ACF Governor, Mrs. Kim Sung Joo, co-chairs the APEC Women’s Leadership Forum in Beijing

Asian Couture Federation Governor Mrs. Kim Sung Joo assumed the position of co-chair at the APEC Women’s Leadership Forum which took place at the Grand Hyatt Beijing on the 20th-22nd of August 2014. Mrs. Kim spoke upon her experience as one of the world’s most prominent female business leaders to fellow female role models from around the globe. This year’s conference, covered topics of business networking, the empowerment of the next-generation of female leaders, and the challenges and opportunities faced by women in the business environment today.

Not only a keen supporter of important issues such as the advancement of female leadership in the work place, Mrs. Kim Sung Joo is also an active Governor of the Asian Couture Federation (ACF), joining us in our efforts to promote and support exceptional design talents on the world stage of fashion. This comes as no surprise as Mrs Kim has been heavily involved in the fashion industry for over 25 years. Since 1990, she has successfully launched and acquired exclusive franchise rights in Korea for several globally renowned brands such as Gucci and other upscale retailers. In 2005, her company, the Sung Joo Group acquired Modern Creation Munich (MCM) Holdings AG and MCM Products GmbH, which now as a result of her leadership operates in 32 countries with 14 directly operated stores and over 270 points of sale worldwide.

As one of the world’s most celebrated businesswomen, Mrs. Kim has been featured in many publications and media broadcasts, including Forbes, BBC, CNN, CNBC and the Financial Times. In a recent feature, The Guardian has once again highlighted Mrs Kim’s integral role in completing one of the most successful corporate turnarounds of the 21st century. Having taken over the floundering brand mired by financial difficulties in 2005, Mrs.Kim breathed new life into MCM, which now commands a far greater presence than it did even in its glory days and has a huge following in the fast growing Asian markets. This, together with the ripening of the European market, will make the company’s vision of an IPO and sales exceeding $1.5 billion within the next three to four years, very achievable.

The ACF looks forward to celebrating more of Mrs. Kim’s achievements in the future.