On the evening of August 24, Robert C. Gay, a former managing director at Bain Capital and holder of a Harvard PhD in business economics, presided over a small ceremony in Hong Kong. It was to inaugurate a local programme which will affect perhaps tens of thousands of citizens over the next decade. The initiative has already changed the economic lives of more than 150,000 people around the world and, over the next 50 years, is set to affect millions.
The event did not aim to attract Hong Kong’s top business leaders and there was no press conference. It focused instead on the opening of the Hong Kong Self-Reliance Center, one of 1,000-plus similar institutions around the world managed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or LDS Church, more popularly known as Mormons.
Gay is now retired from professional life and serves in a leadership role as an “elder” of the LDS Church. He lives in Florida, but came to Hong Kong at the request of the church’s headquarters in Salt Lake City to dedicate the new centre, which is at 118 Gloucester Road in Wanchai. It offers learning, employment and mentoring support. Church members can register to take a personal assessment, after which they receive counselling and training on how to find and interview for jobs, and how to start and grow a business. They also receive instruction to help in being more effective in the workplace. Anyone visiting the centre can also learn personal financial management skills, with the goal of developing economic independence.
The centre is managed by Candy Lau, director of Asia area self-reliance services, who notes the saying, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”
“The purpose of the centre is not about getting a job or an educational loan,” Lau says. “It is about helping people progress and develop the ability, commitment and effort to provide necessities of life for self and family. A deeper understanding and a more thorough application of this principle is key to helping people get out of poverty and establish lives with a stronger foundation.”
In this respect, Caroline Kwok, who works with the centre, mentions the example of a young Hong Kong man (who has asked to be anonymous) who recently graduated from a well-known university. Despite interviewing for many jobs, he was unable to secure employment. But after attending the self-reliance centre in June, he learned about business dress codes, preparing for interviews, and how to make use of his personal network.
“I learned the importance of the connections I have,” he says. “No matter whether people I know are family members, university alumni, or personal friends, they are also connections to potential jobs.” After a week, he felt empowered, more confident, and totally changed. As a result of the skills and training received, he was able to get 12 interviews, more than half of which resulted in firm job offers.