Eva is a highly regarded specialist professional with Ernst & Young in the field of transaction advice, performing financial assessments of mainland businesses for would-be purchasers and advising them on the value of their potential acquisitions.

Yet, when asked what it is about the job that inspires that passion in her, money isn't even mentioned. Her job requires her to travel to any part of the mainland or Taiwan, looking into any industry depending on what the client is interested in.

'The most interesting part is really to talk to the people and understand what drives them, and particularly from the entrepreneurial perspective to gain an insight into the passions that have motivated them to develop their businesses.'

Eva, despite her obvious forensic financial abilities, is very much a people person. She also enjoys the opportunities to interact with mainland entrepreneurs, tour their factories and talk to their staff.

Her gift for interpersonal skills came to the fore in 2002, when, new to Ernst & Young, she was offered the opportunity to relocate to Shanghai to build the company's first mainland practice for the transaction service.

As the first person there, she found herself responsible for everything from office supplies to human resources, and developing the local business plan. She acknowledged that she found the role challenging.

She was determined, however, to establish a local team with local knowledge. By the time she left Shanghai to relocate to Hong Kong, in 2005, she had grown the team to a solid base of 12 transaction professionals. Today, Eva, although still with the transaction advisory service, focuses on specific deals for her private equity clients.

Eva's job, which requires her to travel every week, and to spend much time away from her husband and son, requires a balancing act which appears daunting by any standards. In a typical working week she will fly to the mainland on Monday, visit one or two destinations during the week and then return on Thursday or Friday.

She acknowledged that there was considerable soul-searching before she and her husband took the decision to have a baby. Her rationale for the ultimate decision to take on the challenge of combining two clearly conflicting sets of demands is typical of her inherently positive attitude. 'I remembered someone once said that you should never say you don't have enough time. We have exactly the same time in one day as was given to such great people as Mother Theresa and Albert Einstein. It's important to manage your time wisely.'

As to the future, Eva counts her blessings and simply said she enjoyed what she did now and hoped that she would still be able to do things that allowed her to meet and connect with people.

She would also like to return to greater involvement with charities for small children, for which she did much work when at school, but which had to take a back seat when she started out on her career.

As for her advice to other women looking to build careers for themselves but worry about the challenges they may face, she quoted the old Chinese proverb: 'Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself.'

'The culture in which we are brought up can inhibit us from being truly proactive,' she said. 'I think challenges are what makes life interesting. If we are able to overcome them, that's what makes our life meaningful. I would simply encourage all women to really seize the opportunities that are there for them.'

Judge's Comments

This year's Young Achiever award winner, Eva Ip, is a pioneer in the fast-growing business of transaction advisory services on the mainland. She co-founded the Shanghai Transaction Advisory Services practice for a major accounting firm in 2002 and grew the team, which has more than 80 professionals, from the ground up. She was made partner in 2005, one of the few who were fast-tracked to partnership in 10 years. Since 2005, she co-led the building of the firm's private equity team and is recognised as a private equity professional. She is a regular speaker at seminars and conferences. Since her school years, she has been actively participating in charity events with particular focus on children. Our winner is also the mother of a one-year-old son in a long-distance marriage, with her spouse living in Shanghai while she in Hong Kong. She is fully aware of the challenges faced by professional women and is a strong advocate of the need to provide a flexible and supportive environment for working women to balance family and career commitments.

Sheila Chuang, Chair of the Judges 2009