at school that honed her skills to become the successful businesswoman that she is today.

"Even in school on an average basis we had tonnes of various opportunities. We usually had Christmas classroom decoration competitions; we had our own drama, musical and various projects," she says.

At that tender age, Ho learned how to be competitive and how to lobby and fight to be a co-ordinator of activities.

"I was an active member and I loved contributing, so we learned in the very early days that you need to be very driven, you need to have a lot of initiatives, you need to let people hear out ideas - but at the same time, you also need to work with people because you can never do anything on your own," Ho says.

In later years, she would use these people management skills in her business dealings and when she launched a public relations agency.

"Even in those days it became a very important lesson. Then after I got involved directly in business management, you had to work on dollars and cents - then you are learning a different skill set beyond just managing people, and of course you are making sure that the financials are sound. But in general terms, what I did at school was an important lesson."

Ho was just 26 years old when she decided to launch her public relations agency, Occasions, which was the first agency of its kind to cater to high-end fashion brands and celebrities in the city. The launch of Occasions came about at a time when Hong Kong businesses were reaching a turning point.

Ho had an adventurous streak in her when she started the company; there were no fixed clients or target quota set.

"When I started the PR company in the beginning, it was without a fixed formula. We needed to find our own niche to convince people why this small outfit would be beneficial," she says.