Hong Kong SME Resources

Hong Kong SME Resources, a partial listing which I will update as and when I come across anything interesting which may prove useful and I have personally looked at and recommend, to start ups and SMEs in Singapore.

Government Resources

HK gov’t is promoting SME culture and crowing about HK’s role as a start-up hub. Surprisingly it is actually doing something about it.

There is a free SME section at HKTDC  (trade development council) at the convention centre – plenty of resources, aircon and wifi and can book appointments to discuss issues regarding setting up, exports, loan schemes etc.

There is also a quasi body for HK Start-ups.

InvestHK is the starting spot if you are thinking of starting a business in HK, it is mainly written from an offshore point of view as in ‘why to invest in HK as opposed to Singapore or anywhere else’, but has useful tips on why and how to set up. Mainly geared towards ‘bricks and mortar’ business, there is a seperate site for start-ups, see below.

http://www.investhk.gov.hk/index.html

Startmeup.hk is a one-stop portal to the startup community in Hong Kong, listing the latest startup events and various resources including government incentive and incubation schemes, accelerators, angels and VCs

http://www.startmeup.hk/

For operating SMEs, head to the SME centre, which has workshops, business matching, advisories etc

http://www.hktdc.com/mis/smecentre/en/s/AboutSMECentre.html

The SME Creativity Center (SCC) is started as an initiative that focuses on helping SMEs in Hong Kong. SCC is a non-profit service center involved in enabling SMEs to explore creativity, ideation, and innovation. SCC provides guidance to local SMEs so that they can better understand, elicit, develop, and refine their design and creative processes to drive innovation and gain competitive advantage.

http://smecc.hk/

Remarkably, HK has a further SME centre, SMEOne near Kowloon Tong MTR centre, this one under the umbrella of the HK Productivity Council. The website is very good for a summary of the various loans and grants, and other support schmes and gov’t resources for start-ups and SMEs (except for some reason the other ones listed on this page…)

https://www.smeone.org/index.php?lang=en

Of course, being Hong Kong Government, there are duplications and overlaps between all the centres but dig around you will find something useful. or give us a call and we will see if we know what you need.

 

Professional Services

Note : Accountants, lawyers, tax advisors, company secretaries. These are too numerous to mention and each have pros and cons. Contact us if feel the need for a confidential recommendation.

Grants / Loans /Direct Gov’t assistance

Hong Kong has a variety of schemes available for SME’s. For example there is an SME Loan Guarantee Scheme which will guarantee 50% of qualified loans up to HK$6m and an export marketing grant providing 50% support to certain export orientated marketing activities. There are also quasi government bodies (eg Hong Kong Science Park, Cyperport) which have their own start up funds and programmes.

Legal Services

There are 1000’s of lawyers in Asia, some good, some bad, some with high fees and others with very high fees, and often they are needed for very complicated transactions and issues, but on the other hand, often they may not be and its possible the work such as opening companies and basic contracts can either be done yourselves or with very basic service providers who charge very low fees. Look around and read. Basic contracts etc for example can be found at template libraries and legal tech companies (including legalese in Singapore and Dragon Law in Hong Kong and Singapore) are building easy to use templates for business contracts  such as confidentiality agreements, Shareholder agreements, NDA’s, employment agreements etc, ready for Hong Kong or Singapore jurisdictions. These could reduce legal fees dramatically. Dragonlaw also does company incorporation and visas at very low fees.

If you need help finding a good law firm we are happy to provide recommendations if you advise the issue.

 

 

Co-working Spaces

A huge number of co-working spaces, it seems there are more every day. We’ve been to a few, most have a similar offering – hot desk, desk, office etc, and similar daily and monthly rates, and it may come down to the look and feel and the other clients.  I’ve personally been to 5 so far  (paperclip sheung wan, the workground causeway bay, Wynd on wyndham, Cocoon in Tin Hau (very tech based) , and the top of my list so far – for strong wifi, pleasant staff, interesting looking client base are :

http://papercliphk.com/         Sheung Wan office

 

For a listing, no need to repeat and no better listing than this from jumpstart magazine (which in itself is an excellent magazine for start-ups and SME information and resources)

http://jumpstartmag.com/hong-kong-coworking-map/

 

Funding 

Ask me….

but really, too many to mention. And horses for courses. There are loans from fintechs, there are VCs, there are banks, there are family offices and there are gov’t loan guarantees and direct quasi gov’t fundings (see above). Equity crowdfunding is not legally allowed yet in HK. Startmeup.hk, see above, has a partial list of accelerators, incubators and VCs.

Start up Choice / Entering the market ? Hong Kong or Singapore

As an aside, if you are entering Asia markets and are trying to decide between Hong Kong or Singapore the general consensus of opinion is that Hong Kong has a major advantage if you are looking to enter China at some point, but, and possibly as a result of that, Singapore government provides much more support to start-ups and SME entries including government financial support

Similar applies to holding companies – if you plan to do a lot of business with China, set it up in HK, but if plan working with Asean or wider choose Singapore – as HK does not have many double tax treaties. But seek advice, there may be differences depending on the type of industry you are in, and these things change all the time, eg

http://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/1970979/new-tax-rules-may-help-hong-kong-close-gap-singapore

Good article on comparative advantages HK v SG

Have I missed anything ? Any additional category needed please contact us at cfo@cfocounsel.asia

SME News Asia

If you are interested in the support we can provide SMEs learn more at CFO Counsel Asia