Belinda Wong aims to double Starbucks's stores in China in four years but still finds time for her four dogs and a balanced lifestyle
“What we want to do is cultivate the simple act of kindness,” says Starbucks’s China CEO Belinda Wong
Image: Aska Liu (2)
Starbucks’s stock price hit a rough patch at the end of January after earnings disappointed investors. A silver lining was business in Asia, particularly China, where combined sales rose by 18 percent in the latest quarter to $771 million; profit leaped 29 percent to $163 million.
Starbucks doesn’t break down its China business, but the country has more than 2,500 stores—about 10 percent of Starbucks’ global total—and is a key growth market. Leading the charge is Hong Kong native Belinda Wong.
She will oversee Starbucks’s plans to double in scale to 5,000 in 200 cities in the country by 2021.
Wong was promoted to country CEO from president last October after 16 years with Starbucks, the last five of which she’s spent overseeing the opening of almost 2,000 stores, spearheading Starbucks’s torrid growth.
Unlike many stressed-out executives on the mainland whose success comes in part from maintaining a feverish work pace, soft-spoken Wong takes the weekends off, finds balance from her Christian faith, enjoys raising four previously stray dogs at home and reads up on animal welfare.
(This story appears in the 14 April, 2017 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)