Vast business empire grew from entrepreneur's vision

To many looking back on Hong Kong's early days as a trading port, Queen Victoria was the monarch overseeing her empire. If you're a Dane, however, the names Christian IX and Frederick VII would have more resonance.

In 1895, entrepreneur Jacob Jebsen, from the Baltic port of Aabenraa in Denmark's far south, co-founded Jebsen & Co in Hong Kong with his friend and business partner Heinrich Jessen.

Mr Jebsen and Mr Jessen had planned to start a shipping agency but their business swiftly became a major trading company - a 'hong' that managed to hold its own against local giants of the day, such as Jardine Matheson and Swire, that were steeped in loyalty to Queen Victoria and her empire.

Mr Jebsen's efforts have seen four generations of the family working in Hong Kong, with the name behind some notable firsts such as importing the first Volkswagen Beetle here by air in 1953 and the first Porsche two years later.

The pioneering Mr Jebsen is the great-grandfather of chairman Hans Michael Jebsen, who joined the company on arriving in Hong Kong in 1981 and became chairman in 2000.

In the first decade of the 20th century, Jebsen & Co established links with a large number of companies operating on the mainland in order to export Chinese products. The company also opened offices in Shanghai and Guangzhou.