2022-08-29

Our Students, Our Spirits : Jacky Ma Dahao

Jacky Ma Dahao: I am eager to experience social services work which is totally different from my previous work in the financial industry with a “return and risk’ mindset

Jacky Ma Dahao is a postgraduate student at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, majoring in Financial Mathematics. Eager to experience something different from his previous work in the financial industry with a “return and risk’ mindset, Jacky found GX’s missions of providing international medical and public health humanitarian assistance in the Belt and Road countries and leverages international experiences was very appealing to him. Hence, he joined GX as a summer intern in 2022.

This is his first time working with statistics on people's livelihoods and health in other countries, and has broadened his horizons beyond China to developing countries which he would not learn from his textbooks in the past 10 years. He realised that developing countries are not as backward as we perceived, although there are many significant issues. By studying the updated data and the development of the countries in more comprehensive perspective, GX can build informed, suitable programmes that foster mutual benefit and win-win outcomes for the people of the countries along the routes of The Belt and Road Initiative.

Jacky appreciates the pleasant and harmonious working atmosphere at the office and he is thankful to have friendly and caring colleagues during his internship. He is also impressed by the ‘pioneering’ spirit and ‘people to people’ connectivity at the GX Foundation. In the future, Jacky says he may not pursue his career in public health or humanitarian assistance, but this internship experience will shape his future career planning and entrepreneurial planning to include the value of humanism, empathy, and social care.