How Asian Games medallist Malina Ngai reached the top of the corporate ladder from the athletics track
The former top rower thanks her sporting background for helping her become chief operating officer of retail giant A S Watson
She was a one-time track and field star and a top rower who represented Hong Kong at the highest level, but when her impressive athletics career came to an end, Malina Ngai Man-lin wasn’t sure what she would do after sport.
But after more than 20 years after hanging up her rowing oars with a bronze medal at the 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games, Ngai is sure glad she made the right move.
Reflecting on her post-sports career, the former all-round athlete, can safely say she has not only made the big time on the sports arena, she has also shone in the corporate world too, where business empires are built, rather like the foundations needed to become a world-class athlete.
Ngai is the chief operating officer of the A S Watson Group, one of the oldest “Hongs” in Hong Kong that manages a network of 14,300 stores in 24 markets world wide under 12 retail brands.
You probably heard of ParknShop, Watsons and Fortress – if not Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing, who last month stepped down as head of one of the world’s largest corporate conglomerates.
