Michael Lee-Chin Richest Black Man in Jamaica
Who Is The Richest Black Man in Jamaica ?
Richest Black Man in Jamaica – Michael Lee-Chin, OJ, OOnt, as the Richest Black Man in Jamaica is a Jamaican-Canadian billionaire businessman, and philanthropist and the chairman and CEO of Portland Holdings Inc, a privately held investment company in Ontario, Canada. Lee-Chin was appointed to the Order of Ontario in 2017.
In 2016, Lee-Chin was appointed chairman of the government of Jamaica’s Economic Growth Council (EGC)
Lee-Chin has made several large pledges and/or donations in Canada to the Royal Ontario Museum in 2003, the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, McMaster University and the Joseph Brant Hospital Foundation. Lee-Chin served as chancellor of Wilfrid Laurier University.
Why is Michael Lee-Chin famous?
Michael Lee-Chin is best known as a business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is the founder and Chairman of Portland Holdings Inc., a privately held investment company which owns a collection of diversified operating companies in media, tourism, health care, telecommunications, and financial services.
Where is Michael Lee-Chin from?
Michael Lee-Chin was born 3 January 1951 in Port Antonio, Jamaica. He is the son of Black and Chinese-Jamaican parents Aston Lee and Hyacinth Gloria Chen. When he was seven, Lee-Chin’s mother married Vincent Chen, who had a son from a previous relationship.
Are there Chinese in Jamaica?
The Chinese-Jamaican community remains prominent. In 1970, there were still 11,710 Chinese living in Jamaica. The community remains strong and they continue to celebrate traditional Chinese holidays, such as the Harvest Moon and Chinese New Year.
Michael Lee-Chin Biography : Net worth and Lifestyle
Michael Lee-Chin Profile summary
Full name: Michael Lee-Chin
Nationality: Jamaican-Canadian
Born: January 3, 1951 (age 70 years), Port Antonio, Jamaica
Spouse: Vera Lee-Chin (m. 1974)
Net worth: 1.6 billion USD (2021) Forbes
Partner: Sonya Hamilton
Children: Adrian Lee-Chin, Paul Lee-Chin, Elizabeth Lee-Chin, Maria Lee-Chin, Michael Lee-Chin Jr.
Parents: Hyacinth Gloria Chen, Aston Lee
Michael Lee-Chin Biography
Lee-Chin was born in Port Antonio, Jamaica, in 1951 to Aston Lee and Hyacinth Gloria Chen. Both his parents were biracial African and Chinese-Jamaican. When Lee-Chin was aged seven, his mother married Vincent Chen, who had a son from a previous relationship, and the couple had a further seven children together, six boys and one girl. Lee-Chin’s mother sold Avon products and worked as a bookkeeper for various local firms, while his stepfather ran a local grocery store.
He attended the local high school, Titchfield High, between 1962 and 1969
Michael Lee-Chin Career Life
In 1965, Lee-Chin’s first job came working as part of the landscaping team at the Frenchman’s Cove Hotel. The next year, he got a summer job working on the Jamaica Queen cruise ship, cleaning the engine room.
In 1970, he went to Canada on a scholarship program sponsored by the Jamaican government to study Civil Engineering at McMaster University,and graduated in 1974. He financed his first year at university on his own but after that was able to attend on scholarship.
After graduating from McMaster, Lee-Chin worked briefly as a road engineer for the Jamaican government, but unable to find work in his qualified field (and allegedly, because his Canadian wife did not like living in Jamaica), he returned to Canada where he began graduate studies in business. At first he worked as a bouncer, but later found employment as a financial advisor for Investors Group.
Lee-Chin spent two years at the Investors Group, in the Hamilton, Ontario office and in 1979, moved to Regal Capital Planners and became regional manager. While at the company, in 1983, he secured a loan from the Continental Bank of Canada for C$500,000 to purchase a stake in Mackenzie Financial Group and formed Kicks Athletics with Andrew Gayle. By 1987, the investment was worth C$3.5 million.
In 1987, Lee-Chin took the proceeds from his Mackenzie investment to buy a Kitchener-based company called the Advantage Investment Council (a division of AIC Limited) for $200,000. At the time, the company had holdings of around C$800,000. He renamed the company AIC, and developed it to a fund that today controls around C$6 billion, with hundreds of thousands of investors. Following the acquisition of AIC Limited, Lee-Chin set up the Berkshire group of companies, comprising an investment planning arm, a securities dealership and an insurance operation. By 2007, Berkshire had amassed more than C$12 billion of assets under administration. In 2007, Manulife acquired Berkshire from Portland Holdings in exchange for shares, making Portland one of the largest shareholders of Manulife.
In 2009, Lee-Chin sold AIC Limited to Manulife for an undisclosed amount. The following year, Manulife rebranded the heritage AIC funds and eliminated the AIC name from the mutual fund line-up.
In addition to being the founder and Chairman of Portland Holdings Inc., Mr. Lee-Chin is Chairman and Director of Mandeville Holdings Inc. and Executive Chairman, CEO, and Portfolio Manager of Portland Investment Counsel Inc.
Michael Lee-Chin Net Worth 2021
Michael Lee-Chin is currently one of the richest men in Jamaica, with an estimated net worth of $1.6 billion USD.
Where is Michael Lee-Chin now?
Lee–Chin now lives with Sonya Hamilton, with whom he has fraternal-twin daughters, Elizabeth and Maria, in Burlington, Ontario.
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