Born in China, Li adopted the English name «Forrest», excited by the perseverance, courage and warmth of the main character of Forrest Gump.

With an MBA from Stanford University and an engineering degree from Jiaotong University in Shanghai, Forrest Li has a brilliant academic background. And he’s inspired by the best. In 2005, while obtaining his MBA, he attended the graduation ceremony of his then girlfriend. Ceremony during which Steve Jobs advises graduates to «stay hungry, stay mad». Inspired, Li created in 2009 with his associates Ye Gang and David Chen, Sea Ltd, Singapore’s largest internet company, often seen as ASEAN’s answer to Tencent and Alibaba.

Nothing was won for the entrepreneur.

Arriving in Singapore at the age of 28, the young man was heavily indebted with a $100,000 student loan, had no bank assets and was earning just enough to rent a room in Singapore. Forrest Li began his career in several world-renowned companies such as Viacom Media Networks or Motorola. While for many, Singapore is a country that attracts millionaires rather than manufactures them, Forrest believes that, conversely the Singaporean community and its authorities have carried it. A natural Singaporean, Forrest Li surrounded himself with local professionals and recent graduates from local universities to build the strong team that made him successful today.

The story began with Garena, at the time a regional video game publisher. 

The company then helps global developers to tailor their games for each market. At the same time, it offers the live broadcast of video game with discussion forums. In 2017, Garena launched its first video game Free Fire, which in 2019 became the most downloaded mobile game in the world. This resounding success opens the doors to the game development market, which is more lucrative and extends its geographical footprint (Garena generates a large part of its revenues in Latin America, Russia and India). In 2015, Forrest Li diversified its activities into e-commerce with Shopee and then into digital payment with SeaMoney. These activities, not yet profitable, remain very promising. Indeed, ASEAN remains a market that is low invested in e-commerce. Shopee is the largest platform in the region by number of orders and Alibaba’s number one competitor. Sea Ltd. also benefits from solid relationships with major Asian players such as Tencent, which has a 25.6% stake in the capital. Since its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange in October 2017, the Sea stock price has jumped 370% and the company now has a market capitalization of $23Bn. Very involved in the world of entrepreneurship, the leader is a member of the board of directors of the Singapore Economic Development Board. He is a director of Shangri-La Asia Ltd, a global hotel group listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. He also serves on the advisory board of the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.

In April 2020, the businessman was named Man of the Year at the 35th Singapore Business Awards (SBA).

A coveted title awarded to him for his desire to improve the lives of consumers and small businesses through technology, notably through a regional program implemented during the pandemic. Forrest Li lives in Singapore with his wife. Li is still the majority shareholder with 25.4% of the company and 38.8% of the voting rights. The young manager is a big football fan and even goes so far as to select one of his favorite players, Cristiano Ronaldo, as the Shopee brand ambassador.