Ms. Marjorie Yang, Chairman, Esquel Group
Integral Ecology – the Esquel Case
Everyone nowadays talks about innovation and sustainability, which are regarded as essential to find ways to transform a company to compete. Innovation is all about fresh thinking that creates value while sustainability considers the interactions of natural environment and social system. At Esquel, we are combining them to pursue a new development model - an approach that helps to tackle climate change and close the wealth gap.
We are in the process of building Integral in the scenic city of Guilin in Guangxi. On a beautiful site over 130 acres, we are piloting a new development model combining advanced green manufacturing; industrial tourism; bio-diversity and cultural preservation through research of natural dye; and offering quality employment. By sheer coincidence, Pope Francis emphasized, in the encyclical Ludato Si, that complex crises have both social and environmental dimensions. The bond between humans and the natural world means that we live in an “Integral Ecology,” and as such, an integrated approach to environmental and social justice is required. The message is also echoed by President Xi Jinping in the Belt and Road Initiative to look for inclusive growth and sustainability. I am going to share my experiences and journey of Esquel to explain how we create value to promote innovation and sustainability.
About the speaker:
Marjorie Yang is Chairman of Esquel Group, a leading Hong Kong-based textile and apparel manufacturer with operations throughout the world.
Marjorie has been a Member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference since 2003. She also serves as Deputy Chairman of the Seoul International Business Advisory Council (SIBAC), with the purpose of providing advice to the Mayor of Seoul.
Marjorie is dedicated to promoting education and innovative technologies, she is the Co-chairman of the advisory board of CSAIL (Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab) at MIT and the Chairperson of the Steering Committee of the Coding and Computational Thinking Education at The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust. She also serves as member of various advisory boards including Harvard University, Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan, Tsinghua University’s School of Economics & Management and Schwarzman College at Tsinghua University. She has been the Chairman of the Council of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University for six years until 2015.
Marjorie is a strong believer in sustainable development and environmental conservation and holds membership in the Advisory Council of Natural Resources Defense Council in China.
Marjorie is an Independent Non-executive Director for The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited.
Marjorie has a Bachelor of Science degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
