Mr Benjamin Chau is a Deputy Executive Director of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), the statutory organisation responsible for promoting Hong Kong’s external trade. Since assuming this role on 4 January 2010, he has been overseeing the Council’s trade fairs and related services, publications and e-commerce operations.
Mr Chau was a banker before joining the HKTDC in 1984. In a career spanning more than 25 years, he has been involved in a great variety of trade promotion activities, specialising in Mainland China trade promotion. He worked in the HKTDC’s Beijing and Shanghai branch offices from 1986 to 1988, when he organised numerous Hong Kong pavilions and exhibitions in the mainland.
Mr Chau has led the HKTDC’s Exhibitions and Exhibition Services divisions since 1997, building the HKTDC’s fair portfolio to more than 30 annual exhibitions. Under his leadership, these fairs form 11 largest marketplaces of their kind in Asia, five of which are the world’s largest.
In 2004, Mr Chau was also appointed to head the HKTDC’s Trade Publications Department, which publishes more than 20 print and online product magazines and industry supplements a year. In 2006, the E-Commerce Department was added to his portfolio, to better integrate the HKTDC’s exhibitions, publications and online marketplace.
From 2007 to 2009, Mr Chau oversaw both the Product Promotion and Service Promotion divisions, spearheading the HKTDC’s manufacturing and service industries’ promotions in the mainland and overseas. The extensive programme included more than 200 projects a year, designed to enhance Hong Kong’s role as Asia’s leading sourcing centre and to help Hong Kong companies tap into business opportunities around the world. During this period, Mr Chau also oversaw the HKTDC’s Design Gallery. With three retail outlets in Hong Kong and numerous branches in Mainland China, Design Gallery promotes Hong Kong designers and creative excellence in product design.
Mr Chau was a member of the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) from November 2010 to October 2016, and Chairman of the HKTB Staff & Finance Committee from July 2014 to October 2016. He has been a member of UFI’s Board of Directors since November 2011 and UFI’s Vice President since November 2017.
