Marco, Ronald, Agnes, Godfrey and Jennie, who are engaged in scientific research and experiment in applied biology, entered the skincare product market from their
base at the Hong Kong Science Park, and developed their locally researched and produced products. From naming to packaging and designing their products, elements related to the ingredients and formulas are added to promote the truth- seeking sprit of science and encourage consumers to learn about the products before purchasing.

However, Hong Kong people have developed a consumption habit of using foreign brand skincare products, with European, American, Japanese and Korean brands leading the market. With a persistence in their belief-based approach, how can this local startup get a breakthrough and gain a share in the market by paying attention to the details and sharing scientific knowledge related to beauty and skincare?

In this episode, Ada OOI, founder of a British skincare brand, is invited to share with the 5 young entrepreneurs “to hold on and let go the original products”.

【Gen Z Meeting Room】
The COVID-19 pandemic has been affecting the normal operation of the global business world, but at the same time it becomes an opportunity for companies around
the world to seek changes. The definitions of “job” and “going to work” has gradually changed in the current generation. What is the foresight the new generation has on
the work mode in the future?

In this episode’s Meeting Room, Mr Ray CHAN, co-founder of the world’s largest “happiness sharing platform”, and Ms Rebecca LEUNG, a post-90 entrepreneur who develops equipment for the work mode in the future, are invited to talk about the work mode in the future.

Food is people’s paramount concern. To foodies, life would be colourless and of low quality if they could only eat puree when they get old. Sandy’s grandfather has swallowing difficulty, but he craves delicious food, prompting Sandy to be interested in the soft meal market. By coincidence, Sandy established the first food technology company developing soft meals in Hong Kong with 5 friends who share the same concern for elderly services, namely Abellona, Albert, Jim, Raymond and Aggie.

With the vision to improve elderly diet, they have won many innovation and technology competitions with their innovative soft meal technology and products, and
were selected for various incubation programmes. As such, they gained the seed money. Hong Kong population is continuously aging and there is a huge demand in elderly market. Facing the existing competitors, how can this startup company find its position in the market occupied by international brands? Moreover, the public has
insufficient knowledge about swallowing difficulty, and elderly homes have concerns about switching products. How should they employ different strategies to tackle the
challenges?

The programme invited Francis NGAI, founder of Social Ventures Hong Kong, to share with them how to promote and publicise their business.

【Gen Z Meeting Room】
“People” is the foundation of a company. A company withers with a weak workforce, and prospers with a strong one. The key of management relates to how one deals with people and things. In this technology era, how much value of the operation of conventional commercial world is left? As a startup entrepreneur, how many things
one needs to miss and how many mistakes one needs to make before he or she comes up with the appropriate management philosophy?

This episode’s “Meeting Room”, Mr Ray CHAN, co-founder of the world’s largest “happiness sharing platform”, and Ms Rebecca LEUNG, former Regional Executive
Director, South East Asia, of an online travel platform, are invited to elaborate on the core values of new generation operation and management.

Entrepreneurship is not only an endurance race, but also an obstacle race. It is impossible to foresee what difficulties may arise.

Yannie, who has no experience in the catering industry, fulfilled her dream to open a 4-storey integrated shop in Central with her friends. From the retail industry to the catering industry, and from a 50 square feet to a 2,000 square feet shop, it has been a very difficult job, in terms of staff management and catering / menu design. When the situation slightly improved, another problem will arise. How should Yannie resolve this issue?

Under the pandemic, all industries are suffering. Sting SO and Ellen, who are lovers, are working in the advertising industry, and they both like to shop for second-hand goods. Their workload has substantially reduced amid the pandemic, and the idea of “why not open a shop” emerged when they were idle at home. After only three days, they rented a 70 square foot shop near Prince Edward and started a business that sells second-hand goods and old stories. Who said “Everything is difficult at the beginning”? At first, the turnover of the online store was good, and the two felt that everything was smooth. Surprisingly, upon calculation, they found that they had a five-digit loss, which was almost a year’s rent. What was the reason? In this episode, we invite Frankie, the owner of a Japanese style selection shop, to give the two some advice. What is the secret of operating a selection shop in Hong Kong?

【Gen Z Meeting Room】
In this episode’s “Meeting Room”, we have Simon WONG and Ray TSUI, our two star CEOs, to share with us on the way to entrepreneurship, can “passion” alone bring success? Or “knowing the figures” is in fact the key to success?

Every young lady who has the love of beauty must have fantasised about opening a fashion boutique, but for Yannie, who was already selling clothes on the Internet in Form One, her dream is beyond this. Before graduating from the university, she has already opened a 50 square feet shop. As the business was doing well, she opened a branch in the same shop arcade. In 2020, when the pandemic has not eased and the rent was low, she and her family and friends jointly opened a 4-storey integrated shop in Central.

Apart from selling clothes and household goods, it has a café and a bar. Yannie and her partners, who have no experience in the catering industry, are young and fearless. Yet, things don’t always go smoothly. In this episode, CHOI Kit-fung, the founder of a local coffee group, will pay a visit to Yannie’s shop and offer advice to Yannie, who is facing new problems every day.

【Gen Z Meeting Room】
In this episode’s “Meeting Room”, we have Mr K.K. TSANG, founder of a local advertisement marketing group, and Mr Francis NGAI, founder of Social Ventures Hong Kong, to share with us how business philosophies can make enterprises go further.

With the opening of Cyberport and the Science Park in 2004, the Government hopes to attract major technology companies to establish their presence in Hong Kong. In foreign countries, investors have been interested in the development potential of technology, and they have gradually expanded their interest from computer network to other technology areas, such as biotechnology, materials science, mechanical engineering and artificial intelligence.

After obtaining a master degree in Biomedical Engineering at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Gavin LOU has won a number of entrepreneurship competitions. He is developing an apparatus that measures fat burn from breathing at the Science Park, targeting customers who pursue physical fitness to help them figure out how their bodies react after exercise. Gavin’s team decided to develop a chip having a much higher sensitivity than the existing chips for industrial use, so that fat burn can be more precisely measured. At present, the research for the chip has come to the final stage, but they are falling behind on the progress of product design and testing.

Moreover, in this episode, we will continue the story from the last episode on the 4 young gentlemen Leo LU, Alan, Oscar and Leo LEUNG. Their “dining offer platform” mobile application is having a stagnant development due to the pandemic and business model issues. Industry veteran Ringo suggested that they should consolidate their experience and start anew. After a number of trials and consolidations, they launched another service this year – the “micro influencer matching platform”, which helps to match restaurants with suitable online influencers for food tasting and promotion through data analysis, and it wins praises from many owners of small and medium-sized restaurants.

【Gen Z Meeting Room】
In this episode’s Meeting Room, Ricky SZETO, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of Hung Fook Tong Group, and Kevin SHEE, founder of SC Storage, are invited to share with us the myths in entrepreneurship.

The Government has been encouraging young people to start their own business through scientific research achievements or technology application. Since the establishment of the Innovation and Technology Bureau in 2015, start-up projects and seed funds in all scales have sprung up.

Leo LU majored in Information Systems Management at the university. During his university years, he had been earning money by writing online applications for small and medium enterprises with his friends Oscar, Alan and Leo LEUNG. After completing a large-scale project for a client, they felt that they had already established good mutual understanding and were confident that they could develop their own products. They did not want to toil for other people any more, therefore they used the money earned from the project as the seed fund and joined innovation and technology competitions to test the feasibility of their business model. The granting of the incubation sponsorship of the Science and Technology Parks in 2018 gave them the confidence to give it a go and set up a company, and they later developed a mobile application of “dining offer platform”. Although the application is having an edge in technology as well as impeccable functions, their company did not achieve the desired performance at the start-up stage in the face of cruel competition in the business world and the challenges brought by the pandemic.

In this episode, Ringo LAM, one of the first Hong Kong serial entrepreneurs of technology companies, is invited to give them some advice.


【Gen Z Meeting Room】
When a company has developed to a certain level, many owners wish to “improve” – opening new branches, increasing the market share and expanding the business. How can startups scale up? When is the best time to expand the business? In Gen Z Meeting Room of this episode, Erwin HUANG, Adjunct Professor and Senior Advisor (Entrepreneurship) of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and Adam CHAN, co-founder of the education technology company GRWTH Limited are invited to share their experience.

Episode 4 A Creative Heart of Design

In recent years, the Government has been committed to promoting the development of creative industry, and more and more designers have become entrepreneurs. Angel and Celia are close friends who established their own brand of self-designed handbags after graduating from the university. In the beginning they only operated an online shop. Later they saw the considerable potential in bazaars and pop up stores, so they decided to expand their sales channels and go dual-track: running both online and physical stores. On the entrepreneurial journey, the two have to build up their skills by learning from sales, management, marketing, etc. while taking up multiple roles such as owner, designer, salesperson and photographer. Even though they have been working days and nights for two years, there is still a deficit. Although their business is still at an early stage, the two already hope to expand overseas. In this episode, Kennis CHAN, Director of Hong Kong Design Centre, is invited to give them some advice on their brand with her years of experience in fashion brand marketing and management.

【Gen Z Meeting Room】
In the complex and ever-changing entrepreneurial process, companies often encounter bottlenecks due to its internal problems or the external environment. Poor handling may lead to great loss and closure of business, but crises can also be turned into opportunities if one is flexible enough, it all depends on the entrepreneurs’ mindset and resilience. In the Gen Z Meeting Room of this episode, Erwin HUANG, a serial entrepreneur of information technology and social enterprise, and Adam CHAN, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of an education technology company, will share their personal experiences on how they deal with bottlenecks in business.

Episode 3 Starting from “Retail”

Ashely CHAN, an accounting student at university, has thought of doing business since she was small. Two years ago, she met a benefactor and took over a bagel workshop with a bargain price. As such, Ashley suspended study for a year and invested a total of $600,000, which was the prize money she won in an entrepreneur competition, all her savings and sponsorship from her family, into her business, and opened a shop in Tai Kok Tsui for retail business. The shop mainly sells bagels, while other healthy food options such as vegetable and fruit smoothies are also available. The pandemic came soon after the opening of the shop, raising the public’s awareness of healthy diet. The crisis in fact brought business opportunities. Rents plummeted under the pandemic, so Ashley seized the opportunity without hesitation to rent a property around 1 500 square feet in Prince Edward, aiming to establish a healthy food flagship store. How can Ashley put her ambitions into practice? In this episode, Edwin LEE, a startup consultant cum shop professional, is invited to answer Ashley’s question on expanding her business and franchising.

【Gen Z Meeting Room】
Entrepreneurs are worried that their businesses may not be profitable, and they are even more worried about scams and frauds. Being caught in business traps will not only cause entrepreneurs to lose money, but they may also be criminally liable. Swindlers employ numerous tricks. In this episode’s “Meeting Room”, Ricky SZETO, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of Hung Fook Tong Group, and Kevin SHEE, founder of SC Storage, are invited to share with us some common business traps in detail.

Episode 2 I Love Kitchen － Part 2

In the previous episode, Simon WONG, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a catering group, visited Kobe CHENG’s restaurant as a mystery diner. He pointed out that the service of the restaurant was in need of improvement, and opined that Kobe should show her staff her passion for the business. He also suggested that Kobe should keep a proper record of the restaurant’s financial position.

Kobe was enlightened and immediately bought reference books to learn financial management. Meanwhile, she rebuilt a record for the bookkeeping of the restaurant systematically, which was a good start. Besides, Kobe decided to close the restaurant for a day to go on a trip at Cheung Chau with all her staff for relaxation and team building. During the trip, Kobe could put aside her identity as a boss to have a frank conversation with her staff.

Before broadcast of the programme, the production team is informed that a staff of Kobe’s had resigned, reducing the size of her small team. Every cloud has a silver lining. We hope that Kobe can grasp the nettle and continue fighting for her dream.

Sunny YUK is a big fan of siu mei (roasted meat), and he hopes that the slow-cooked siu mei of his secret recipe can be available all over Hong Kong. His first store is opened at Luen Wo Hui in Fanling where the major consumer group is seniors. Can his creative siu mei stand out in the market? Ambitious Sunny has a development plan, which is to set up a central kitchen in order to increase productivity of siu mei. Ray CHUI, owner of a chain Hong Kong style café, appreciates Sunny’s slow-cooked siu mei a lot after tasting it, but he considers that it may be too early for Sunny to set up a central kitchen.

【Gen Z Meeting Room】
In this episode’s “Meeting Room”, we have Simon, chairman and CEO of a catering group, and Ray, owner of a chain Hong Kong style café, to talk freely about whether inheriting a family business is equivalent to winning at the starting line.

Episode 1 I Love Kitchen － Part 1

26-year-old Kobe CHENG is very fond of cooking. Starting from zero, she went to learn cooking at a hotel without hesitation after graduating from the university. After a few years of training, she took a bold decision to borrow money from her family and open her own restaurant at High Street. Kobe frankly said that she was only interested in improving her cooking skills, while she knew nothing about doing business, resulting in a lot of spending and plenty of lessons learnt in her startup journey. Since the grand opening, she has already invested more than a million dollars in her business. Kobe always advances bravely and she never gives up. Although the catering industry is facing the brunt of the pandemic, she stays positive in the face of adversity.

This programme invited Simon WONG, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a catering group, to give Kobe some advice. Simon will visit Kobe’s restaurant as a mystery diner. How well will this young entrepreneur do? Can the restaurant provide homelike service to the diner?

【Gen Z Meeting Room】
As the saying goes, “Man proposes, God disposes”, is there a best timing to start a business? Will middle-aged startup founders make the most of their maturity? Or will they face countless difficulties? In this new generation of doing business, entrepreneurs must attach importance to both “money” and “heart”. In this episode’s “Meeting Room”, we have two veteran businessmen as our guests: KK TSANG, founder and CEO of a marketing services group, and Francis NGAI, founder and CEO of Social Ventures Hong Kong.