Success did not happen overnight for Vincent Chow, CEO of En-trak, a platform that provides smart energy and lighting solutions. His first foray into the start-up world – installing solar panels in schools and other buildings – did not take off as he had hoped. But Chow was not deterred from trying again.
“Start-ups are able to experiment with things, move fast and fail, and then go to another round if they like,” he said. His tenacity paid off, and En-trak’s award-winning products are now used by more than 250 corporate clients in four countries. 

Chow was speaking at the Chamber’s Flying Start Forum on 11 May. This event – the Chamber’s third annual entrepreneur forum – was jointly presented by HKCSI and YEC and gave members an insight into the path to success of some established start-ups and social enterprises.

In the first panel session, Chow was joined by speakers from two other rising start-ups. Ray Chan, CEO and Co-founder of online humour platform 9GAG, described his journey of turning a side project into a full-time business. 

He explained that the company had encountered difficulties in obtaining funding in Hong Kong, so they turned to Silicon Valley. They met with major venture capital firms including 500 Startups and Y Combinator, participated in seed accelerator programmes and obtained the necessary funding. They were also able to learn a lot from these venture capitalists, and from the more experienced start-ups in the region.  

“If we really want to learn the most, why don’t we learn from the best?” said Chan. 

9GAG has a “just for fun” attitude, and users can share interesting and amusing content on the online platform and through social media networks. According to 9GAG, hundreds of millions of online users visit them and give them likes via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Jacky Cheung was not an obvious candidate to take the risk of joining a new business, as he had a comfortable career with a multinational financial institution and a young family. But having seen the huge success of Li Ka-shing after moving from manufacturing into real estate, Cheung hoped that a new direction would also work out for him. 

Cheung quit his job and joined Qupital, where he is now President. He made the move as he hoped to be a pioneer in the fintech sector, and also because he anticipated that working at a start-up would be more rewarding in the long term. 

Qupital addresses the critical cash-flow bottleneck that most SMEs face by turning their receivables into cash quickly through matching with institutional funding. Its approval rate of 90% is much higher than the industry average of 50%. 

The three speakers agreed that Hong Kong, despite having room for improvement with regard to entrepreneurship culture and development, possesses a lot of advantages such as the low and simple tax regime, free market as well as easy access to capital. And entrepreneurial success depends on actions, attitudes and practice, they said. 

In the second panel session, speakers discussed how social platforms can address pressing community issues by capitalizing on innovation and the sharing economy. 

Teach4HK enlists outstanding university graduates to serve in Band 3 secondary schools with underprivileged students through a one-year teaching fellowship programme funded by corporate partners. Arnold Chan, Founder and CEO of Teach4HK, said that the company was unlike traditional CSR programmes that focus on providing financial support and improving academic performance. The aim of Teach4HK is to have a wider impact by enabling all children in Hong Kong to have equal access to quality education. 

Dodo Cheng, Founder of Sharing Kitchen HK, started his social venture two years ago. It recruits grassroots women, such as middle-aged housewives, and matches them with the idle commercial kitchens of restaurants during non-peak hours to prepare food and drinks which can be sold to the restaurant customers. Cheng has calculated that the unused capacity of commercial kitchens in Hong Kong amounts to 9.5 million hours each year, and that the number of community home cooks looking for such opportunities is substantial. Therefore, there is huge potential for his business.

Rooftop Republic is another example of making use of idle resources for community benefits, turning the rooftops of city buildings into productive farms and gardens. Andrew Tsui, Co-Founder of the start-up, knew virtually nothing about farming when he started, but he and his teammates have now built 50 urban farm projects in Hong Kong and the Mainland. As well as making good use of these spaces, the urban farming movement also aims to transform the relationship people have with their food, Tsui said. Rooftop Republic was awarded the Most Outstanding Social Enterprise (Meritorious) and Most Innovative Social Enterprise at the Social Enterprise Awards 2017 Hong Kong.

Recognising the relatively limited resources being put into elderly services, and the imbalance between the public and private healthcare systems, Wilson Fung founded DoctorNow Needs in 2016. It offers elderly people online booking and video medical consultations using a mobile app, medicine delivery services and specialty service referral at affordable prices. The sharing platform uses technology to match doctors in the community with older people living at home and in elderly centres. Fung said that their services have helped save the healthcare system about $10 million by reducing pressure on emergency departments and hospitals. 

A cocktail reception after the panel sessions gave members the opportunity to exchange views with these new entrepreneurs. Five other start-ups and social enterprises – Accelerate HK Coding Bootcamps, CiSystem Solutions Company, Ledo Media Technology Co, OnTheList and Time Auction – also gave a brief introduction of their business models at the start of the networking cocktails.