Hong Kong is a haven for entrepreneurs who knock on the door of opportunity and run a business based on their hunches. They must also have a passion for success and persistence in overcoming problems.
For Ada Tam Kuen-kuen, starting a business in a market that was packed with all sorts of health supplements was no easy task - especially as she did not have a business background and she had to learn marketing from scratch.
Ms Tam, who worked as a librarian in Canada for 20 years, is now managing director of Jireh International Health and has run her business in Hong Kong since 2003, importing and marketing health supplement products from Canada as a sole distributor.
'There were many problems in all aspects of the business in the beginning, from purchasing to shipping, delivery to inventory, selling to collecting and hiring people. Every step needed special attention and I was the only key person overseeing the whole operation,' said Ms Tam, whose company in Causeway Bay employs 10 people to take care of sales, marketing and promotion.
'The greatest challenges for me, like most entrepreneurs, are inventory control and cash flow which need to be monitored cautiously,' said Ms Tam, whose visit to Hong Kong in 2001 was a defining moment as it changed her original plan of devoting her career to librarianship, a career she was interested in and had majored in.
Successfully marketing consumer products requires detailed logistics planning for shipping, warehousing and finding appropriate distribution channels, and also managing cash flow and developing effective marketing tactics that can draw the attention of the target audience and set the products apart from rivals.