Over the past 14 years, the DHL/SCMP Hong Kong Business Awards have recognised excellence under the categories: Business Person of the Year, Executive Award, Owner-Operator Award, Young Entrepreneur Award, International Award and Enterprise Award. Before the presentation for this year's winners on December 2, every Monday we look at one of last year's winners and see how each has fared in the past 12 months.
Few Hong Kong business innovations in the past 10 years have been as successful as the Octopus card.
Introduced as a way to pay for various forms of public transport in 1997, the cards quickly caught on with commuters. Usage now has reached 11 million cards, which can now also be used for many other purchases.
However, the firm, Octopus Cards - which won last year's Enterprise Award - is not resting on its laurels. It has embarked on setting up similar networks overseas and finding new ways to get people to use the cards.
Overseas expansion started last year with the setting up of a nationwide transport payment system in the Netherlands. The firm has entered the tendering process for a system in Melbourne and expects opportunities in North America over the next 12 months.
'Internationally, we want to take some of our technology, our skills and experience into other countries. We can either supply technology or we can supply expertise or we can help people run their business,' said Octopus Cards chief executive Eric Tai Yung-muk.