From photojournalism ambitions to property, Josh Hu took an unexpected route into the family business

AW & Sons’ Josh Hu once wanted to be a photojournalist. Today, he channels that creative instinct into property projects shaped by their location rather than a fixed formula.

Josh Hu, managing director of AW & Sons Capital, has built a portfolio spanning lifestyle spaces, boutique hotels and, most recently, co-living. (Photo: CNA/Kelvin Chia)

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There is something mildly amusing about being a third-generation heir but having people mistake you for a professional manager. Josh Hu, 44, experiences this all the time. The most likely reason? His surname.

“Hu” is the Hanyu Pinyin form of “Aw”, the surname under which his family is better known. Hu was born during Singapore’s early-1980s push to adopt Hanyu Pinyin names, an initiative that was later rolled back. The result has given him a convenient way to obscure the family connection rather than announce it. And he rather likes it that way.

The Aw family is notoriously media shy. Hu himself, though friendly and perfectly happy to discuss his latest project – Mber, a hybrid of co-living rooms and serviced apartments – remains reserved.

You get the sense that you are being given precisely as much of the family story as he has decided you need. There is a wall, and it’s a well-built one.

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