Hong Kong needs its entrepreneurs to regain an appetite for risk

Hong Kong’s success has always been in its openness to opportunity and willingness to try new things. This “can-do” spirit may now seem a bit canned in expression, but the truth of it remains – Hong Kong cannot afford to lose its appetite for risk. It was what made us a cultural icon in the 1980s and 1990s when Hong Kong film, music and media fearlessly pushed the boundaries. During the height of Cantopop, it was common to hear localised, Cantonese versions of Japanese and American billboard hits on the radio, signalling an industry impatient to keep up with the rest of the world. Hong Kong’s cinema golden age was ushered in by a generation of worldly young filmmakers who had an ambition to elevate Hong Kong movies above regional, even global competitors. A fundamental discomfort with the status quo permeated the city, which turned into a soft power that cemented Hong Kong’s position as the cultural capital of Asia. Hong Kong has always been a city defined by an entrepreneurial spirit. Reinvention is part of our DNA, as we levelled up from a fishing village to a manufacturing and export hub, to becoming Asia’s financial capital. We have a robust history of innovation that doesn’t get talked about enough. For instance, the ubiquitous Octopus card, launched in 1997, was a pioneer in contactless smart card payment. For a small city of just 6.5 million at the time to have been that far ahead of the rest of the globe deserved a pat on the back. But somewhere along the line, we learned to settle for the things we have. We got comfortable with the things we had achieved. We became more insular. A 2018 survey by KPMG and Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund (Alibaba is the owner of the South China Morning Post) suggested that our young entrepreneurs had become more conservative in their business ambitions, preferring to focus on domestic rather than global markets. In recent years, we see the slow retail growth in Hong Kong as a result of increased northbound travel and high rents, as a newly energised Shenzhen provides a more diverse, exciting and modern retail landscape. Barring a few bright spots such as the hit film Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In, which has been selected as Hong Kong’s entry in next year’s Oscars race, our cultural exports have slowed to a near halt. Whether it’s our former glories giving rise to a false sense of security, or a gradual erosion in the entrepreneurial spirit that made us who we are, it’s no exaggeration to say we are in a time of stagnation. This is especially worrying when remaining open to new influences and rekindling our entrepreneurial spirit have never been more critical to the growth of our city. During his recent visit to Britain, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po emphasised the importance of Hong Kong’s openness to innovation and enhanced cooperation with the rest of the world – stating that Hong Kong “will never be just another Chinese city”. For this not to be an empty promise, we must do better to remain true to who we are – a creative, cosmopolitan, multicultural city that is open to opportunities and different ways of doing things. Recent news of Dr Adrian Cheng Chi-kong’s resignation as CEO of New World Development after its poor financial performance may have left a bitter taste. As head of a publicly held corporation, he is accountable to his board and shareholders. But what this cannot afford to become is a cautionary tale for having a bold vision and an appetite for risk, an “I told you so” from short-sighted people driven only by securing quarterly shareholder value. We must not forget the sense of cosmopolitan relevance a Louis Vuitton runway show on the Avenue of Stars injected into our city or how the K11 art and cultural district brought the world to Tsim Sha Tsui. We need more visionaries who align their long-term corporate success with the success of the city, and follow that up with culture-defining moments that put Hong Kong back on the map. Hong Kong’s future lies in how much we are able to recapture the magic of what made us who we are, without getting too caught up in the past. Our entrepreneurial history and identity proves we are capable of reinvention. Let’s usher in an era where we are back in touch with a sense of open-mindedness and zest for opportunities, despite the risks; an era where we see culture and creativity as a driving force for commerce and the economy; an era where we are fearless and impatient to compete with the rest of the world. The good news is that change is under way. In the KPMG-Alibaba survey, 87 per cent of its student respondents cited a desire to advance their community’s development as a main reason to innovate and start their own ventures. This is a huge reason for optimism for our city; that the next generation of our economy is being led by those with a strong sense of purpose and connection to Hong Kong and its development. All we need is to remember that it’s never enough to settle for the short-term successes that merely keep up the status quo. We owe it to ourselves and our city to think big, take risks and hold ourselves to a higher standard – and take our hats off to those who do.

Hong Kong needs its entrepreneurs to regain an appetite for risk

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}We owe it to ourselves and our city to think big, take risks and hold ourselves to a higher standard – and take our hats off to those who do

We owe it to ourselves and our city to think big, take risks and hold ourselves to a higher standard – and take our hats off to those who do