Mr. Michael Lee-Chin is a billionaire business mogul, investor and philanthropist.   He is the founder and Chairman of Portland Holding, Inc., a privately-held investment company that owns a number of businesses in industries that are as diverse as media, health-care, tourism and financial services.   He is also the Executive Chairman of the Canadian mutual fund, AIC Limited, and the National Commercial Bank of Jamaica. 

10 Facts About Michael Lee-Chin

1.  He was born in 1951. 

2.  He started investing at age 32 and used the proceeds to acquire AIC Limited, which he grew from $1 million in assets to $15 billion.   

3.  He worked briefly as a road engineer for the Jamaican government before moving to Canada.

4.  While in Canada, Mr. Lee-Chin worked as a bouncer and later as a financial advisor for Investors Group. 

5.  He borrowed C$500,000 to purchase a stake in Mackenzie Financial Group turned it into a C$3.5 million investment.

6.  He took the proceeds from his Mackenzie investment and bought Advantage Investment Council (a division of AIC Limited) for $200,000.   

7.  He grew Advantage Investment Council's investments from C$800,000 to C$6 billion. 

8.  In 2009, he sold AIC Limited to Manulife for an undisclosed amount.  As a result of that acquisition, Manulife Securities managed around C$13 billion in Canadian mutual fund assets. 

9.  While at Investors Group, Mr. Lee-Chin studied and mastered the investment strategies of successful investors like Warren Buffett, Benjamin Graham and Kenneth Thomson.  He adopted and applied their general investing strategy of “buy, hold & proper” in his own business transactions.

10.   Mr. Lee-Chin's life is a lesson in the power of getting started (remember … he didn't start investing until age 32) in studying and adopting the habits of industry giants. 

To learn more about Mr. Lee-Chin, visit his wiki page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Lee-Chin.

Staff Blogger 

Need help using social media to attract more business? Click here.