Landy Francis Eng
Landy Francis Eng is an American serial entrepreneur, angel investor, television host and social advocate. Eng was born in New York and attended New York University, graduating in 1974. He started his career at Citibank in 1974 in Citigroup's international banking division in Latin America before founding entrepreneurial ventures across San Francisco, Hong Kong and China amongst other countries. Eng traded commodities in China in the 1980s and founded the China office of Marc Rich International (now: Glencore). [1]
He held multiple political appointments for the State of California. He was a member of the California World Trade Commission's Export Finance Board and served as its Chairman in 1987. In 1990, he was appointed the Managing Director of California's fifth overseas trade and investment office in Hong Kong.[2] Eng was a social and political advocate for the Asian American community in California and was the chairman of the Asian Business League from 1982 to 1989. After arriving in Singapore in 1996, Eng produced and Hosted CNBC Asia's first Asian Talk show, Driven.[1] He founded online networking site, eAngelz.com in 2000[3]. Eng held board positions in Singaporean non-profit agencies like Youth Challenge International and Conservation International[4].
Eng is the current founder and CEO of Driven Productions, a media production house based in Singapore..[5]
Early Life and Education[edit]
Eng was born in Manhattan, New York and grew up in Brooklyn's Bayridge section. His father, Eng Swan Land, was a Chinese immigrant from the village of Wei Chuang on Hainan Island, and his mother, Sidonia Untone, a Brazilian National with a Chinese French heritage.[1]. He graduated from New York University (NYU) in 1974[2]
Career[edit]
Early Career[edit]
Eng started his career working in the Latin American International Banking division of Citicorp from 1974 to 1977 before becoming an entrepreneur.[2] Eng moved to China to trade commodities in the early 80s, where he founded the China office of Marc Rich International (now: Glencore) and more companies in San Francisco and Hong Kong after that.[1]
Eng had started a professional Basketball team, the Hong Kong Dragons, to play in the Hong Kong based Asian Basketball League and had signed up former NBA player Ralph Sampson onto the team.[6] The team, however, folded quickly.[1]
Political Career in California[edit]
Landy F. Eng was appointed as managing director of the Hong Kong trade and investment office of the State of California by Governor George Deukmejian. The office, opened on Jan 22, 1990 was California's fifth overseas trade and investment office and concentrated on California's trade with Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries.[2] Eng had previously served as director and past chairman of the Asian Business League in the San Francisco Bay Area, was a Board member of the World Affairs Council of Northern California, and a member of the California World Trade Commission's Export Finance Board, having served as its chairman in 1987.[2][7]
Eng was a member of the California Democratic Party Central Committee, and had considered a bid for the U.S. 5th District Congressional Seat vacated by Sala Burton in February 1987.[8] However, Eng soon announced that he was dropping the bid, following which the seat has since been held by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.[9]
Career in Singapore[edit]
Eng came to Singapore in the 1990s as a director of a private holding company owned by Frank Tsao, Chairman of Suntec City.[1] Eng created the concept for, and later hosted, CNBC's Asian Talk Show DRIVEN. The show aired interviews between Eng and prominent Asian business and public figures like Jackie Chan, Yo-Yo Ma, Albert Cheng and Tommy Koh stated airing in October 1998.[1]
In early 2000, Eng and business partner David Baker founded eAngelz.com which hosted networking events for angel investors, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and corporate executives in Singapore and later 10 other Asian cities including Bangalore, Indonesia and Thailand.[3][10] eAngelz founded the world’s first online community for Dotcom era startups, starting with 5,000 online members and $1million in funding, in conjunction with partner companies like Sun Microsystems, Deloitte Touch Tohmatsu, and ZDNetAsia.[11] Eng considered shutting eAngelz down after direct competition into he startup networking space from the Singaporean Government’s Action Community for Entrepreneurship (ACE) in 2003, but decided to continue in the space[12]. The business was presumably retired some time later once the dotcom wave had passed in Singapore.
Eng also headed 24 year old NGO, Youth Challenge International as its interim executive director for 7 months after its previous director stepped down following an accounting scandal. Youth Challenge International acquired a Institution of Public Character (IPC) status in Singapore, opened a shelter for child-trafficking victims in Laos, recruited 200 volunteers and launched three social programs for youth within the seven month period.[4]
Personal Life[edit]
Eng is married to his wife, Kim-Oanh Bui and has two sons.[1]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Zach, Paul (March 27, 1999). "Yes, I am a very Driven man". The Straits Times- Life! Section. p. 6. Retrieved 14 July 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Yoshihara, Nancy (Jan 11, 1990). "Landy Eng to Head Hong Kong Office". Los Angeles Times. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 3.0 3.1 Dawson, Steve (April 4, 2000). "Com. on, let's party". The Straits Times, Tech and Science. p. 38. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 4.0 4.1 Tan, Dawn Wei (May 3, 2009). "Youth Challenge head leaves on a high". The Straits Times. p. 16. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Driven Productions". Retrieved 16 July 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Glaser, Tym (April 29, 1993). "NBA great Sampson coup for HK team". The Standard. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Kitageki, Paul (April 7, 1987). "Landy Eng". San Francisco Examiner. p. 4. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Harrison, Laird (February 6, 1987). "Landy Eng Eyes Congress Seat". Asian Week. p. 28. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Laird, Harrison (February 13, 1987). "Eng May Drop Bid". Asian Week. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Giriprakash, K (August 21, 2000). "Bangalore waits for tonight's 'dotcom' blast". Business Standard. Retrieved 14 July 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Buenas, Daniel (August 21, 2000). "First online dot-community from eAngelz.com". The Business Times (Singapore). p. 30. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Wong, Janice (November 4, 2003). "This falling eAngelz will be saved". Streats Singapore. p. 3. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help)
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