Ricky Wong paid tribute to his loyal employees when he met Joseph Lo

I live on The Peak, I drive a Porsche. In fact, I have three or four cars and my flat is 3,000-something square feet. If you want to call me arrogant, I can't stop you.' That was my introduction to Ricky Wong Wai-kay, the brash young chairman of City Telecom (HK), or CTI, a telecommunications start-up that, arguably, has single-handedly broken Cable & Wireless HKT's monopoly grip on international direct dialling (IDD) in Hong Kong.

Ten minutes earlier, I had been led by Mr Wong's secretary to his office in the depths of CTI's headquarters in Mongkok's New Century Plaza.

As we walked by cubicle after cubicle of worker-bees and through a small trapdoor in the back of a computer room that led to row upon row of more cubicles, I wondered what sort of a man I was about to meet.

A few quick calls to colleagues and competitors in the telecoms industry the day before suggested a Janus-faced personality, with two distinct sides to it.

Budding entrepreneurs and business partners of CTI painted a picture of a genius, worthy of the highest respect for his business acumen. One groupie from Hong Kong's burgeoning technology industry almost fawned over me, believing perhaps that since I had managed to solicit an audience with Mr Wong, it somehow elevated my status as well.

Yet calls to his competitors yielded an altogether different outlook on the man's character - complete with expletives.

I presented Mr Wong with this and a laugh was his reply.