Late bloomers
With his Ivey EMBA, Joe Leung hopes to take his and his sister’s decade-old lingerie business a notch higher.
Joe Leung graduated from what is now the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 1990 and worked for 10 years before setting up Honwest (Esome) International, a lingerie producer, with his sister in 2001.
The business started out as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) making lingerie for overseas brands. A change in direction saw one of these brands acquired in 2008 and the pair opened their first shop in Central the same year.
This was also when Leung decided to enrol on an Executive MBA (EMBA) course at Ivey Asia. He hopes that with the new skills he has acquired, he will be able to grow the business to between 25 and 30 outlets in 2013.
What prompted you to pursue an EMBA?
Although I had always wanted to pursue an MBA or EMBA degree, my frequent travels and increasingly busy work stopped me from doing so. I reached a bottleneck in my career, however, where I found myself stuck in the middle of various business decisions, such as whether to change the nature of my business from OEM to a brand business. It was only then that I realised I really needed professional training in business management to bring my business to the next level.
Why did you choose Ivey?
I researched the various MBA schools in Hong Kong and compared the pros and cons, paying attention to areas such as location, lecture calendars and teaching methods. I liked the fact that Ivey’s case-study method used real business cases to train students to be better decision-makers. There was no need for any theories, just the ability to make smart and quick decisions.
I learned not only from the cases and professors, but also from my classmates, who all had at least 10 years of experience in their respective fields. The beauty of the Ivey case-study method is that everyone brings their own expertise to each issue.
How did you balance the demands of your job and your studies?
The classes were held on two weekends a month, so it didn’t affect my work too much. However I did find it difficult to adjust to being a student again. In less than two months, though, I was okay. I got the balance right very quickly since Ivey’s study-team system helped us a lot.