The View | GoGoVan’s success disrupts not merely Hong Kong’s business, but also social strata norms

GoGoVan’s successful merger with 58 Suyun, the freight business of mainland Chinese online classifieds giant 58 Home, has created the city’s first, billion dollar unicorn technology company.

But, the local company’s success also points the way to what Hong Kong entrepreneurs need to accomplish to meet world standards. And, it also shows the serious shortcomings that new economy start-ups will encounter in Hong Kong culture.

Founded in 2013, GoGoVan has established a sprawling online logistics and freight operation in 14 cities across six Asian markets. As a short distance logistics platform counts more than 180,000 registered van and truck drivers on its mobile application.

Unusual for Hong Kong, the founder, Steven Lam Hoi-yuen, doesn’t come from a wealthy Hong Kong family. Then, I can’t imagine many of Hong Kong’s young socialites wanting to toil with short distance van drivers. Lam comes from a low income family and grew up on a Kowloon public housing estate where he still lives today.

After dropping out of high school in Hong Kong in 2005, he moved to the US at a relative’s invitation to study at a community college in California before studying business at UC Berkeley.

Attending community college and living in the US were probably major influences. Unlike Asia, US culture celebrates the lonely, existential struggle of the entrepreneur- a conflicted loser-hero who fights against the odds. Unfortunately, success in Hong Kong today is defined by who you married or which family you belong to. Or whether you own a house, which is not an important concern in the US.