Flowering hopes
Andrew Primrose hasn’t finished his HKUST MBA yet but he’s already set up his own online referral business.
As the outgoing president of the Entrepreneurs Club at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), it is unsurprising that Andrew Primrose already has his own business.
He recently launched refer.me, an online referral platform, with business partner David Beatty. The website aims to help its members receive relevant, quality referrals from trusted local experts and personal connections on anything from bars to health foods to blogs.
Primrose is currently on exchange at New York University as part of his full-time MBA programme at HKUST. He first came to Hong Kong in 2004 after completing his undergraduate degree in English literature and French at Bristol University in the UK and the University of Paris. He started work in HSBC’s offshore department before moving to private banking for about four years.
What prompted you to pursue an MBA?
I have always harboured entrepreneurial ambitions, but I realised that my degree in literature and a few years in banking left a lot of gaps in my knowledge. I certainly didn’t have the skills or experience necessary to run a company. I had to weigh up whether to pursue an MBA or to launch a business venture and “learn by doing”. I couldn’t quite decide.
My calculations priced the two options similarly, as I assumed any new venture was likely to fail after less than two years. I had seen the statistics for start-ups and I knew how slim the chances of being successful were, especially on the first attempt.
In the end I decided that what I learned from an MBA would be more structured, versatile and enduring than the process of launching a business that would probably fail.
Why did you choose HKUST?
Having deciding to do an MBA, I looked at the global rankings and researched where to study. I discounted most of the US schools as the courses are generally two years and the extra costs from a longer course, combined with higher tuition fees and further loss of earnings, meant they were disproportionately expensive. I also wanted to stay working in Asia so US experience would be less relevant.