Hard-earned win helps firm through year of challenges

Past recipient of award is impressed by the can-do spirit and resilience of Hong Kong businesses For Donald Hay, president and chief executive of international brushware manufacturer Hayco, receiving last year's Owner-Operator Award was a great honour and a pivotal moment in the history of the company, one that has helped to ensure its continuing success, especially in the wake of the Sars setback. 'Everyone here at Hayco was immensely proud at being nominated for the DHL/SCMP Business Award last year,' says Mr Hay, who is one of the adjudicators in this year's awards. 'However, this achievement would not have been possible without the dedication and commitment of all Hayco staff. This prestigious award was both an acknowledgement and a reward, as deserved by everyone involved in our organisation.' He describes winning the award last year as a positive experience for the company, especially in helping in the recruitment of good staff. 'Our business and products are pretty mundane, there's no sex appeal - it's not fashion or electronics, although we do make electrical products - so the prestige associated with the award went a long way to raising our profile in the wider community as an employer.' He says the high-technology nature of the firm is not conveyed in its day-to-day image. 'Our customers, however, do view us as hi-tech. We have a lot of fabulous equipment and electronic programmes, including our 3D design platform, and a CNC-laser model-making machine, which is probably one of only one or two in China, that can produce prototypes for customers in 24 hours,' he says. 'To be able to do this is very hi-tech and it puts us in a field where other people aren't, and don't want to be, primarily because the equipment is expensive [US$1 million investment], plus there are the additional costs associated with sending staff to the United States to be trained to use it.' Mr Hay also emphasises the creativity required in the design of the product. 'There is the design platform, the creativity you must have in-house to design your product. NBD [new business development] is a basic but important part of our business, and it has further grown thanks to our winning the DHL/SCMP Owner-Operator Award last year.' He says the DHL/SCMP Hong Kong Business Awards go far towards raising the profile of companies nominated. 'Whether nominees win or not, they should be proud of simply being nominated,' Mr Hay says. As a member of this year's panel of judges, Mr Hay says he is impressed by the high standard of the contestants, adding that they bring great credit to Hong Kong, especially in a difficult year. 'I am proud to be a part of these awards. And not everyone can win, so I would encourage those who don't win this year to enter again, as next year is another year.' He says resilience and the can-do spirit are strong characteristics of Hong Kong people. 'I think that now, with the benefit of hindsight, and thanks to those who took the hard management decisions that had to be implemented earlier in the year, Hong Kong as a whole is returning to profitability,' he says. 'We at Hayco, like those at many other companies, had to batten down very tightly this year, both in Hong Kong and at our factory premises in China, to guarantee our survival through Sars.' He says Hayco has international customers who are extremely demanding, such as Wal-Mart and Proctor & Gamble, among others. Hygiene and cleanliness were uppermost in the minds of all at Hayco during the Sars outbreak. 'We implemented some pretty stringent measures at our factory earlier this year to guarantee we maintained business as usual.' Measures taken included the compulsory washing of hands at the factory entrance and the installation of footbaths to maintain personal hygiene among staff and demonstrate to the public that the company was taking every step necessary to conduct business in the most hygienic way possible. 'This also went a long way toward uniting us as a team and making us stronger. I think we have come out as a better group of people,' he says. 'A number of positives have emerged, amid all the doom and gloom Hong Kong was experiencing earlier this year. One is the fact that we are all now also more focused on other aspects of life that we may have neglected before all that happened this year.' He says Sars has changed for the better the way many people interact with family, friends and work colleagues. 'We in Hong Kong have had a dream run for a long time,' Mr Hay says. 'We now have to batten down the hatches and work hard to survive. 'The environment here will be very different and a lot tougher, but with an enormous amount of opportunity. I look at the entrepreneurial skills of the youth candidates submitted as entries for these awards this year, and take great pride in being a part of promoting what the new generation will bring to, and do for, Hong Kong.'