Dr Vincent Woo Wing-fai was born in the Shunde municipality of Guangdong Province, China. Having studied in various institutions including Lingnan University in Guangzhou, Dr Woo graduated in 1955 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the Central South China University of Finance and Economics, Wuhan. After graduation, he worked in the Yellow River Irrigation Committee and Planning Committee and was commended many times for outstanding performance. In 1962, he moved to Hong Kong and assisted his elder brother in real estate investment. In 1969, he founded his own business, the Wing Sheung (Holdings) Limited, which specializes in real estate development. In recent years, his business has diversified into stock investment, kindergarten education, and real estate development in mainland China. 

Dr Woo is now Managing Director of Wing Sheung (Holdings) Limited and Million Fair Investment Limited.

Since 1976, Dr Woo has been active in public service, including serving as Director (1976) and Chairman (1982) of Po Leung Kuk. He has been appointed as a member of the Po Leung Kuk Advisory Board since April 1983. Dr Woo had been the Chairman of the Association of Po Leung Kuk Chairmen Limited. In the past three decades, he has been the Chairman of the Hong Kong Juvenile Care Centre and Supervisor of Chan Nam Cheong Memorial School, as well as being a member of several other school boards. 

He has played an important role in providing counselling service to young people in crises.  Dr Woo has made a significant contribution to ‘continuing education’ in a special sense; he has made possible those who would have lost their opportunity of studying because of delinquency and other problems to continue their education by providing scholarships to the prison inmates and the establishment of youth care centres. 

He has also been instrumental in providing financial support to Shunde University on the Mainland. Dr Woo has also spent time and effort in the field of social service in Hong Kong. He was Chairman of the Island Community Chest Walkathon in 1996 and has held the position of honorary chairmanship of a number of ethnic clan associations and the Boy Scout Region Association in Hong Kong. In recognition of his distinguished public and social service, he was awarded MBE in 1984 and BBS in 2012. The Open University of Hong Kong conferred to him the Honorary University Fellowship and Doctor of Business Administration honoris causa in 2001 and 2010 respectively for his contributions to the community.

The HKU SPACE Honorary Fellowship recognises in particular his contributions to lifelong education opportunities for delinquents and young prisoners.