Christina Ong

Christina Ong (née Fu, born 1948), also known as the "Queen of Bond Street" is a Singaporean businesswoman. A major player of a few companies, including Club 21 and COMO Hotels and Resorts, the Ong family, comprising Ong and her husband Ong Beng Seng, is valued at $1.8 billion as of July 2014, according to Forbes.[1] She is said to be "one of the wealthiest women in the world".[2]

Career

Ong founded her first establishment in 1972.[3] She now heads the COMO Group,[4] which comprises fashion group Club 21 (which she founded),[5] COMO Hotels and Resorts,[6] wellness brand COMO Shambhala,[7] and others.[3] Club 21 went on to branch out to many other parts of the globe.[5] She is a well-established hotelier, having founded many hotels worldwide. Ong is also the major stakeholder of the brand Mulberry.[8] Because of the number of properties she owns on Bond Street in London, she is sometimes nicknamed the "Queen of Bond Street".[3]

Ong also serves on the board of Singapore's National Parks service.[9]

Awards

For her services to the Italian fashion industry, Ong has been awarded the Italian Fashion Hall of Fame Award in 1995 and was conferred the Cavaliere del Lavoro.[10] The Italian Trade Commission said in a press release that the Hall of Fame Award was in recognition of Ong's "accomplishments, her qualities, image and authority in the fashion world. She is a leader and has demonstrated her special gift in the world of elegance and style in the capitals of the world".[11]

In 2013 she received Singapore's Meritorious Service Medal, one of three awarded that year. The others went to the historian Wang Gungwu and Tony Chew, inaugural chairman of the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School's governing board.[12]

In 2014, Ong was included in the list of inaugural Singapore Women's Hall of Fame, which described her as a "global fashion entrepreneur and luxury hotelier"[13]

Personal life

Born 1948,[8] Ong is the daughter of Peter Fu Yun Siak, an early employer of her husband and founder of Kuo International.[3] She is described as "aloof and chic"[3] and "Singapore's preeminent style icon".[8] Ong is married to Singaporean business magnate and investor Ong Beng Seng.[3][6] They have two children, a son and a daughter. The Singapore Strait Times have reported Ong to be a very private person who chooses to be unknown in public settings.[3] She is reportedly a good acquaintance with Donna Karan.[8] The New Paper Singapore have written about Ong's current expansion of her wellness brand, COMO Shambhala, into the medical sectors of Asia and her current partnership with a reportedably young anonymous Billionaire for her upcoming 2017-2021 projects.[14] The New Paper Singapore gained an insider's tip that the project entails the introductions of alternative luxury treatments in hospital settings all across Asia.[15]

Wealth

Ong is cited as "one of the wealthiest women in the world".[8] Her individual net worth is estimated to be in the millions.[5] Together, Ong and Beng Seng make up the Ong family, which has a net worth of $1.9 billion (as of January 2016), based on estimates by Forbes. This makes the couple one of the richest persons in Singapore.[16]

References

  1. ↑ Forbes, "Singapore's 50 Richest: #15 Ong Beng Seng & Christina Ong"
  2. ↑ Departures, "The World of Christina Ong" (March 2010)
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Clarke, Hilary (March 29, 1998). "Profile: Beng Seng and Christina Ong: Asian pair sell west, buy east". The Independent.
  4. ↑ http://www.asiafoodjournal.com/article/singapore-como-group-acquires-organic-supermarket/4201
  5. 1 2 3 Misiura, Shashi (2012). Heritage Marketing. Routledge. pp. 218–. ISBN 9781136399268.
  6. 1 2 "Ong Beng Seng, 65, and Christina Ong, 61". AsiaOne. Retrieved June 4, 2013.
  7. ↑ http://www.forbes.com/lists/2012/13/power-women-asia-12_Christina-Ong_494O.html
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Roberts, Sophy (November–December 2002). "The World of Christina Ong". Departures.
  9. ↑ National Parks, Annual Report
  10. ↑ Interni 644, September 2014.
  11. ↑ "Christina Ong to Get Italian Fashion Hall of Fame Award", Straits Times, 25 August 1995.
  12. ↑ Feng Zengkun, "Three honoured with Meritorious Service Medal", Straits Times, 9 August 2013.
  13. ↑ Singapore Women's Hall of Fame.
  14. ↑ hermes. "High-end retailers face tough battle for shoppers". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2016-01-30.
  15. ↑ Hurd, Sofia. "Multiple moves at Como Hotels and Resorts". www.impactpub.com.au. Retrieved 2016-01-30.
  16. ↑ "Ong Beng Seng & Christina Ong". Forbes. Retrieved June 4, 2013.
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