Young HK entrepreneurs make their mark in Beijing

Sitting in his office in Wangjing SOHO in Beijing, 32-year-old Hong Kong-born Tim Lee said that he founded his e-payment startup, Qfpay, to realize his entrepreneurial dream inspired by the story of Microsoft founder Bill Gates he read at university.

Lee came to the Chinese mainland six years ago to work at IBM Beijing as a consultant. He worked there for less than a year and resigned to start up his own business. "I have always dreamed of starting a business of my own. To my great delight, the environment for Internet entrepreneurs on the mainland is much better than in Hong Kong," Lee told China Daily.

Inspired by Square's success story in the US mobile payment, Lee established Qfpay in 2011 to provide mobile payment solutions to merchants. A year later, Lee launched the flagship product "QPOS", the first smart POS with an external PIN-pad.

After graduating from the University of Hong Kong with a bachelor degree in information engineering, Lee first worked at the Hang Seng Bank processing loans to small- and medium-sized enterprises. He later joined IBM Hong Kong.

The market in Hong Kong with 7 million people is too small and rigid, Lee said. What's more, local entrepreneurs are not familiar with the mainstream markets, including the Chinese mainland and the US, he added. "The entrepreneurial ecosystem in Hong Kong is not complete, lacking investors, partners and information," said Lee, adding that investors in Hong Kong are not supportive of Internet startups.

Hong Kong has no shortage of good ideas. But like OpenRice, a food and restaurant guide website that was launched in 1999, most of the ideas aren't properly executed. For example, when a user opens the OpenRice app, a distracting advertisement would pop up automatically.

Lee has devoted himself in Qfpay by launching new services continuously. In 2014, Miaomiao Weidian was developed to help entrepreneurial women create their own micro-stores. The service has acquired over 2 million users within one year.

"We are planning to launch a new app which is a location-based question/answer platform linking people who share similar purchase experience, consumption capacity, interests and tastes. The app is designed to help these subscribers to make better and quicker buying decisions," Lee added. The application is expected to be launched in mid-2015.

The company now has about 180 employees. Apart from its Beijing's office, the company has also established a research and development center in Chengdu, Sichuan province.

However, managing a startup is never plain sailing. The biggest challenge Lee faces is cash flow. There were times when he had to ask his core team to forego their salaries for several months because the company had run out of money.

Lee's advice to young Hong Kong entrepreneurs, who are thinking of starting a business on the mainland, is to find a local partner and learning about the demands of the local people. "Just like me, I found two local partners, one of them has finance background and the other has technology background. Both of them are quite familiar with the preferences and needs of local people," he said.

Recognizing the potential of Internet finance, the Hong Kong government established a Steering Group on Financial Technologies (FinTech) committee earlier this year.

The group, chaired by Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Ceajer Chan Ka-keung, will advise the Financial Secretary on economic and business opportunities provided by developing FinTech and measures needed to promote Hong Kong as a FinTech center.

"Although Hong Kong is a bit late in making such an initiative, it at least shows it is paying attention to this issue," said Lee.

Lee is not the only Hong Kong person to start up a tech business on the mainland.

Sampson Ho is creating a community network where individuals and corporations can share space and services.

Ho once worked at a real estate company in Beijing's siheyuan (traditional courtyard with houses on four sides) for two years.

Lee said the open space and comfortable environment provided by siheyuan was amazing.

"The working environment could affect the efficiency and cohesion of fellow workers. The traditional working environment can inhibit free communication within the work place," Ho said.

Ho founded WorkJam in 2014, which is the biggest co-working space in Beijing. It provides desks, chairs, desk lamps, lockable filing cabinets and book shelves to tenants, who are also welcomed to bring additional or alternate furniture.

Ho said that he aims to build the workplace into a diverse community with tenants from many different fields, including design, art, leisure, technology, finance and law.

"Employees of the different tenants are connected with one another through the community. They can ask each other questions, share stories, announce product launches, invite others to events, promote job listings or simply find someone to chat over a cup of coffee," Ho said.

More than 20 enterprises have rented space in WorkJam at an average rental of 1,500 yuan ($241.5) per person each month. "Due to the sharing space and facilities, including conference room, tea room, front-desk reception, even the gym, the cost to each company can be cut by 25 percent," Ho said. He said that Hong Kong's industries are limited to finance and real estate. "In Beijing you can see many diversified industries. Moreover, famous universities such as Tsinghua University and Peking University, which have nurtured many Internet talents, are located here," he said.

The notion of "Internet Plus", highlighted by Premier Li Keqiang in his government work report, has already become popular among mainland entrepreneurs.

The plan aims to integrate mobile Internet, cloud computing, big data and the Internet of Things with modern manufacturing to encourage the healthy development of e-commerce, industrial networks and Internet banking, while helping Internet companies to raise their international profiles. Preferential policies have been implemented to promote Internet entrepreneurship.

Cyrus Wong, chairman of the Committee of Youth at Hong Kong Professionals' (Beijing) Association, told China Daily that Hong Kong is very small and the local residents are not very keen on online shopping as the convenience stores or shopping malls are not far from their homes. He also noted that the development of the Internet in Hong Kong is slower than on the mainland.

By contrast, the market is huge on the mainland offering abundant opportunities, Wong said. "The reason why the property or finance industries have integrated well with the Internet is because of the strong demand by consumers," he said.

For example, "when you are walking on the main street of Zhongguancun, known as China's Silicon Valley, you can see people talking about getting investment, starting a business and exploring O2O, or online-to-offline, commerce. In Hong Kong, people talk about nothing but property and finance", he said.

Wong said he is very optimistic about the prospect of Internet startups.

"The Hong Kong government should give more support to young people, such as providing them with affordable housing," Wong suggested.

Yuen Man-chung, deputy director of the Office of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in Beijing, said that the traditional industries such as finance and real estate have already provided plenty of jobs for Hong Kong people. The employment pressure is not big, and young people don't see the urgency to starting a new business, he said.

Nevertheless, young people in Hong Kong are encouraged to seize the opportunity to come to the mainland and start a business, Yuen added.

fanfeifei@chinadaily.com.cn