An investigation by The Centre for Policy Studies in the UK revealed that Hong Kong has more self-made billionaires than any other place in the world, when considered as a percentage of total population - three in a million in Hong Kong are “SuperEntrepreneurs”. Israel came second, followed by the US, Switzerland and Singapore. The result surprised many in Hong Kong and the consensus is that it was a special case for the 60’s and 70’s producing numerous legendary billionaires due to its unique developing environment. With problems like high rent and the market being dominated by consortiums, it is extremely difficult to repeat nowadays.

The truth is, working in the 60’s has never been easy.  With very low education level in general, most senior positions were reserved for the foreigners. What’s more, the corruption in those days making business environment extremely hard. Take the founder of Far East Consortium International Limited, local billionaire Mr. Deacon Chiu Te Ken for an example, he first started from showings of old films in rural area, gradually his business grew and when the opportunity came along, he bought Rediffusion Television Limited and renamed it to Asia Television Limited (ATV), turning around a business that is losing money to making money. His courage and putting vision into action was key.In over thirty years’ of entrepreneurship, Mr. Chiu expanded his business empire to other countries, venturing into various fields including banking, properties, food, hotels, amusement parks, cinemas and newspaper etc.

Comparing with previous generations, there is currently a greater advantage in starting an entrepreneurship in Hong Kong. Not only is Hong Kong consistently ranked first in the world’s most liberal regions of world trade by Forbes, but the legal system, banking system, telecommunication and transportation facilities and human resources are all world class. Advanced developments in IT also provided online business opportunities for youngsters which would not have existed before. The pair of Post-80 brothers Terry Tsang Kin-chung and Terence Tsang Kin-ho is a typical successful example, in which they took advantage of the growing mobile game market and launched the game “Tower of Savior”. This mobile game can be downloaded for free and has been a great hit in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia, enabling the Tsang brothers to become millionaires.

“There are opportunities in different era and everyone has a chance. If you like to blame, there are a lot of things you can blame on. But if you are willing to look for opportunities, they are always there to be discovered.” Jack Ma, the Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group once said in a Hong Kong young entrepreneurship forum, “Blames and complaints means there are opportunities. If you join in the blames and complaints, opportunities will never come your way.”