Ronnie
Cheung

House of Empathy,

Founder and Director

“When there’s a dream, there’s a destination”
- Founder of House of Empathy, Ronnie Cheung

Ronnie Cheung is a 16 year old who aspires to change the world through his passion for social entrepreneurship. At the age of 14, he started this dream by creating House of Empathy, a social enterprise missioned to eradicate ethnic minority poverty. As an ethnic majority in Hong Kong, where does the motivation to eradicate the ethnic minority poverty come from? Growing up, Ronnie loved playing various sports and meeting new people. Playing in the Hong Kong soccer league, Ronnie was fortunate to meet young impoverished ethnic minorities. As they got close, they shared visions of their futures; but one difference stood out. Ronnie shared his aspirations to become a social entrepreneur who can leave his legacy for the next generation, whereas his friends talked about low waged positions such as waiters or construction workers. He realised that his friends could not envision a future without associating with low-wage positions due to a lack of career vision and opportunity. He believes that “the problem does not lie in the nature of these jobs but in the absence of role models who can demonstrate what they can become. Even though we are all seeds in the same garden, with equal potential to sprout into beautiful flowers, some have less resources to blossom.”

Therefore, he founded House of Empathy, an online platform that can connect different walks of life together. Whilst young ethnic minorities are challenged due to a lack of career choices, many successful leaders, CEOs, and entrepreneurs are willing to pass on their knowledge and experiences. This platform will become a leverage through hosting online CEO talks, character development lessons, internship opportunities, and other opportunities that expand career vision and ignite motivation. By 2030, Ronnie aspires to impact 10,000+ ethnic minority youths globally. Through this, Ronnie was fortunate enough to work with different local organisations and global enterprises; for example, speaking on the Social Enterprise World Forum 2022 to inspire youth social entrepreneurship with House of Empathy’s “ACCELERATE blueprint”. 

To further his passions for leadership, Ronnie has attended international leadership conferences like ACAMIS, taken on leadership roles such as head boy, wellbeing ambassador, and sports captain. At the age of 11, he attended the Leaders to Leaders conference where he had the opportunity to speak with entrepreneurs like Gavin Armstrong and Chebet Lesan. Being the youngest at the conference, he was interviewed for a book called Learning From the World, in which he stated, “I want to help people when I grow up. The most important action I learned from the leaders is to think big, start small. My dream is to inspire people to change the world.” Today, not only does Ronnie hope to make a positive impact on the world, but to also make that 11 year old boy, who dreams to change the world proud.