[Sponsored Article] Awards recognise PolyU Faculty of Business outstanding young alumni The three recipients of the inaugural Outstanding Young Alumni Awards presented by the Faculty of Business of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) have achieved distinction through both their professional and personal accomplishments. A ceremony and reunion dinner held in early October were a chance to honour three young alumni, highlighting their range of attainments and all-round contributions to the community. For example, Annie Au Wing-chi, Hong Kong's current and long-time number one women’s squash player, makes time between her hectic training and competition schedule to support good causes and share her experience. “I find charity work and talking to students extremely rewarding,” says Au, who trains five to six days a week. “Meeting people this way provides a different dimension to my busy life in sport.” Au supports and spends time with visually impaired children and works as a volunteer visiting the needy. She also helps to promote squash by attracting media coverage and appearing at related events. A consistent message she emphasises to young people is the need for commitment and trying your best at every endeavour. “I hope I can inspire others by talking about my experiences,” says Au, who came through the Hong Kong squash development programme. While studying at PolyU for a BBA (Hons) in Management, she trained for and won the 2013 Asian Championships, the first Hong Kong player to do so. “I used to train in the early mornings before going to PolyU and again in the evenings,” she says. Fellow award winner Kino Law, Chief Executive of K&K Property Holdings and Chairman of K&K Charity, similarly believes that contributing to the community should be an integral part of every career. “I find that giving back can generate far more happiness than receiving,” Law says. “It adds perspective to life's journey and promotes wider values.” As an example, he notes how, in 2015-2016, his company organised a competition on housing in Hong Kong in collaboration with PolyU’s Faculty of Business and Faculty of Construction and Environment. Students were invited to come up with ideas and develop solutions to provide affordable, sustainable housing for Hong Kong's younger generation at K&K’s Victoria Skye residential project in Kai Tak. Winners had the chance to work as interns. “Participants learned about the development of Kowloon East, and the internships let them gain real-life work experience," says Law, who took a BBA (Hons) in Marketing at PolyU. For Henry Ngai Wai-tung, a tax partner at Big Four accountancy firm KPMG, helping and advising others through involvement with charities is a deeply held commitment. As one of eight siblings who grew up in Kowloon’s historic Walled City, Ngai learned these values from his parents. “I enjoy sharing my knowledge with accounting students and hope my career experiences can inspire others,” says Ngai who graduated from PolyU with a BA in Accountancy in 2002. “As a family, we believed that small things can lead to big changes and that everyone can make a meaningful contribution to society.” Ngai has received the KPMG Chairman's Award in China in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the community. During 17 years based on the mainland, he successfully developed a comprehensive tax training programme that has benefitted more than 1,000 tax professionals within the firm. He is also an adviser for PolyU’s accounting programme, particularly in areas relating to the mainland tax environment. In other respects, he supports the annual Shanghai Walkathon and helps a number of charities, including in initiative to commemorate the devastating Sichuan earthquake. He credits PolyU for shaping the direction of his career – and his life. “At the time, it was the only university that included a China taxation module,” he says, recalling too a summer internship programme with the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank. "Seventeen years later I am still friends with people I met during my internship.”