Charitable banker in it for the long run

An investment banker with much spare time is a rare breed. Even rarer is one who has athletic ambitions to rival a professional and a heart for fundraising on a par with their love of corporate deals.

Yet Moyee Lam is just that. The managing director in UBS' investment banking group heads to Madagascar next week to take part in a 250-kilometre, seven-day ultra-marathon organised by RacingThePlanet (RTP). That's four marathons back to back, followed by an 80-kilometre "long" day, a rest day, then a 10-kilometre dash, while carrying supplies of at least 10kg on her slight frame. This feat requires a steely resolve and countless hours of training.

Lam is using the daunting challenge to convince others to donate to her HK$1 million goal for charity. At least, she was. She upped her goal to HK$2.5 million as soon as her previous target came within reach.

It's not the first time she's combined corporate skills and hard work for a good cause. Over the past five years she's helped to build three homes for the needy in Vietnam, the mainland and Thailand for Habitat for Humanity (HFH), raising about HK$200,000 each time.

But this year, it's a case of "the bigger the physical challenge, the bigger the fundraising goal". So she brought together a fundraising team, held a corporate auction, and leveraged her connections to raise funds.

In addition to supporting HFH, the millions raised from her Madagascar run will also support local charity the Association Concerning Sexual Violence Against Women (ACSVW) and its crisis helpline, RainLily.