About our Founder
Merle Hinrich presents a gift to China's former Vice Premier Madame Wu Yi at the Pacific Basin Economic Council AGM (2005) in Hong Kong
Mr. Merle A. Hinrich, Chairman of the Hinrich Foundation, has devoted more than six decades of his life to advancing mutually beneficial and sustainable global trade.
As the founder, former chief executive and executive chairman of Global Sources, he led a media business that drove export trade across Asia’s economies, committed to providing the right information at the right time, in the right format. His trade publications and digital platforms served as essential infomediaries, becoming market-shaping tools that enabled transparent, efficient and trustworthy commerce at scale.
It was a mission that began from the ground up, as he witnessed how trade could catalyze peace and prosperity across communities, companies and countries.
The Nebraska-born publisher arrived in Tokyo, Japan, in 1965, freshly graduated from Thunderbird School of Global Management. He had US$25 and the rest of his possessions in one suitcase. As a sales executive for The Importer, a general trade magazine, he traveled the region, helping exporters and manufacturers promote their products to Western buyers. The job enabled him to build relationships with a range of manufacturers across Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore. Big and small, they represented different industries, and shared aspirations to grow their businesses, care for their families and secure their future.
Merle Hinrich presents a gift to China's former Vice Premier Madame Wu Yi at the Pacific Basin Economic Council AGM (2005) in Hong Kong
He wrote their ad copy and photographed their wares, promoting them to volume buyers across the United States and Europe. That work proved critical to accelerating their growth, opening new markets to them.
It was clear to Mr. Hinrich that, done well, responsibly and equitably, trade could supercharge socio-economic progress, alleviate poverty, spur innovation and bring peace. He saw his role as an intermediary, building contact and trust between manufacturers and merchandizers through strong business-to-business communications.
Under Mr. Hinrich’s leadership, the Global Sources platform became the cornerstone of Asia’s export economy. It covered diverse product categories from electronics and fashion to industrial goods to gifts and toys, enabling export trade to flourish across Korea, Japan, Taiwan, China, the Philippines and India. His efforts empowered countless enterprises, driving Asia’s economic and technological ascent.
Building trust for mutual benefit
Merle A. Hinrich with magazines published by the Asian Sources Media Group in the 1980’s
Mr. Hinrich founded his publishing company Trade Media Limited in Hong Kong, November 1970. He was then 29. Barely two months later, in February 1971, the company launched its flagship monthly magazine, Asian Sources, with the following statement on its cover:
“We believe that the cause for world peace through freedom from want is advanced by the establishment of long-lasting mutually beneficial trade relations.”
Mr. Hinrich never deviated from that mission. Through the 1970s and 1980s, Asian Sources took trade between East Asian and Western economies to a new level. The parent title evolved into sector-specific specialist publications, newsletters and books for decision makers across multiple industries. Covering computing, consumer electronics, hardware, engineering, timepieces and more, it gained a reputation as the undisputed “bible” for trade between global buyers and manufacturers, with its most popular editions coming in at around 850 pages.
As trade tipped into the digital age, Mr. Hinrich and his team turned their attention to helping clients reach ever more global buyers through the Internet. Asian Sources Electronics, for one, featured brands such as Acer and Pioneer, among countless others, turning them into universally recognized household names. The company burgeoned into the Asian Sources Media Group, and in 2000, listed as Global Sources Online Limited (GSOL) on NASDAQ.
Merle A. Hinrich with magazines published by the Asian Sources Media Group in the 1980’s
Shaping trade through e-commerce
As technology advanced, the Asian Sources Media Group steered clients online, setting up their email accounts, constructing their websites, then unifying them on a single platform. Keen to ensure that buyers could easily access all trade websites, Mr. Hinrich designed a relational database; the template for e-commerce as we know it today.
With unmatched foresight into the needs of both Eastern manufacturers and Western buyers, his cross-border platform empowered thousands of verified Asian exporters to connect with global importers, retailers and manufacturers, leading The Economist to dub him “Asia’s e-commerce King” in 1999.
2003 October, Shanghai Global Sources China Sourcing Fair (Fall) interior
He did not stop there. Recognizing that online transactions worked best in tandem with face-to-face meetings, he launched Global Sources’ China Sourcing Fairs. By 2005, the massive fairs dominated the halls of Hong Kong’s AsiaWorld Expo twice a year, welcoming the world’s biggest buyers to meet exhibiting manufacturers from China and East Asia. The events put Hong Kong on the map for trade, and they continue to thrive. By integrating digital platforms with physical marketplaces, Mr. Hinrich pioneered the online-to-offline (O2O) model for sourcing.
After Mr. Hinrich sold his interest in Global Sources in 2017, he channeled his energy into the Hinrich Foundation, which continues the mission to enable better trade around the world.
Our work
The work of the Hinrich Foundation harnesses Mr. Hinrich’s efforts under one organization, affirming his belief that when knowledge steers the helm, prosperity finds safe harbor.
Established in 2012, the Hinrich Foundation has a philanthropic mission to advance mutually beneficial and sustainable global trade – by which we mean global trade that is resilient, inclusive and strategically sound. It is rooted in our steadfast belief that peace and prosperity flourish when trade works for all.
From our base in Singapore, the Foundation delivers timely, actionable insights into trade policy, trends and geopolitics to support trade practitioners, policy makers and academics. It engages with partners to shape better trade practices, conducts research and publishes the Hinrich-IMD Sustainable Trade Index (STI). In 2024, it added hfAI to its raft of resources, to offer readers immediate, verified information about global trade.
Raising leaders for global trade
Merle A. Hinrich speaks with members of the Hinrich Foundation Alumni Association, May 2025
Mr. Hinrich has traditionally funded a spectrum of nonprofit initiatives from wildlife conservation to cultural exhibitions, and is particularly committed to supporting the education of trade leaders. By the 1980s, he had established scholarships for executives at the Asian Sources Media Group, and in 1994, donated the Merle A. Hinrich International Business Information Center to Thunderbird: The American Graduate School of International Management. In 2000, he built the Global Sources Information Centre at China Europe International Business School (CEIBS).
Trade, an ecosystem that is fraught with challenges, calls for skilled hands equipped to manage complexities such as quotas, contracts and logistics. Nevertheless, leaders equipped to identify issues, shape solutions and drive change across borders, are under-provided in developing nations.
To drive profound change in trade, the Foundation believes that educating the next wave of leaders is the most enduring investment we can make. We currently fund scholarships for graduate students keen to improve trade prospects for their communities, companies and countries.
Among our alumni are more than 300 international scholars from 50 cities who have pursued undergraduate and graduate education in trade-related disciplines. They are active across the private sector, government, civil society and academia, many launching their own enterprises in sectors including agriculture, crafts and advanced manufacturing.
Merle A. Hinrich speaks with members of the Hinrich Foundation Alumni Association, May 2025
Mr. Hinrich has traditionally funded a spectrum of nonprofit initiatives from wildlife conservation to cultural exhibitions, and is particularly committed to supporting the education of trade leaders. By the 1980s, he had established scholarships for executives at the Asian Sources Media Group, and in 1994, donated the Merle A. Hinrich International Business Information Center to Thunderbird: The American Graduate School of International Management. In 2000, he built the Global Sources Information Centre at China Europe International Business School (CEIBS).
Trade, an ecosystem that is fraught with challenges, calls for skilled hands equipped to manage complexities such as quotas, contracts and logistics. Nevertheless, leaders equipped to identify issues, shape solutions and drive change across borders, are under-provided in developing nations.
To drive profound change in trade, the Foundation believes that educating the next wave of leaders is the most enduring investment we can make. We currently fund scholarships for graduate students keen to improve trade prospects for their communities, companies and countries.
Among our alumni are more than 300 international scholars from 50 cities who have pursued undergraduate and graduate education in trade-related disciplines. They are active across the private sector, government, civil society and academia, many launching their own enterprises in sectors including agriculture, crafts and advanced manufacturing.
