Hong Kong’s resilient SMEs have weathered every storm since handover, but can they bounce back from Covid-19?
- Entrepreneurs who agree the pandemic was their biggest challenge now hope for better times ahead
- Some find it hard to be optimistic, others bank on city’s proven record of thriving despite crises
If there is one thing Hong Kong’s 340,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are known for, it is their resilience in the face of the most dire circumstances.
The SMEs persevered each time and thrived anew. Making up more than 98 per cent of Hong Kong’s business establishments, they form the backbone of the city’s economy and account for 45 per cent of the private sector workforce.
Then came the social unrest through the second half of 2019, which hit tourism hard as visitors stayed away amid an escalation of violent confrontations between anti-government protesters and police. Events were cancelled and businesses suffered.
Worse was to come when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the city in early 2020, wreaking havoc on all sectors.
Hong Kong’s stringent quarantine rules, social-distancing curbs and waves of infections resulted in more than two years of a crisis that is ongoing.
The Post asks four seasoned entrepreneurs to describe what they have been through and their hopes of bouncing back.
