For nearly 15 years, Danny Leung Hong-hei had plied his trade as a repairman across the housing estates of Kowloon. But, as the 20th century drew to a close and Hong Kong's construction boom turned to bust, sam hong work dried up completely.
Unemployed construction workers flooded the job market and Mr Leung was forced on to a benefit to support his wife and two young children. For five years, the family struggled to survive in their Shek Kip Mei apartment on HK$4,000 a month plus rent allowance.
'I tried to find a job by asking friends to refer me, from previous employers, from newspapers and the labour exchange,' he said. 'But it was very difficult and I had little chance of getting work. I had to do anything I could to earn a living and I tried to sell second-hand VCDs as a hawker in Ap Lui Street. I tried to buy them cheaply from one store and resell them for a small profit.'
But the hawking didn't really come to much and, as the family fell deeper into poverty, Mr Leung resorted to borrowing cash from money lenders at a high rate of interest. Today, he is still struggling to pay off his debts but at least has regular full-time work with Sam Hong Workers' Mutual Aid Engineering company.
The firm is one of more than 180 social enterprises that have sprung up over recent years as Hong Kong turns to new business initiatives in an effort to beat unemployment and tackle pressing social needs. They are turning out products ranging from wheelchairs to eco-friendly soap and providing community-oriented services such as home-help for the elderly, recycling, school tuck shops and pest-control.
The Commission on Poverty, led by Financial Secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen, is promoting social enterprises as a key plank of its drive to alleviate poverty and develop people's self-reliance.