TALKING POINTS
BAYWATCH From humble beginnings in 2002, Around DB has grown into a vital cog in the Discovery Bay community and a monthly staple among residents. Henry Benjamin reports
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Photos by Baljit Gidwani - www.evoqueportraits.com, and courtesy of Bay Media Group
s Around DB celebrates its 15th anniversary, there are plenty of highlights, the odd challenge and no shortage of fun and games to look back on. After starting off as Inside DB, a brief change of ownership led to the new title, and Around DB continues to be a reliable and vibrant source of information for all DBers.
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The Bay Media Group umbrella grew to include Life on Lantau in 2015 and has undergone a number of exciting developments in recent months as the company moves into the online, design and publishing world. Starting out The brainchild of publisher Corinne Jedwood, Inside DB first hit the shelves in October 2002 after Corinne saw the need for a community-based publication that would highlight local triumphs and concerns and promote local businesses and events. “When I arrived in Discovery Bay, I heard that people were organising events for the community and wanted to advertise them, so I decided to help,” Corinne says. “I started to promote all of these things at Fusion, but I thought there must be a better way. I started with a simple newsletter and it grew from there.”
The Bay Media Group team 2017
It was hard graft in the early days, with Corinne undertaking the majority of the work herself but the publication was an immediate success. In fact, Inside DB was a trailblazer of sorts in Hong Kong, the first of its type in the territory. “The whole concept of community magazines in Hong Kong started with Inside DB. I actually got two articles in the SCMP,” Corinne says. It was in 2006 that the portfolio first started to grow, with Corinne identifying a need for an Englishlanguage real-estate magazine and website in Hong Kong. Squarefoot was launched in 2006 and continues to be a leading player in the real-estate market.
October 2017 www.arounddb.com
“No-one had thought of it; there was nothing for expats in English at the time. If you wanted to find a flat you would go from one realestate agent to another throughout Hong Kong,” Corinne says. “2006 was a big milestone because suddenly the Inside DB office, in one of the flats at DB Plaza, had 30 people working in it,” she adds. “It was really exciting.” The mini-boom was short-lived, however, with Corinne deciding to sell Squarefoot in 2007 at a time when she needed to dedicate more energy to her personal life.