Meet the 3 Singaporean Execs on Forbes’ List of ‘Power Businesswomen in Asia’

They say behind every successful man is a woman. And behind every successful woman is a tribe of other women cheering them on. While there is so much work to do in gender equality, women’s advocates have achieved a great feat in leveling up the conversation and encouraging everyone to rally behind females who are creating ripples in their respective industries. For some inspiration to “go and get ‘em,” we look back at the three Singaporeans who landed a spot on Forbes’ list of the most powerful businesswomen in Asia in 2021.

Judy Hsu (CEO for Consumer, Private and Business Banking at Standard Chartered Bank)

This banking veteran moved to her current role in January 2021 and has since been leading StanChart’s efforts to consolidate the company’s retail banking, private banking, and wealth management operations into a single global business across 50 markets. Her key responsibilities include growing StanChart’s elite client base, for which the bank manages more than US$200 billion worth of assets. Hsu has pledged to maximise data analytics and AI to achieve this, with a particular focus on targeting the younger demographic.

Ng Gim Choo (Founder of EtonHouse)

This 69-year-old entrepreneur and educator gave up her role as an accountant at the peak of her career to move to the United Kingdom with her family. Inspired by London’s play-based preschools, Ng returned to Singapore and founded EtonHouse in 1995, giving birth to one of the most prominent international schools in the Lion City and other Asian markets. EtonHouse is present in 11 countries and provides pre-school, primary, secondary, and high school education to over 20,000 students across Asia. In Singapore alone, EtonHouse has 15 campuses, a huge leap from its first school on Broadrick Road in mid-1990s.

Helen Wong (Group CEO of OCBC)

Helen Wong’s appointment as the first female group CEO of OCBC made her the first-ever woman to lead a Singaporean bank, carving out a history in a male-dominated industry. The 60-year-old chief executive began her career at OCBC in 1984. In the following year, she was named the first China desk manager in Hong Kong. She then joined other banks in succeeding years before returning to OCBC in 2020 as deputy president and head of global wholesale banking based in Singapore.