Innovation is the way forward for young, says entrepreneur Rex Sham
Entrepreneur Rex Sham understands why young people are so angry. But don't look to politicians for a solution, he says, look to your career path
Q: Why is Hong Kong particularly suitable as a place to launch a business?
A: The city helps innovators through its independent legal system, fast internet network and container ports
As a child, entrepreneur Rex Sham Pui-sum was among the minority of his peers who ate dinner with family every night, but one topic of conversation never entered the mealtime chats.
While academic results, future careers and the stock market were common talking points at the table, politics was not on the menu, recalls Sham, founder of Insight Robotics, a Hong Kong-based start-up that develops software for robots to monitor and detect wildfires.
"When I was growing up, I was lucky that my parents were civil servants so they could come back home in time for dinner," says the 30-year-old tech founder. "Throughout the 15 years that we dined together, we never talked about politics."
It has only been in the months since the start of last year's Occupy protests for greater democracy that political debate has been pushed onto the agenda at the city's dinner tables, Sham says.
"After the Occupy Central movement we talked about [politics], it's really good that the whole society starts to know that politics is a part of our lives."