Inspirational Men & Woman

Chow Yun Fatt is by far one of the most interesting man that I’ve met while working.  Yes, yes, .. we did get to chat for a tiny bit.. but it was because of work.   He and his common law wife .. Jasmine was staying in one of our properties.  Till today … i still cannot understand why he and his common law wife isn’t married.

Chow Yun Fatt was indeed married once.. to an actress .. Candice Eu On On but I think never officially married Jasmine.. but donch quote me.. i could be wrong.  You know these celebs .. and their secrecy thing.  Anyhow, Chow Yun Fatt inspires me because he was one who was raised from a very  humble beginning and making it right to the top.  No one in the movie industry.. does not respect Chow .. and i was truly, truly in awe when he was the first to break into the Hollywood market.  It was a big risk.. for he doesn’t really know English that well then.  But he is as tough as those copper kitchen sinks that we have in our hotels.. and nothing seems to deter this man.. but I honestly heard that it’s Jasmine.. who is the strong one .. behind this very successful Chow Yun Fatt.

I don’t know why it took me so long to record about Andrea Bocelli because he is certainly someone I’ve known a long time.. and heard him sing millions of times.. and seen him personally on stage as well.  And of course, he was an inspiration to me, how could he not be right..?

Afterall, you don’t see a successful blind man.. with a great voice around a lot too. Born in 1958, Italy, Tuscany in a farm .. i heard.  Lost his sight in a football accident.. although he already knew that he had some kind of eye defect when he was born. Music comforted young Andrea.. and he played the piano at 6 and numerous instruments later.  In fact, going blind did not deter Andrea Bocelli, it made him work even harder.. to achieve and excel and be where he is right now.  And like many of his concerts .. you too would be in awe of his beautiful and strong voice.  I’ve had friends who would record live on their  MP3 players whenever we go for this concerts.  I say if Andrea Bocelli can make it in life.. so can we.

I call him the Boy Wonder .. and i know you all must know him.  So young and so rich.. plus smart of course..!  In his early 20s ..and net worth of up to 1.5 billion.  The CEO of Facebook that boast of up to 66 million active user and supposedly user-friendly .. but i still took a little time to learn how to use Facebook till now.  Facebook is a very addictive social networking site.. and of course the founder of this site is none other than Mark Zuckerberg who in 2004 set it up in Harvard University.

With a $500, 000 investment from Paypal co-founder .. he left school for Silicon Valley and making Facebook worth about $15 billion which some analyst didn’t think it was all true.  But he is still wonder boy to me though.  I only need $1 million to make me happy and this kid.. who is younger than I .. has more than i can ever earn in my entire life.

I remembered the times when we are heading over to Macau .. and my co-workers would joke about getting some money from Mr Ho .. to spend.   Well, i didn’t quite understand it at that time.. but of course, now i know who Mr Ho is.  Stanley Ho is the kingpin and Macau Mogul of all the casinos in most of Macau and Australia.

Not only does Mr Ho owns the casinos .. but the greyhound racing .. very popular in Macau and Hong Kong and no one not knows where Lisboa is .. when they visit Macau because it is said that it has the highest grossing casino.  And yes.. i had been to the Lisboa before.. and the room were cheap too.  Mr Ho owns 15 casinos outta the 18 Macau have.  For the high rollers, expect to be treated well on the ferry and helicopter services .. also owned by Mr Ho.

Married .. has 17 kids.. and a university dropped out.. but he is a billionaire.. how can Stanley Ho not be an inspiration to me right.

I grew up watching Nancy Sit as a child actress.  She was indeed the sweetheart of young and old in the 60s.  A veteran actress with TVB, Nancy quit acting and migrated to Canada and got married.   We were all sad to see her leave but marriage and having children was important to her.. so as fans of hers.. we respected it.

Years later, it was said that Nancy’s husband left her and she was so devastated that she contemplated suicide.  Luckily, the idea was thrown out quickly .. and she continued working with tvb for the sake of raising her son and a daughter. She was also the mentor of the late Anita Mui the singer who died of cancer several years ago.

Popular not only in Hong Kong but around Asia, Nancy is known to be very resources and knows all about auto insurance low cost and always willing to help anyone with it.  In her late 50s Nancy is my inspiratiion .. for staying young and laughing all the time.

Mohamed was born in 1933 in Alexandria, Egypt. In the 1930s Alex, as it was known, was a fascinating city, with communities of Greeks, Jews, Lebanese, Italians and Turks living alongside the native Alexandrines. Though it was never legally colonised, Egypt was administered by the British for more than 70 years. The British army HQ was in the city of Fayed, in the Canal Zone, from which the family originates.

Mohamed’s father was a professor of Arabic. His grandfather was a merchant – and it was at his knee that Mohamed learned the first rules of being a successful businessman (and from the advice he received from the Jewish merchant next door).

Mohamed’s was a happy and loving family. His two younger brothers, Ali and Saleh, were always close to their lively and ambitious elder brother. To this day, they are the best of friends. Their mother was the pivotal point of a family that loved being together.

Mohamed’s entrepreneurial gift was evident even while at school – his homemade lemonade was always a big seller with his friends.

But his first real opportunity came after the Second World War. He set up a shipping company, which became known as Genavco (The General Navigation Company). Genavco owned roll-on, roll-off ferries, operating in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.

Despite its success, Mohamed’s dream to continue working in Egypt was not to be. When President Gamal Abdul Nasser “nationalised” all substantial private companies, in the late 1950s, control of the corporation was wrestled from him. Mohamed took the decision to leave his homeland, along with his brothers and business partners Saleh and Ali, moving the company’s headquarters to Genoa in Italy, with offices also in Waterloo Place, just off Pall Mall in London.

Although he has lived in several countries, and regards Britain as home, he remains proud of his Egyptian heritage.

The second-richest man in the world this year; even richer than Microsoft’s Bill Gates, at least for now,   Everyone knows who Bill Gates is . .but who is Carlos Slim Helu..??   A self made man too, in the telecommunication business, a wireless telephone company, Carlos Slim Helu is the son of a Lebanese immigrant, he made his first fortune in 1990 when he bought and fixed line operator Telfonos de Mexico in a privatization.  In December, America Movil struck a deal with Yahoo to provide mobile Web services to 16 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. A widower and father of six, Slim is a baseball fan and art collector. He keeps his art collection in Mexico City’s Museo Soumaya, which he named after his late wife. In recent years, he has donated close to $7 billion worth of cash and stock to fund education and health projects, and to the revitalization of Mexico City’s downtown historical district.

The world’s #1 billionaire at $62 billion, Warren Buffett is definitely my inspiration, would he be to you too..??  And a self-made one from what i read.  Me thinking of earning my first million is already almost impossible and for this 78 yrs old man.. who mesmerizes whenever he speaks.. even to this day, well, he sure carries some power.  An investor and son of a politician, he delivered newspaper as a young boy.  So folks.. be nice to your paper boy eh.. you never know.. when he is gonna be the next Warren Buffett.

The youngest man to file a tax return at the age of 13 and then also smartly claiming $35 for deduction for the bike he uses to deliver papers.   Studied under value investing guru Benjamin Graham at Columbia. Took over textile firm Berkshire Hathaway 1965. Today holding company invested in insurance (Geico, General Re), jewelry (Borsheim’s), utilities and many, many more.  I also hear that he is into lots of charitable work.

Eric Tsang born in China and at the 50 something of age is the inspiration to the everydsay man on the street, that you need not be handsome or gorgeous to be an actor and a successful one.  I grew up watching Eric Tsang in movies and many tvb variety shows.  Partnered with many male and female artiste in Hong Kong, no one in Asia does not know who Eric Tsang is.

Short, not very good looking ..  and have a funny voice, you wouldn’t imagine anyone would be this successful but no denial of it.. he is involved not only in movies as an actor or an MC in tvb variety shows but also has food businesses around asia.  I think he had mellowed over the years.. because Eric is very well known for insulting remarks that had gotten him into trouble.

Born in 1970, this man makes me laugh all the time.  I never thought I would like movies like “Clerks” but not only did i come to like it .. i look forward to everything this man makes on screen and just about anything to do with him. An American screenwriter and director, he is truly a comic.

Born from humble beginning to a postal worker and a homemaker for a mother in New Jersey, to me this down to earth man made good with a very rare talent.  I know that everyone will agree with me .. that they are always looking forward to Kevin Smith next work on screen.