What are the 2019 Hot Business Ideas to Start-up in Hong Kong
Updated: Dec 18, 2019
This is an extended topic of our Definitive Guide on Top Reasons Why you should Do Business in Hong Kong. In this blog post, you will take away with several 2019 hot business ideas here in Hong Kong and the top benefits that a Hong Kong private limited company can distinctively benefit you in growing your business.
If you find any hot business in Hong Kong interesting, to learn more, you may find more advantages of doing business in Hong Kong from our definitive guide; also, you can take a look of the research report by HKTDC on the Economic and Trade Information of Hong Kong, which enables you a comprehensive idea about why these hot businesses are great and suitable for foreigners to set up in Hong Kong.
The first rule of business, choose your market wisely. If you selected the right market, even you only capture a small portion of the business opportunities, due to the growing and developing trend, you can still make a huge profit from it. As you can tell, China and India are the strongest growing economies in the future, even the growth is slightly behind the prediction, it is still very strong and big enough for any start-up business in Hong Kong, and this makes Hong Kong the best gateway entering these neighborhood markets, and utilizing the mature business environment here in Hong Kong to secure and maximize your successful chance (Source: the Infographic Chart about The World’s Largest 10 Economies in 2030 by www.visualcapitalist.com.)
Without any doubt, alongside with the strong economic growth of Asia region, below four key industries are the hottest businesses in Hong Kong that any foreigner should consider as their start-up business:- Trading and logistics, Financial services, Professional services, and other producer services, and Tourism
Trading (Import, Export, and Re-export) & Sourcing Business
Right next to your suppliers, top re-exporting hub for Mainland China (the World Factory) "Hong Kong is an important entrepôt for Mainland China. According to the HKSAR Government statistics, in 2018, 57% of re-exports were of Mainland origin and 55% were destined for Mainland China."
Hong Kong Company with trusted image and strategic position, particularly for Sourcing and Trading Business in China
A unique identity of a Hong Kong company, you can register onto all top online sourcing platforms (Alibaba, Made-In-China, HKTDC, DHGate, GlobalSources, and even Taobao ... etc.)
'FREE Port for shopping in Southeast Asia. Of course, you can choose shipment directly from China to your destination, or you can purchase in other countries (Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Malaysia ...etc.), and consolidating them all together for a single shipment to your destination country
RMB is available!!! You can freely and unlimitedly Switching and Hedging of currencies (including RMB) to you from foreign exchange loss in doing cross-border trading business
FREE from earthquake and hurricane. Except for seldom occasions of the typhoon, weather in Hong Kong is respectively stable, and therefore, you can have a better estimation of your delivery schedule most of the time.
E-Commerce and online shop
Excellent Internet Infrastructure. Internet, Mobile, and Wifi coverage are excellent with fiber optic speed common to households as well
Cost-efficient. For e-business, you don't need a physical office in Hong Kong, while capturing the excellent spending markets in the Asia region
E-payment is widely accepted. You can connect with WeChat Pay, PayPal, TransferWise, and any other electronic payment gateway with your Hong Kong company and corporate bank account to get one step closer to your end customers
Domain name registration with ease and variety. ".com", ".hk", ".asia", ".shop", ".store", ".cn", ".net", ".org" ... and more, that you can easily register with your Hong Kong company for reaching your targetted customers (Free domain availability checking at https://www.udomain.hk/en/domain/registration)
Drop-shipping is right next to you. AliExpress, Light In The Box, DH Gate, Deal Extreme (DX) or more that can bring your e-commerce business a giant step further to the world
Professional and Consultancy services company
Excellent Talent Pool. Hong Kong is a famous multicultural community with high-quality skill sets to bring your business an international view in engaging a much wider market of customers
Make good use of Diversity. Many sizeable companies in Hong Kong will manage their cores business in Hong Kong while diversifying the routine and low-end works in the nearby Asia countries, for example
Centre in India for handling customers complaints and inquiries;
Initial translation, typesetting, copywriting in Malaysia, then touch up by Hong Kong professionals;
Programming, Apps developing in both China and India, while project head in Hong Kong to consolidate the final product;
Data Inputs and front-end research arrangements in Taiwan, then analysis, professional reporting works in Hong Kong;
Teaching and educational materials preparation in China, Malaysia or Taiwan (usually English leaning materials), while online tutors in Hong Kong;
Investment data analysis and daily investment reporting in India, while tidy-up and decision making in Hong Kong
Bring East to West with the combined power. Usually, Hong Kong is treated as the mixing hub to integrate all the resources, manpower, and specialists all together in creating low cost but high-value services as the competitive advantage
Below with the findings of major export services that popular in Hong Kong and you may consider to start your business in these sectors at the beginning
Cross-Border Investment/Business
Asia Financial Centre. Hong Kong can trade China, HK and US Stocks through the same account and trading channel with RMB, HKD, USD, EUR, and other major currencies available
Capturing "One Belt One Road" and "Greater Bay Area" initiatives.
Zero (0) Dividend Tax and Capital Gain Tax. Using Hong Kong company as a holding company to invest in all types of actual businesses in the Asia Region, particularly China and Southeast Asia opportunities
Swap of assets portfolio. Other the keep rising property market in most of the Asia region, another advantage is that you can easily swap from one project to another by the free in and out of capitals with a multi-currency account so that you can always swap with Gold, Silver, Stocks, Currencies, Bonds, ETFs ... etc.
Mutual legal system. If you are a big enough investor or the owner of an asset, you should consider inviting the counterparty to set up a Hong Kong company to ensure your position is protected by the legal framework in Hong Kong. For example, even many Mainland Chinese will set up a WFOE to allow foreign investors to invest in their China Business, which brings more confidence in protecting the investor position, also provide easy distribution of profits without too many constraints and political concerns;
Digital Nomads
Skills matching with the markets. You can, of course, being a solo Digital Nomads; to gain more exposure, setting up a company in Hong Kong for international exposure is a wise choice, especially your skill is valuable in the Mainland China market
Trusted identity vs a normal freelancer. Why not both? Your personal identity and track records are important to secure your work, while a Hong Kong company is also a great identity for you to capture more opportunities, especially for approaching those B-to-B corporate customers
Freedom with diversity. One great thing about using a Hong Kong company is that it will not limit your business engagement, where you can perform multiple businesses at the same time, and mostly you don't need to apply for a license beforehand. As a result, you can further diversify your business by outsourcing some basic works elsewhere or consider to hire your own staff, where you don't need to fix your employees in Hong Kong
Permanent Residency as the final stop. After gaining great profits, it would always great to have a convenient place to settle down. In Hong Kong, with 7 years of stay, you can apply for the Right of Abode, which is permanent residency rather than you have to give up your original nationality. The beauty of this Right of Abode is that you can enjoy all the rights and benefits (medical, education, tax ... etc.)
An energic city to keep inspiring your mind. Great ideas need inspirations to nurture, and Hong Kong is a great place where East meets West with unlimited energy while also free to absorb different cultures and stories for you to create new stories of your own For example, this YouTuber, George Thompson, originally got only several thousand views at the beginning, once he landed with topics about "China", BOOM, the views raised to 35k views and keep increasing. Of course, due to internet restriction in China, most of these YouTubers either having their individual account or using a Hong Kong company for earning the YouTube advertising income
Key Take-Away
Remember, for start-ups, instead of a unique, innovative business, it is better to commence with a mutual business where a clear path to accumulating your bucket of gold is more realistic, solid and achievable. Once your foundation established, you can always set up another company for your other goals in mind
The main reason that these businesses are hot in Hong Kong is that it allows maximizing the profit on the initial earnings of your small business, and that brings you a higher success chance at the initial phase
Further that, with less tax burden, you can invest more onto your start-up business and grow faster than your competitors, or, on the other hand, lowering your price to attract more customers and expand your market shares in a shorter period of time
As soon as you don’t distribute your profit, because of your true and legitimate Hong Kong Limited Company status, you don’t need to worry about tax obligation or tax claim from the tax authority of your home country; so you can focusing of the development of your business
This blog post is a sub-article under our "Doing Business in Hong Kong - Definitive Guide", if you are interested, please do take a look https://www.catcherbiz.com.hk/doing-business-in-hong-kong-2019
Lastly, there are always creative ways to make money, always keep your dream alive https://www.pinterest.com/pin/213217363590946140
If you want to set up a company in Hong Kong, CatcherBiz is ready at your service. Simply send us an email at catcherbiz@outlook.com to request a quote now and allowing your business with the first trustworthy top-rated business partner.