Hong Kong SMEs must dare to tap the global market
Matthew Lee says the challenges are surmountable, as many have proved
It all started with a great idea. Three years ago, Wesley Ng and Ronald Yeung came up with a new concept for smartphone covers. They didn't just want their cases to be fun and elegant, but fully customisable so customers could design their own.
Wesley and Ronald are not unique. Many Hong Kong entrepreneurs and small business owners are clever and have great ideas. But what's unfortunate is that, according to recent research, only four out of 10 of our city's small and medium-sized enterprises are selling overseas. That's surprising in one of the world's leading trade and logistics hubs.
Of course, not every SME's products and services can be sold to customers overseas. My favourite pineapple buns from a local Wan Chai bakery, for example, have to be eaten fresh.
All around Hong Kong, however, there are many more businesses that could shine on the international stage - unique fashion designs and crafts, "select shops" carrying only the coolest electronic gadgets and tasty edible treats as good as you'd get anywhere in the world. As an international city, fluent in English, Putonghua and Cantonese, small services companies and freelancers are bridging business cultures, translators for example, but only doing so in Hong Kong.
That's a shame, because the value of international consumer purchases will rise from US$105 billion to US$307 billion from 2013 to 2018. The number of cross-border consumers will increase from 94 million to 130 million. These are estimates from my company, PayPal.