He rewatched a commencement speech for months to find the courage to start. Seventeen years on, he still runs what he built.

Forrest Li founded Garena in Singapore in 2009 with his own money and help from family and friends. Renamed Sea and listed in New York in 2017, it runs Shopee, Monee and Garena, and reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of US$7.8 billion, up 48.1%. Since April 2025 he has also been president of the Football Association of Singapore.