First of all, I would like to apologize for my absence on this platform as I am very much packed with work and travel that require my full attention. @archisteem is currently going through a revamp and 1001 Places to Remember Season 6 winners will be announced due this week. One more surprise for me when I am back from China is that I am accepted as the Cohort 2 of @sndbox! Without the support from the Steemit community like Team Malaysia, @steemitbloggers, @archisteem, and more, I would not be at this point. This week is all about settling all the works that I missed during my trip and restructure my Q3 and Q4 direction for 2018.

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This is a summary write up for the event called Dragon 100 2018 organized by Dragon Foundation from Hong Kong. First of all, I would like to thank Nicholas Tan and Andre Kwok for recommending this event to me. At that time, I was just trying my luck as I knew that there will be lots of competition to fight for a place among the 100 delegates or we can now call Dragons.

The 100 delegates were chosen according to the criteria below:

1. Ethnic Chinese aged between 18 to 35
2. Outstanding academic achievement or professional background
3. Exceptional talents in a non-academic area
4. Track record of community services
5. Demonstrated leadership excellence

As the organizer mentioned that the competition for 2018 was tight as there were around 200 applicants for this term, I would deduce that there will be more in the future. Considering myself as the lucky early bird, I would definitely do my best as Dragon alumni to bring in more talents and like-minded entrepreneurs and professionals into this circle.

Well back to the story of me getting chosen as a delegate. As I gotten the email from Mandy (project manager of Dragon Foundation) about being chosen as one of the delegates, I was thrilled and quickly proceeded to book my flight and arrange my leave for the event. I’m glad to get such opportunity which I hold the name of Malaysia, the architecture profession as well as my belief of sustainable lifestyle to this global event, hoping to find more inspiration and future collaborators.

For Malaysia, there were 10 delegates chosen to be part of the Dragon 100 2018 which to me it was like a lot! Before we departed to Hong Kong, we had a welcoming dinner in NU Sentral to get to know the new blood as well as all the previous Dragon alumni. The gathering was a fruitful one as I get to know in prior about what the program is about.

As we departed to Hong Kong, we were welcomed by the friendly host cum coordinator, Keith and Ricky from Hong Kong. Keith took charge in taking some of us (those who take earlier flight by AA) to the hotel. The feeling of touching down on Hong Kong was filled with excitement and reminiscence of my childhood. It was like 20 years ago since I visited this place when I was a kid and now I am back as an adult, ready to explore the city for real. We get up to the shuttle service (the signature doubledecker in Hong Kong) which only cost us HKD40 per pax and took near 45 minutes to reach North Point from the airport. Along the way, I sat with Keith and chatted with him about Hong Kong and Malaysia, crossing topics from real property, driving culture, living cost, local culture to education and career. When we reached the Garden City Hotel, which was a very strategically placed hotel that approximate to F&B outlet, convenience store, commuting terminal and etc. After registering ourselves at the counter and finally meeting with Mandy, I was feeling like: oh shit, this is getting so real. I am finally here in Hong Kong and China for this event. Before that, I was still head packed with work and other obligations. In the meantime, I would like to take this opportunity for thanking my company, IPM Professional Services and also my colleagues for supporting me to go out and explore the world. To be honest, I am not someone who like to be constrained in a confined space and would like to explore the vast world as much as possible, bringing back unexpected resources. That is how I define fun.

So, the event started with the usual orientation where everyone was given some time to ice break and finally divided into six groups. I was allocated to Group 3, which was something to be grateful for the very end. Initially, none of us knew each other (naturally) as most of us came from different parts of the world and circle. After introducing ourselves, which I still yet to memorize the name of my own group, I quickly jotted down some distinct points that my group mates had made. This is something helpful for me to remember the keywords that others mentioned before and able to strike a sync with others when we talk. Next thing I knew was, we started the magical, non-stop after-event gathering and we get to know each other more in a less formal setting. Slowly, we built our trust between groupmates and formed a bond that we never expected.

During the trip, we crossed Hong Kong and 4 cities in Guang Dong Province which were Shen Zhen, Dong Guan, Foshan and Guangzhou. Despite some little disappointment in some visit, the organized visit and sharing were all beneficial to us in one way or another. Here is a summary of places that I had visited during the whole program:

1. North Point
2. Tsim Sha Tsui
3. IFC Hong Kong
4. Hong Kong Science Park & Smart City Innovation Center
5. The Hong Kong Heritage Museum
6. Innospace Shenzhen Bay
7. Royole corporation
8. Song Shan Lake National Hi Tech Industrial Development Zone
9. The Opium War Museum
10. Wong Fei Hung Lion Dance Martial Arts Museum
11. Foshan Lingnan Tiandi
12. Country Garden Headquarters
13. Lingnan Social Work Center
14. And some other not documented places

Basically, we visited all of these spots by either bus or Didi Chu Xing (China version of Uber), served with big portion of lunch and dinner (needed more vege for China food), tried on different local food and drinks, learned different languages and cultures, obtained vast scope of information about the cooperation and development of the Greater Bay Area and finally getting to know people from different background and experience. That was the routine being in this program whereby every day we did this repeatedly. Nevertheless, this did not wear us off as there will surely be something that caught our attention and drew us deeper to understand more about it.

Finally, we had come to the final part of the event which was the cultural night and concluding the session. During the night, we witnessed talents unraveled before our eyes like my group’s Liberty and Corrine who were both outstanding performers! There were a lot of great speakers, musicians, and even some natural comedians. The whole night was fully packed with fun and laughter, ending with so much unwillingness to leave the hall and keep taking photos with delegates. During the final day, where delegates shared their thoughts within their group and also to the whole community, this is the mark of ending to the so amazing program that I had joined. Everyone gained something at the very end and were grateful to have such committed organizing committee.

Albeit a short 8 days trip to so many places and meet so many people, the experience and network gained were priceless. I personally would like to contribute more to this foundation in the future in any way I could as I also believe in the value of the Dragon Foundation hold, which is to connect and strengthen the community of Chinese culture and heritage. When there is a sense of belonging emerge, then the community can work together mutually to improve the society which we belong respectively.

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6 big takeaway for this event:

1 Friendship and Trust

In business, without the trust for the people we work with, nothing will be done. Naturally, trust comes in as the most important intangible asset of all.
To me, this is the most important element for this event. I am glad to be in Group 3 which consisted of people from all parts of the world, including NYC, France, UK, China, HK, Taiwan, Msia, Singapore and Aussie! Being part of this group was surreal for me as I get to interact with people of different background and experience, nurturing a trust among the group 3 comrades! Most importantly, we really enjoyed each and every moments for the whole event, which I like to quote our Dage XOO that our sleeping time getting lesser each and every day.

Frankly speaking, I am flabbergasted by our group unity in terms of putting down our personal agenda and play along. Rather than talking more on business, we focus on learning more about our groupmates, having fun and experience the culture of a different background. We learned the fastest and most efficient through play, this is undoubtedly through and we upheld this concept very much. I would say that all of my groupmates are people with vision and passion. They are working very hard to chase their own dream, which each one of it are uniquely challenging. During the trip, we exchanged ideas and thoughts about things ranging from our own business, career, life and so on. Through such small talk, we slowly build the friendship that we think is the most precious from this very program.

2 Greater Bay Area

The main theme of this Dragon 100 2018 is about the Cooperation and Development in the Greater Bay Area. Thus, understanding what is the role and function of the Greater Bay Area is vital for me to comprehend all the knowledge input throughout the trip. In comparison with three other bay area (San Fransisco, New York and Tokyo), it is obvious that the Greater Bay Area has a lot of space to grow. For example, The average GDP per capita in San Fransisco Bay Area topped at 110k USD while The Greater Bay Area GDP per capita was 20k USD. In New York Metropolitan Area and San Fransisco Bay Area, they hosted around 20 plus world top 200 R&D institution while the Greater Bay Area only hosted one, which show how much effort should be poured by the Greater Bay Area to set up a more R&D institution to lead the innovation of the region. Ultimately, the Greater Bay Area has a lot to learn from the other three predecessor which equally stand strong at their geographical point.

In order to connect such a big piece of land together (approximately 56,000 km2, which is the largest Bay Area), the Guang Dong Province government had launched the masterplan from 2020 to 2030 for intercity train track and infrastructure construction to form a one hour travelling radius within the Greater Bay Area. This also includes the almost completed Zhu Hai Bridge (55km which is the longest of its kind in the world), Hu Men Second Bridge and Shen Zhong tunnel which link Shen Zhen and Zhong Shan together, reducing the travelling time to half an hour (24km and plan to complete in 2024). From all this information, we can see that the importance of creating a linkage from air, water and land to minimize the cost of transportation of different resources like raw materials and human talents around the bay area.

Since Shen Zhen already topped all the cities in China as the most popular city for job opportunity and growth, it is natural for the Guang Dong Province government to push the whole area onto the global stage and compete with the 3 existing bay area. This will eventually strengthen China positioning on becoming the world economy super power. In overall, I take such step by the Chinese government a wise step which is to collaborate and compete in the global stage. This could be applied with the Southeast Asia region country that form ASEAN pact. Perhaps a bay area can be formed between Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia in the South China Sea?

3 Youth and Passion

Undoubtedly, all the participants in Dragon 100 are all elites and goal driven individuals. Being with this bunch of people, I am filled up with more energy to push myself further on achieving the dream I had. To be honest, I am very grateful and honored to be selected as part of the delegate of this Dragon 100 2018, which I learned a lot through observation and interaction between delegates and place visiting. There was some memorable talk with my groupmates which inspired me a lot. Like how Jay (my group coordinator), there are lots of stuff that we can improve, which involves innovation. It is just that are we bold enough to think and try the ideas that come across our mind. The solution that came in our mind may not be feasible and may be tried by other entrepreneurs from other parts of the world, but the spirit of finding a solution is the essence of being an entrepreneur. There will always be a better solution that we may not come across yet.

4 Innovate and Move Forward

It is an obvious trend that all the cities are trying to be innovate by building technology parks, coworking space, startup incubator and accelerator and so on. Being shadowed by the American’s innovation spirit from Silicon Valley, China had launched a different initiative to build infrastructure fast and congregate talents from all parts of the world. Coincidentally, I read some articles regarding the innovation spirit of Silicon Valley which may very much reflect on how China’s version of Silicon Valley has yet to overtake San Fransisco as the world’s top innovation hub. First, it is critical for us to differentiate between innovation and invention. In the US, most of the revolutionary invention like the calculator machine, LED, game console, social network, email, portable gadgets are all invented in the east coast of US. They had a lot of invention yet the existence of great companies is far less than the west coast. The article postulated that for the east coast, they love to do ground work from 0 to 1. On the other hand, the resourceful west coast collects all the invented high tech and make it into a great commercial product, in turn becoming a great company which is from 1 to N.

Here are some characteristics of an innovative city like Silicon Valley:

1. Embrace the spirit of rebellious
2. Disrupt the existing order of work
3. Willingness to try a new idea

It is logic that without the above characteristics, Silicon Valley will never able to emerge as an innovative city. Imagine that most of the startups were following the existing business modules and work according to the ‘market rules’, the probability for those startups to rise as a top 100 company in the world is very much miniscule. Plus, all the startups are some where near relentless as they are willing to play along the edge like Facebook challenging the user privacy, Google books and Baidu music disregard copyright issues, Amazon and Alibaba helping consumer to get out of consumer tax, Uber and Didi can be a license-less taxi, Airbnb operate without a license and running away from tax, etc. I believe all of these startups are well aware of the risk of a challenge the norm and the gut to take up such a challenge is what inspired me.

5 Policy Making

Talking about policy making, I had a close chat with Ms. Annie Tam who was the Director of Lands in Hong Kong from 2007 to 2012 and also involved in different departments of public sector like constitutional affairs, commerce, industry and technology, housing, planning and lands and also labor and welfare. Although it was a short talk with her, I still remembered vividly on the wisdom she shared with me. She asked me the purpose of mine to being an architect, which I answered that I hope to find solutions for the affordability issue of housing in Malaysia. This is the trigger for her to share the experience with the Hong Kong housing, planning and lands. She highlighted that property and land is the most headache and sensitive component for the government to intervene, with labor rights comes as second. Every decision made, especially forcefully control the market will result in unforeseen circumstances that may crumble the market. Most important point that I noted was that to trust the market and always ensure a free market. In addition to that, she also analyzed two kinds of a situation whereby 50% of the Hong Kong citizens own property while the other 50% does not. If the government was to intervene and force the market price down, it will affect 50% of the population and the property value will depreciate, causing a ripple effect to the market on other more components. Of course, it may please the other 50% for getting to afford their own property, but there may be lots of unexpected consequences to happen due to the intervene. From a policy maker standpoint, I understood how hard it is to solve this issue which requires different scope and level of understanding on social and economy.

While we are talking, she also shared with me about a taxation mechanism called vacancy tax whereby developer will be charged accordingly if their built properties were not sold within a year or so. This is to discourage the developer to build relentlessly without considering the market demand. In my opinion, this is good as it encourage the developer to understand the local and foreign market and ensure the property is beneficial for the place (of course profitable at the same time) before starting the development.

Another interesting topic that we discussed was about the trust fund that is set up by the government for the local special need people. The issue was that parents with special need child like autism would not like to send their kids to the nursery while taking care of them will need a constant output of cash. Hence, starting a trust is a good way to manage such demand. However, banks are not able to cater to such request as handling a trust will need a tremendous amount of fees. Therefore, this triggered Ms. Annie to propose a share trust fund that is handled by the government to let related personal to put in their money as trust fund and government will then distribute the fund to their respective caretaking service and need in the future. As for the fund management fee, the government will absorb it as welfare for the special need citizens. To me, this is something very innovative and impactful to the society which inspired me to think from a local context, which is to understand the real needs of the people. In the meantime, she also introduced the New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association in Hong Kong that was set up to help special need people in Hong Kong. It is a very important component in terms of social welfare to a nation to have such an organization to help those in need.

6 Talent is the main resource to make a great city

Now, let me jump back to the Greater Bay Area initiative related policy making. From all the sharing that I heard during the trip, there are a lot of work to be done in creating a friendlier policy for the transfer of talents and resources between Hong Kong and Macau region with Guang Dong Province to make Greater Bay Area a success. I learned about the “one country two system” policy whereby China is running under a more controlled environment while Hong Kong is a free market that made it become an ideal finance hub globally. Nonetheless, both side of the government have work to do in terms of lifting up more barriers for this special region to prosper even more.
All the top cities in the world are now competing in retaining talents. I had the opportunity to learn about some policies set by the Shen Zhen government to attract talents. They are focusing on the local fresh graduates, abroad graduates and talents that are already in the workforce. Besides lucrative renumerations and incentives from the government, they also try to appeal to the talents with tax waiver, startup acceleration and incubation program, support to connect with the local community and so on.

It is indeed attractive to have different incentives in money form, but it is also important that the cities must possess an attractive social culture that could fill up the ‘soul’ of all the citizens living within. Interaction between citizens will increase the chance of building more network that may generate more value to the society, regardless is individual, family or business level. Thus, it is important that in a master planning of such cities, we need to promote diversity and randomness. Rather going for a very rigid and controlled planning, there should be space for organic growth and things may turn out to be better! It is just like how free market works which is embraced well by Hong Kong.

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In a nutshell, these six takeaways are a very general summary of mine after going through this program. This information may not be useful for me directly in the near future, but it brought me a higher perspective on viewing cooperation and development in different regions around the globe. Besides, this program also selects the finest candidates to be part of the program which makes future business collaboration an easier task, as we know all the Dragons are genuine and competent individuals.

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The above are the summary of the program with information of where we visited and the main theme for each visit.

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Finally, a special shoutout for my awesome Group 3 which I will definitely cherish the friendship built during the program and hope to keep in touch time to time indefinitely.

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