A self-made entrepreneur and lifelong martial artist, Chatri Sityodtong is on a mission to unleash greatness in the world through the power of martial arts. Driven by his years of suffering in poverty, Chatri has dedicated his life to inspiring greatness in everyone and to fighting the injustices of poverty and inequality around the world.
He strongly believes that all human beings are created equally and that everyone deserves fair opportunities to pursue his/her dreams in life.
Philanthropy has always been a big part of Chatri’s life and is something close to his heart. His main area of focus is helping underprivileged kids, troubled youths, and terminally-ill children. When Chatri was 13 years old, his mother forced him to work on weekends as a volunteer in Klong Toey Slum, one of Bangkok’s most impoverished slums. He hates to admit it, but he was initially reluctant to do it. In the end though, it changed Chatri’s perspective on life. Apart from his own experience surviving in poverty years later, it is one of the reasons why Chatri is a big believer in charity. To read the childhood story of Chatri’s experience in Klong Toey Slum and how it changed his life, please click here.
Today, he personally donates a meaningful amount of his time, money, and resources to organizations such as Global Citizen, Children’s Cancer Foundation, Singapore Children’s Society, Boys Town Home, MINDS, and other charities.
Chatri Sityodtong is a self-made entrepreneur and lifelong martial artist from Thailand. His rags-to-riches life story has inspired millions around the world on BBC News, CNN, Financial Times, Bloomberg TV, CNBC, and other major media.
He is the Founder and CEO of ONE, Asia’s largest global sports media platform with a worldwide broadcast to 179 countries. According to Nielsen, ONE ranks amongst the world’s top 10 biggest sports media properties (alongside NBA, Champions League, EPL, F1, etc) in terms of viewership and engagement. Through its marquee sports properties (ONE Championship and ONE Esports) and its passionate millennial community, ONE is a celebration of Asia’s greatest cultural phenomena, Martial Arts and Gaming, and the deep-rooted Asian values of integrity, humility, honor, respect, courage, discipline, and compassion. ONE is on a mission to unleash real-life superheroes, tell stories, celebrate values, ignite dreams, inspire nations, and change the world.
Sityodtong is also the star of the first-ever global edition of The Apprentice, the award-winning reality TV series on Netflix. Sityodtong was named “Asia’s King of Martial Arts” by the Financial Times and the 2nd Most Powerful Person in Sports in Asia by FOX Sports. Sityodtong was also recently selected as one of Asia’s Top 100 Business Leaders by Business Insider. He has been featured as the cover story for magazines such as Inc, Esquire, Playboy, Wealth, Tatler, The Peak, MillionaireAsia, CEO, Black Belt, and more.
A motivational speaker and guest lecturer, Sityodtong is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at INSEAD, Europe’s top business school. Sityodtong is a perennial keynote speaker and panelist at the world’s top economic and business conferences such as the World Economic Forum, Forbes Global CEO Conference, Milken Institute, YPO Edge, Cannes Lions, Forbes Next Tycoons Conference, Asian Leadership Conference, and others. He has also given motivational business talks at Fortune 500 companies such as Citigroup, Bloomberg, Fidelity Investments, UBS, Oracle, Dentsu Aegis Network, etc as well as at institutions such as Harvard Business School, INSEAD, Singapore Management University, Vienna University of Technology, and others.
Sityodtong is also very active in philanthropy at both the global and local levels. He donates a meaningful amount of his time, money, and resources to Boys Town Home (Singapore’s home for orphans and troubled kids), Singapore Children’s Society (an organization focused on helping underprivileged children), and Children’s Cancer Foundation (a charity dedicated to helping children with cancer). On the global stage, ONE plays an active role with Global Citizen, a global social action platform aimed at solving the world’s biggest issues like poverty, gender inequality, education inequality, and much more.
Inducted into the Black Belt Hall of Fame (Class of 2019) alongside legendary martial artists such as Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Demetrious Johnson, Georges St Pierre, and many others, Sityodtong has over 35+ years of martial arts experience as a student, a fighter, a teacher, and a coach. Sityodtong is a certified senior Muay Thai instructor under the legendary Kru Yodtong Senanan. He also holds a Brown Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Master Renzo Gracie.
Chatri Sityodtong holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Tufts University.