From selling groceries in Santo Domingo to CapitaLand in Singapore, Miguel Ko has had a remarkable journey to the top IT was a love affair that started in 1979.

And even though he left hospitality per se in 2012, after departing from Starwood, Miguel Ko always kept his ties with the industry.

The recipient of the HICAP Lifetime Achievement Award 2021 speaks to Yeoh Siew Hoon about his journey that took him from Swatow to Singapore, via Hong Kong, Santo Domingo and the US and his take on hospitality, technology, real estate and, of course, people.

He may have lost his voice for about six months in 2019 when he was being treated for Stage 3 cancer, but his voice still rings as true and clear as it did when I last interviewed him in 2004 when he was president Asia Pacific of Starwood.

Then, at the height of Starwood’s glorious days in the region, Miguel Ko told me, “I love Asia, I love Singapore, I love the hotel business.”

Seventeen years later and now chairman of CapitaLand and deputy chairman of CLA Real Estate Holdings (Ascendas-Singbridge) since April, Ko’s still living out his love for Asia, Singapore and his voice as a leader, hotelier and human remains true to him – if anything, it’s even more resolute and defined, given his personal battle with cancer.

“I feel like a new man, like I’ve been given a new life, I am very appreciative,” said Ko who was born in Swatow, China, and moved to Hong Kong with his parents when he was five years old.

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