Xpeng’s CEO He Xiaopeng is among three corporate founders who have been shortlisted as finalists in the 2025 Business Awards organised by SCMP Live, in a reimagination of a series of accolades first introduced in 1990.
A total of 43 nominations were received for the awards in six categories, honouring the most noteworthy business owner, corporate executive, company, small-and-medium-sized enterprise (SME), start-ups and the best globalised brand. A discretionary award honouring lifetime achievement did not receive any nominations.
Nominations were submitted by industry peers, and the winners picked by a panel of 11 judges by secret ballot, comprising seven permanent judges and four rotating judges invited from among the previous winners of the DHL-SCMP Hong Kong Business Awards, which have ceased since 2024. The winners will be announced during an award ceremony on December 12 in Hong Kong.
“Nominations came from many companies across a wide variety of industries, reflecting how Hong Kong’s business landscape has broadened and diversified,” said Eugene Tang, the Post’s Managing Editor (Business & Projects) and the chair of the panel of judges.
The nomination papers, comprising financial statements and other support documents lodged with the awards’ website, were first normalised by Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), which serves as the knowledge partner, led by CIMA Council member William Chen. The papers were normalised into mutually comparable data sets, graded and submitted to the panel of judges for their votes.
The Business Owner of the Year award honours “exceptional crisis management, financial stewardship and corporate responsibility”. In addition to Xpeng’s He, the other two finalists in this category were Nataliya Mykhaylova, the founder of the emissions monitoring service WeavAir Limited, and Ann Cooley, the founder of the multi-family office Pacific Hawk Group.
