Calvin Cheng
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Calvin Cheng | |
|---|---|
郑恩里 | |
 Calvin Cheng | |
| Nominated Member of Parliament | |
| In office 18 July 2009 – 19 April 2011 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Calvin Cheng Ern Lee 24 September 1975[1] Singapore |
| Alma mater | Hertford College, Oxford |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Website | calvincheng |
Calvin Cheng Ern Lee (born 24 September 1975) is a Singaporean businessman and former Nominated Member of Parliament. Cheng is known for his views on socio-political issues in Singapore. He began his business career in the modeling industry and expanded into event hosting, publishing, and educational technology.
Cheng earned his undergraduate degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Hertford College, Oxford University. He later earned a master's degree in industrial relations. In 2017, he made a donation to Hertford to establish a prize for PPE students.[2]
Business career
Cheng was the Asia-Pacific head of Elite Model Management from 2001 to 2004.[1][3][4] During his tenure, he opened an Elite agency in India while developing other projects in the region.[5][6] In 2004, Cheng set up Elite Models Singapore Pte Ltd. The company was renamed Looque Models Singapore Pte Ltd in 2005.[7]: 6–7 Through Looque he ran several franchising businesses in the fields of luxury events, media, and talent management in entertainment and business.[8] Cheng ran Ford Models Supermodel of the World competitions under license from Ford in China in 2007 and in Malaysia in 2011.[9][10] The World Economic Forum named Cheng a Young Global Leader in 2009.[11]
On 23 November 2011, several model agencies, including Looque Models, were fined for price fixing.[12][13] They fixed prices on modelling services through the Association of Modelling Industry Professionals (AMIP) from 2004, continuing after anti-competition laws were in effect.[14] Cheng claimed in defense that the goal was to raise wages for models.[15] The Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS) ruled that AMIP engaged in anti-competitive price-fixing that resulted in customers paying more, causing an adverse impact on the market.[16][17] CCS noted that as president of AMIP, Cheng played a central role by instructing AMIP members how to mask the collusion to evade detection and complaints.[7]: point 213h, page 95 [18] Cheng's appeal of this ruling was dismissed because he had not been personally fined.[19]
In August 2015, Cheng merged one of his franchise businesses, Lumina Looque Knowledge Hubs Pte Ltd, with a Chinese firm called ReTech that focused on educational technology,[20][8][21] and led the company to IPO on the Australian Stock Exchange in June 2017.[22] In June 2023, Retech Technology Co issued an announcement that Calvin Cheng had resigned his directorship in the company.[23]
In May 2022, Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority awarded a provisional virtual asset license to Cheng's company Web3 Holdings FZE,[24] a non-fungible token (NFT) and fan token cryptocurrency investment company.[25]
In February 2023, Cheng's digital asset management company, Damoon Technologies, which allowed fiat money to cashless cryptocurrency transactions and vice-versa, was officially given regulatory approval by FINMA, Switzerland’s financial services watchdog.[24] In August 2023, Anchored Coins, formerly known as Damoon Technologies, issued two fiat-backed stablecoins AEUR and ACHF on two major public blockchains.[26]
