When he isn't playing, the classically trained musician brings the same focus and talent to juggling his hectic businesses and personal life.

"When people ask me what do I do, I say I've a part-time job playing in a jazz band, and in my spare time I run my business," the 66-year-old Hong Kong veteran jokes.

Mr Litmaath's zeal for life has led him to be elected chairman of various Hong Kong business and civic organisations. He has won a number of sports competitions -- the last one a pro-am tennis tournament in 1998. And a final gauge of his character came in 1996 when HM Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands bestowed a Knighthood in the Order of Orange-Nassau upon him.

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Above: Mr Litmaath received his Knighthood in the Order of Orange-Nassau in April 1996, at a ceremony accompanied by his wife (right).

The energetic Dutchman arrived in Hong Kong in 1963.

"I was sent out by a well-known Dutch company, Hagemeyer, and I arrived on the first of April -- no joke -- to run a rattan processing plant in the New Territories, next to the Fanling Golf Course," he said.

He was sent out as an assistant manager and after just three months had become manager through a mishap that his predecessor had had. He explained that his predecessor wanted to marry and that in the old days, an expatriate wanting to marry had to ask for permission from head office.

"So one of our directors came out to see who the lucky girl was, and he got approval to marry. But on the day he was leaving Hong Kong on his six-month leave after five years here, he turned up with two kids which he had forgotten to mention. And as a result of that he got a single journey home, and I was the lucky man who became manager after three months," he said.

After working for the firm for five years, he was promoted to export manager of Hagemeyer Far East Ltd., and in that capacity in 1968 joined the Chamber. He also joined the Hong Kong Exporters Association, of which he became chairman in 1974.

"But in 1974, head office wanted to transfer me, which was quite normal. But what was unusual was that they only discovered me after about 11 years," he said. "They didn't tell me where they wanted to transfer me to, so rather than ending up in Papua New Guinea or West Africa, where we had offices, I took things into my own hands and I said no."

He discussed with his wife how long they and their two children could last on their own in the territory, and they reckoned a maximum of six months.

After enjoying a comfortable expat' package for 11 years, Mr Litmaath discovered that paying rent and school fees on his own, plus getting a business up and running made it difficult to make ends meet.

But he had succumbed to the charms of Hong Kong and was determined to make a go of it and stay, and in 1974 he established the trading company Scarfell Enterprises Ltd. with two friends, a Dutchman and a Frenchman who were also his business associates.

"The advice that I always give to young people is that you cannot always do things alone. You always need some help and a basis from which to start," he said.

His prime business was timber imports, followed by exports of flashlights through his Dutch partner to Holland and audio cassettes through the French partner to France.

Six months later business was developing and the fledgling firm even managed to end the year with a small profit. In the ensuing years business grew and so did his participation in the Chamber. He was elected chairman of the Europe Committee in 1978, and led several Chamber overseas trade and goodwill missions to Europe and the Middle East. His active participation led him to become the first "small company man," as he puts it, elected into the General Committee in 1991 and twice re-elected in 1995 and 1999.

Business booms
In the early '80s, Scarfell took a small stake in a local factory manufacturing audio cassettes. And in the mid-80s, Philips approached him to ask if he would be interested in becoming their sub-contractor to produce its brand name audio cassettes, a deal which also developed into video cassettes.

"So I had a terrific deal with them for 10 years or so until the whole business disappeared and was not feasible anymore," he said.

"So my French partner had to look for another line and he went into photo albums and picture frames."

The company was lucky to sign an exclusive arrangement with the then biggest manufacturer of photo albums in the world, Climax, and Scarfell became its exclusive agent for France.

In 1995 competition in the photo album business led to the decline of their share of the market, and so the firm had to look for another main line of business. It has found another niche market, pet products.

"We started about eight years ago on a very modest basis. In the last four to five years we have become very specialised. Last year 60 per cent of our business was in pet products. This year it looks like it will be 70 per cent," he said.

"Why the hell am I going to retire?"
At 66, Mr Litmaath said he has no plans to retire as long as he's still welcomed in his own office.

Cheers! Mr Litmaath (centre) celebrates his re-election as a General Committee member for a third term with fellow GC member Victor Li (left), and Chamber Chairman C C Tung (right) at the Chamber's 1999 Annual General Meeting.

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Mr Litmaath said he feels very strongly that if someone doesn't work in Hong Kong then they had better go.

"The moment you don't have any name card here, a few months later people don't know who you are. So if you want to have a good full life here you'd better work and be active," he said. Moreover, it is a bit sad that I say this, but I know quite a few people in my circles of relatives and friends who retire at 60, go back to where they are from and are gone a few years later out of boredom. They go back to where they are from and there is nothing to do there. The most important thing is to keep busy."

He has grown addicted to the hectic pace of doing business in Hong Kong, and realised how much he loves it during a short stint in Portland, Oregon, in 1985-86.

When Scarfell started out as a representative of an American timber company, he bought a stake in a small business in the state. In January 1985, his partners in Portland wanted to expand sales of Douglas Fir lumber to China, and so he spent one and a half years in the U.S. developing the business plan. He would fly back to Hong Kong every month and spend a week here overseeing his Hong Kong office. But in the summer of '86, his Scarfell shareholders asked him to make a decision.

"The asked me, 'what do you want?' Do you want to keep your office in Hong Kong, or do you want to live in the U.S.?'," he said. "So I had to make a decision. Portland is a good place to live -- nice houses, good schools, nice friends, everything. But it is not a good place for business; not for a Hong Kong bred guy like me. So I decided to return to Hong Kong, and I kept a small office running there.

"What I missed in Oregon was what I call the sense of urgency. If you don't have a sense of urgency then you are not suitable for Hong Kong. And if a Hong Kong guy like me lives there where people have no sense of urgency, then I feel I am not happy in my business life."

So he sold the house that he had bought there, moved back to Hong Kong and found a new flat in Stanley, where he had lived since 1971.

"As I said, I'm so attached to this place that I find it difficult to leave. If I retire, I would have to leave the place. Probably, at the end of the day I will go back to Holland, because I believe Holland is the best place for old people. I'm lucky that my wife and myself are healthy. And also I have three grand children here, and as you know one of the joys of being old is having grandchildren around," he said.

"Life in Hong Kong gives me a kick."

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