Descendant of indigenous Hong Kong family builds private business platform to champion city in Middle East, Asia
- With Hong Kong’s border reopening, it is now time to rejuvenate the city, Hong Kong Ambassadors Club co-founder and Tsangs Group Chairman Patrick Tsang says
- The club will organise bilateral visits by trade, business and investment delegations to markets strategically important for Hong Kong
Patrick Tsang, the descendant of an indigenous family from Lai Chi Wo, one of the oldest, largest and best-preserved Hakka walled villages in Hong Kong’s northern New Territories, traces his family roots back to the city despite being born in Britain.
Tsang came to Hong Kong in 1998, 32 years after his family, led by his grandfather, migrated to Britain to run restaurants. In 2017, Tsang set up a family office in Hong Kong, focusing on innovation and technology investments globally.
Now, the 47-year-old chairman of Tsangs Group wants to deepen ties with the city by establishing a private platform that will link Hong Kong with his global connections in the Middle East and other regions.
“With the border reopening, it is now time for us to rejuvenate the Hong Kong market and tell our existing and potential partners overseas about the advantages of Hong Kong, to drive economic growth and explore new sources of opportunities,” Tsang said.
With experienced industrialist Jeffrey Lam Kin-fung, who is also an executive councillor and lawmaker, Tsang has co-founded the Hong Kong Ambassadors Club, a private organisation that hopes to act as a facilitator and promoter to help Hong Kong collaborate with investors and the international business community.
The organisation was inaugurated on March 22 in a ceremony attended by guests such as Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Chris Hui Ching-yu. Others officials such as Peter Lam Kin-ngok, chairman of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, were also in attendance.
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Lam said the organisation wants to arrange collaboration in the private sector following official high-level conversations between governments in Hong Kong and other countries, including those in the Middle East and Asia.
“Many of our business friends in the Middle East, China and other areas have shown interest in Hong Kong after its reopening,” Lam said. “We want to keep the momentum going following the official visits by the chief executive.”
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The Hong Kong Ambassadors Club is planning to organise bilateral visits by trade, business and investment delegations to markets strategically important for Hong Kong.
Tsang said his company was the very first Hong Kong-based family office to explore opportunities in the Middle East, and it has increased its business presence in the region while China was still on lockdown, way ahead of Chief Executive Lee’s visit. For instance, Tsangs Group set up an office in Dubai in 2021.
As a first step, Tsang will arrange for business leaders in the Middle East to visit Hong Kong.
“Many of them have not been to Hong Kong,” Tsang said. “We need to bring them here first, before asking them to invest [in the city].”
