The ability to understand the business climate of individual markets and their particular cultural nuances have contributed to the success of ambitious entrepreneur John McLennan in the home furnishings business.
At the point when he was heading off to study architecture at university, Mr McLennan was led by fate to Asia 20 years ago and has ended up running his own home furnishings business in Hong Kong, working with interior designers instead of architects.
A native of Vancouver, Canada, Mr McLennan went to Taiwan in 1987 and worked for a company manufacturing children's furniture. In 1990, he moved to Hong Kong and has charted a successful career in the design, production and retail of home products.
'I have always had a bit of an entrepreneurial background,' said Mr McLennan, managing director of Indigo Living, a local home furnishings retail company with six outlets in Hong Kong. 'I had worked for smaller companies to help them run their overseas offices, and had helped some interior design companies from the United States start their overseas offices in Asia.'
His entrepreneurial ambitions started to take shape when he joined Banyan Tree in 2002, the home furnishings retail business arm of Tai Ping Carpets, a local company specialising in carpets and rugs. He was given the responsibility of running the rental, furniture leasing and project side of the business and, within a short stint, his exceptional calibre and performance landed him the position of managing director of Option Home Furnishings, a subsidiary of Banyan Tree.
'When the company started to expand, I could see more opportunities surfacing so I approached Tai Ping's management to state my plan, which was to expand the business not only in Hong Kong, but to take it overseas,' he said.
The carpet company preferred to focus on its core business of carpets and rugs, but his enthusiasm for the home furnishings business and his entrepreneurial spirit greatly impressed the company, which offered him an irresistible proposition to take over the whole home furnishings retail business.