With over 12 years of experience in providing high-level advisory and investment consulting to governments and businesses, Gaston has a wide range of experience and expertise in various industries, from infrastructure to entertainment industry, where he regularly advises businesses on market intelligence and entry analysis, partnerships and alliances, and assisting with regulatory compliance and corporate management.
Born and raised in Malaysia, Gaston has always had an entrepreneurial flair. He began his entrepreneurial journey in 2009 while he was doing his undergraduate studies at the University of Warwick in the UK. He co-founded BeGo, a start-up which provided a one-stop-shop portal that acted as the gateway to the 150,000 international students arriving in the UK every year. The start-up was instant success, and was picked-up for funding by Midven, a leading venture capital firm in the UK through its EALP £8 million funds. It also attracted several investments from public institutions such as the Department of Business Innovation and Skills and the European Regional Development Fund as well as from the private sector and business angels.
In 2012, Gaston led the expansion of the business and ventured into the Chinese market and set up a Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprise (WFOE) branch office in Beijing. After three years in operation, Gaston co-founded LC Venture in 2015 to capture more business opportunities and streamline operations. In that same year, LC Venture made a full acquisition of BeGo, which was rebranded as BeGo Education. BeGo Education currently offers a bespoke education consultancy and lifestyle skill learning for Ultra-High Networth Chinese families.
Under Gaston’s leadership, BeGo Education’s staff had more than doubled and it has registered a significant increase in YoY revenue, expanding to over 15 tier 2 and tier 3 cities across China, serving over 100 High Net Worth (HNW) Chinese families with a combined net worth of RMB 1 billion.
The education brand maintains an excellent profile high-end provider in the UK and across China and works with leading Universities in the UK including Oxbridge, Russell Group and G5. BeGo Education also has very close working associations with leading independent schools in the UK that include Eton, Harrow school, Westminster, Cheltenham Ladies College (CLC), DLD College…etc. Gaston has assembled a team of excellent educators and advisors with experience in the UK and today BeGo Education is a household name among high-net-worth Chinese families who are seeking to explore personalized education plans and has been successfully registered with the relevant trademark and intellectual property authorities in China and the UK.
Gaston is also an excellent chef and an avid wine and art collector, with a sizable collection from pieces by the Shanghai-based Demos Chaing and the notable Australian abstract painter, Charlie Sheard.