Chasing the Hong Kong dream

Mainland students who've just graduated from Hong Kong universities are not merely going after plum jobs in the SAR, or continuing with their journey to greener pastures.

A growing number have opted to stay on instead, having earned the right of abode as business owners and job creators.

They gather at monthly unions for a meeting of the minds on would-be business startups actively on the lookout for angel investors, partners, potential staff and clients as they brainstorm proposals on the table.

Such a close networking has spawned success stories that inspire late-comers about the possibility of nurturing a business to maturity despite humble beginnings.

Two of them - Wang Tao and Zhang Yunfei, both graduates of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology - have emerged as role models of that entrepreneurial spirit.

Both are already well-known names in the automation industry. Wang's company in Shenzhen makes small and easy-to-use unmanned aerial systems, or drones, while Zhang's enterprise in Zhuhai specializes in manufacturing unmanned surface vehicles for water monitoring purposes in environmental protection.

Charles An Nan, chief executive officer of CardApp Limited, is another shining example. Two years ago, he was a rookie mobile application developer when he attended one such gathering, explaining what he had in mind to offer smart, property-management solutions to residential buildings in Hong Kong.

Two years on, his brainchild, "Cloud-based Interactive Community", has won the Asia Smartphone Apps Contest 2014, the 2014 Hong Kong Information and Communications Technology award, and the China Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition in November 2013.

Given the widespread Internet access and use of smartphones in Hong Kong, An said he saw a niche market linking mobile technology with people's most mundane demands in daily life.

Public transport timetables

After having the app installed in their smartphones, users can settle their electricity, water and property management bills at their fingertips. It only takes them a few clicks to make a booking to visit the clubhouse in their building complex. They can have the timetables for all sorts of public transport in their neighborhood, and receive the latest discounts and coupon offers from shops and restaurants.

An admitted he had learned the importance of being user-friendly from the success of the popular mobile app, WeChat, and Apple products.

He and his team took years navigating the neighborhood of targeted housing estates in Hong Kong, negotiating with owners' corporations, getting the property management company on board, and rounding up nearby shop owners and restaurateurs which, as advertisers, can use the platform as a handy marketing tool.

"The technology threshold in this line of business is not high. But, we haven't run into serious competition yet," said An. He explained that most IT firms are used to doing one-off, short-term projects, and are less keen on investing in a product that involves too many parties and takes plenty of time and patience to work out consumers' concerns and views.

An and his partners started the joint venture in 2011. The start-up was to go through a three-year incubation program in 2013, receiving HK$640,000 in financial support from the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation.

As clients, property-management companies pay An's team HK$200,000 to get the system up and about. For the residents living at the estate, a license fee was fixed at HK$2 a month for each end-user.

"The goal is to attract more shops to join and generate enough revenue from advertising so that individual residents no longer need to pay to use the app," An said.

The company won in 2012 its first client, Metro Harbour View, in Tai Kok Tsui, Kowloon. Another five private housing estates, like Grand Promenade, which consists of five high-rise towers in Sai Wan Ho, have reached preliminary agreements to install the system.

Property-management companies can send notices to residents' smart-phones to inform them of a power outage, suspended water supply or planned maintenance works.

An's company is on track to expand across the border. Its Hong Kong office now hires 11 people, mostly locals who were born in Hong Kong and grew up here, and whose intimate knowledge of local culture and way of life is an asset for marketing and customer services.

The company's research and development department has moved to Shenzhen, and it plans to set up a regional office in Tianjin later this year. An said they are also interested in tapping the markets in Taipei, Singapore and Seoul.

Success stories like An's have helped unleash the entrepreneurial spirit of mainland students, who would like to put their business acumen to the test in Hong Kong, and through running their own businesses, find a better avenue to blend into a society that largely considers them as aliens.

Restaurant startups

The catering business is another popular choice for startup businesses. Coffee shops and restaurants offering spicy food and local specialties from Hunan and Sichuan provinces have sprung up around university campuses in Hong Kong. Some restaurants are hosting weekend gatherings for startups run by mainland students and graduates and, occasionally, speed-dating events.

The term gang piao, as the community of young mainland professionals and graduates in Hong Kong is called, derives from the label bei piao, which refers to people with a fairly good education who move to Beijing in search of opportunities and to establish a foothold in the metropolis.

In Hong Kong, this group of well-educated, young and ambitious mainland students and graduates are bent on becoming big-time achievers. Exchanging ideas and rubbing shoulders with the intelligent and resourceful elite makes it very rewarding for those attending startup gatherings, said Zhang Zhuohua, founder and director of Getmorebizonline - a company that offers online marketing strategies to businesses.

"There's a natural bonding among us, as online posts always go viral telling of the experiences that are familiar to us all - the cultural shock, difficulties in learning Cantonese, renting flats, isolation from the locals," said Peng Ru, who came to Hong Kong in 2007 for a master's degree at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST).

Peng co-founded the social network, Love Gang Piao, which is now a registered non-profit organization in Hong Kong. Last year, the organization introduced a membership card that offers cardholders discounted price offers at restaurants, shops and clinics.

Peng told China Daily he will soon quit his job at a semiconductor company, and start his own mobile-technology company, based on the membership-card model.

"The business will not sustain itself if only mainland students and graduates in Hong Kong are the target users. After all, this group is too narrowly defined and the market potential is limited. The service will be available for locals in Hong Kong and residents in mainland cities too," said Peng.

liyao@chinadaily.com.cn