Press Release

During times of economic uncertainty, what can you do to make your startup stand out in a crowd of competitors so that you can secure funding from investors?

On Saturday, October 10, 2020, more than 20 alumni entrepreneurs from various industries and business backgrounds attended the HKU Business School Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum to discuss how startup founders can leverage investors to scale up their business and unlock success.
Mr. Vincent Chan, Senior Managing Director and Head of Asia of Samena Capital and Mr. K.O. Chia, Director of Grace Financial were invited to share their insights on how to venture on a journey to being an effective entrepreneur, and hopefully the founder of the next unicorn.

They both emphasized that one of the critical success factors is people. Mr. Chan suggested that it is important to build a strong team who trust each other, and love working together as investors will not only consider your product, but also the structure and dynamics of your team. Mr. Chia also pointed out that the success of startup lies in its ability to uphold the core of your business and leverage on technology.

At the forum, alumni treasured the opportunity to network with speakers. Ms. Yina Chan (BBA (Acc&Fin) 2015), Co-Founder of Bamboo Network, learned that the true growth of a startup comes from within the team who is able to collaboratively turn a great idea into a profitable business, whereas the exponential growth comes from investors who usually look beyond monetary terms, such as the quality of the founding team and customer-engagement model. Mr. Harris Cheng (BEcon&Fin 2017), Co-Founder and CEO of Freehunter was thrilled to reconnect with Mr. K.O. Chia, who inspired him to pursue his startup dream when he was a year-3 student struggling with his career path.

We believe Hong Kong people have what it takes to become an entrepreneur and innovator – resilience, industriousness and discipline. To realise these potentials, HKU Business School is developing an entrepreneurial ecosystem that helps support our students and alumni and fuel our economic growth.