Jessica Tam has a lot on her plate as head of Social Enterprise Business Centre, a platform for social change in Hong Kong, having established Hong Kong’s Pay for Success (PFS) project, an initiative where investors see returns on their investment paid by the government if their scheme is a success.

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Commissioned by Oxfam Hong Kong’s social innovation and entrepreneurship development fund in September 2020, the PFS project helps kindergarten students to learn Cantonese and other skills. Tam has also successfully campaigned for the government to introduce the Care Food Campaign, which over the next two years will funnel HK$300 million towards goals oriented around Hong Kong’s elderly population. This will include serving 3,000 people at home, issuing 1,000 community care service vouchers, and an additional HK$75 million going towards providing soft meals to elderly people with swallowing difficulties.

Tam’s altruistic spirit is inherited from her father, Simon Tam, a former curtain-maker who fell victim to mental illness. After his recovery, he decided to turn his focus to helping others with mental health issues. “My father was actively involved in voluntary work until he passed away ten years ago. The work I have done in the past ten years has always been to fulfil my father’s last wish. I hope my efforts make him proud.”

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