Christine Loh Kung-wai Former business lawyer, commodities trader and legislative councillor and now chief executive of the Civic Exchange, Hong Kong's first independent, non-profit think-tank. She has written numerous articles and a book on civic advocacy, edited another on democratic development, authored/edited a book on Sars and in 2003 was co-winner of the AmCham Women of Influence Entrepreneur of the Year award. 'I chose not to stand for re-election to Legco in 2000 so that I could set up Civic Exchange. Public policy is a special discipline that has been lacking in Hong Kong but which we desperately need to develop. I wanted to establish a think-tank in order to develop Hong Kong's capacity in this area. We have to learn by doing. 'My major personal achievement to date is being able to conduct an election debate in Cantonese and to speak fluent Putonghua. Having been brought up speaking English, to develop a reasonable level of competence in the Chinese language outpaces everything else for me. In terms of my professional achievements, I was fortunate to have held major regional executive positions in a multinational company by the time I was in my 30s, to have won two direct elections in Hong Kong and to have set up the Civic Exchange when friends told me it was hard to raise funding for 'thinking' through problems. ' I see Civic Exchange as a social enterprise. I am glad that others have recognised our achievements since 2000. 'My goal for the Civic Exchange in 2004 is to take our work international. We have already developed a name in public policy circles overseas but we can expand our collaborations even further. The subjects of our research are also quite innovative and I want to keep it up.'
