Despite being one of the financial capitals of the world, Hong Kong has traditionally lagged when it comes to cultivating game-changing startups. Among the list of reasons for this includes the high cost of living, lack of government support and an immature ecosystem to retain talent. One commonly overlooked deterrent is the fact that Hong Kong, by most world standards, is already highly efficient—there simply aren't many outstanding problems that need solving. Real estate developer-turned-entrepreneur Clarence Ling was fully aware of the challenges that Hong Kong presents for an aspiring startup founder, but instead of leaving the city he stayed and took on the challenge.
"Hong Kong people, in general, in my point of view, are still stuck in the era of our most glorious days—back in the '80s, '90s, even 2000s. And most successful people are from real estate and finance in Hong Kong. The younger kids, teenagers, they have someone new to look up to—be in Pony Ma, Jack Ma from China or Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk—in Hong Kong, we're still talking about Li Ka-shing. It hurts me."
Ling, is the cofounder and chief development officer of Ztore, a Hong Kong-based e-commerce startup selling groceries. Ling has a broad entrepreneurial and investing background. Apart from managing Kwai Hung Group, a private property development company, he's also helped dozens of overseas companies to expand in Asia, and he's also an active investor in more than 20 startups globally, including Lalamove, which is either at or close to becoming a unicorn.
Unconventional beginnings in a well developed niche
In late 2014, after recognizing that the B2C landscape in Hong Kong was reaching a tipping point, Ling and his cofounder stumbled upon a Singaporean e-commerce company called RedMart. Ling immediately recognized that the websites of the traditional brick-and-mortar grocers in Hong Kong were antiquated at best and in dire need of an upgrade. Despite pushback from friends and family, he decided to press forward and jump headfirst into launching Ztore.
"Rental in Hong Kong is very, very expensive, compared to Singapore," Ling says. "A lot of investors actually were quite shocked that we chose an online supermarket as an entry point rather than doing electronics or fashion—these with much higher margins. But we thought if we wanted to change the customer behavior, we had to pick something that affects Hong Kong people's daily lives."...
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kimjay/2019/03/28/742/#4b3506b16b71
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by Idham Azhari
