Mario Ho Succeeds In E-Sports Business

Recently appearing on talk show Beyond Trending <熱浪之外>, Mario Ho (何猷君) spoke about his entrepreneurial journey as he recently became Asia’s youngest founder of a Nasdaq-listed company!

Mario: It’s Now Time to Work Hard

The late casino tycoon Stanley Ho‘s (何鴻燊) son from his fourth wife, Mario’s co-founded company, NIP Group, was successfully listed on NASDAQ in late July, making him the youngest founder of a NASDAQ-listed company in Asia at 29 years’ old.

Addressing how the e-sports industry hasn’t attracted widespread investment, and there’s a perception that it’s driven by China’s wealthy second generation, Mario remarked: “Entrepreneurship itself is like a ‘narrow escape’ situation, whether you’re an ordinary person or from a wealthy background, the chances of failure are still very high,”

Mario shared with renowned Chinese host Chen Luyu (陳魯豫) that he had approached some 200 companies before successfully getting investors on board. “That’s why I believe entrepreneurship is inherently challenging, and that’s also why I love it and aim to succeed in this field,” Mario said, adding he chose entrepreneurship to prove himself as “succeeding in business was a type of achievement that’s hard for others to deny”.

Did Not Rely on Family Riches

Acknowledging that entrepreneurship is never easy; and that being part of the Ho family naturally invites speculation that he had family help which contributed to his success, Mario firmly stated that he never considered seeking family investments.

“Doing that would completely destroy the purpose of why I ventured into entrepreneurship in the first place. If I relied on family funds to succeed, then it would be considered a family business…What’s the point of starting my own (business)?”, making it clear that his current success is solely due to the hard work of him and his team.

Asked to rank life’s key aspects—wealth, ideals, freedom, happiness, and responsibility—Mario placed ideals first, responsibility second, wealth third, freedom fourth, and happiness last. He explained his reasons for ranking happiness last on his list of priorities at this stage in his life. “Happiness isn’t important; business success is. Right now, I can afford to be a little less happy and work harder. But once I succeed, I’ll have plenty of time for happiness.”

Source: HK01