The pioneers
the air pollution is getting worse. I will keep my base in Hong Kong until I retire. After that, who knows …
Photo: Gerhard Jörén
Peter Fransson: He pursues his dream in Hong Kong I came to Hong Kong in 1983 on a business trip and moved here in 1985. My Australian employer needed someone to develop the business in Hong Kong. I was cheap and single with no kids! I have stayed in Hong Kong since then, except for a couple of years in the mid-1990s when I went back to Australia. From 1985 to 1988, I was doing meat trading around the world, but mainly imports to Hong Kong. In 1988, I started my own business, but quickly realised that I needed financing, and brought in a majority partner, a Swedish investment group. In the early 1990s, I sold my remaining share to that group and the business was soon after sold to a Taiwan-based company called Tait. I left for Australia at the end of 1994, but before that I had taken over some of Tait’s food business in a new start-up, known today as Saison Food Service Ltd. I returned to Hong Kong in early 1997 and have since then built the business into one of the leading high-end meat import and distribution companies in Hong Kong. The first six months mostly consisted of work, trying to get to know the place, the market and customers and also to prove for the bosses that they had done the right thing by sending me here. But I also soon got into
Peter Fransson, 2005
30 DRAGONNEWS • NO.03/2011
Peter Fransson, 1986
fear of public scrutiny and criticism. I haven’t interacted that much with the Swedish business community, since our business is very local, although we have had tremendous support from Handelsbanken. I try to go to Sweden once a year. I love the summer there, but I don’t miss anything specific. The best thing in Hong Kong is the opportunities the city offers and the ease with which one can pursue one’s dream. I plan to stay for the foreseeable future, as I have a business to run. Bengt Sjöberg: A perfect place to start a business In 1977, I accepted a job offer from the logistics company ASG to be stationed in Hong Kong and it has been my home ever since. Hong Kong was not my first stationing abroad. I had spent a couple of years in Prague and in Jeddah (in Saudi Arabia), so I had something to compare it with. And Hong Kong came out on top, which is why I have never seen any reason to move on. I continued to work for ASG and by the end of the 1990’s its Far Eastern activities changed name to APC (for Asia Pacific Cargo), an operation I now own. Since the new millennium, I have also been a founding partner in a few start-ups, such as hotels in Phuket, a hedge fund in Sweden, a leasing company in the Far East and Scandinavia, a stationary store chain in Norway and a couple of property companies in Hong Kong and Sweden. I guess I have itchy fingers when it comes to new ventures.
I met Toei, a Cathay Pacific air hostess from Thailand, in 1979. We got married seven years later. We have a daughter, Michelle, and a son, Joachim. Michelle is working in the US and Joachim is studying there. When I came to Hong Kong, the city felt much smaller and easier to grasp compared with today. There were only a few watering holes where the expats met, such as Dickens Bar, Disco Disco in Lan Kwai Fong and Hollywood in Tsimshatsui. The Swedish community was very small – only 150 people in all. But that also created more of a family atmosphere, and you got to know most of them. It was cosy, you might say. Besides the cost of housing (and that of fresh milk!), I always found other prices to be on par with where I came from. Hong Kong has developed a lot since the handover in 1997, but not due to the change in sovereignty. The Beijing leadership deserves credit for the fact that the handover went so smoothly that you hardly would have noticed it, unless you were an expat administrator. What has improved is that China is now much more accessible from Hong Kong, and what has deteriorated is the air quality. Compared to today, I interacted much more with the Swedish community when I first came here. I was then a bachelor, lookPhoto: Gerhard Jörén
Staffan Löfgren, 1985
the social life and had a lot of fun! The rents were of course outrageous, even though I got a bargain at HK$7,500 per month for a 1,200-square-foot apartment in an old building. Then, as today, one could spend a fortune in one of the top-class hotel restaurants or eat well for next to nothing at a local dai pai dong (cooked-food stall). Ease of business has stayed the same, but too much has become politicised. Too much of what is happening in the bureaucracy today is about people protecting their own backs for
Bengt Sjöberg, 2007
ing to widen my social as well as business network. Another bachelor and I started a monthly dinner gathering for Swedes, and it was their first regular get-together besides the yearly invitation to the consul-general’s residence. Usually, we ended up with 25 to 40 guests each time. Not bad, considering how small the community was then. The best thing about Hong Kong is that you get to keep most of the money you earn. That makes it a perfect place to start a business. Besides, you will never feel bored here and you eat well! The worst thing is that you will probably always remain an expat, even after many years. It has not bothered me that much, but it is a bit strange – after 34 years. I guess it is because our cultures are simply too different. b