Alumni Profile: John Tsang

Degree: Commerce 2000, Diploma in Modern Languages (Japanese) 2000 Current Position:Managing Director, Bag Pack Supplies Group Ltd, Hong Kong I completed my Bachelor of Commerce and Diploma in Modern Languages (Japanese) in 1999. As soon as I had graduated I had to return to Hong Kong, my place of birth, to help out a struggling family business. We weren’t taught entrepreneurship at uni so every step I took was a trial-and-error experiment backed by some intuition and human instincts. In my personal experiences, following your instincts is one of the most important tools you can rely on in building a business. Anyone can follow a formula, a method or a set of rules to complete a task, but when you are venturing into an area where there are no signs and instructions, then you can only rely on your instincts. This is the only way to think outside the ordinary box, to explore your real talents and do what you're best at.

Melbourne University gave me the freedom and opportunities to explore myself. I met new people every day and going to 'school' was actually cool. I was voted President of the Hong Kong Student Association in 1997 and was the founder of the Cantonese play in the Chinese Theatre Group in 1998. Both these experiences taught me vital social and organisational skills, which are extremely beneficial for my current business.

Bag Pack Supplies Group is the transformed family business which I have led since graduation. The company turnover multiplied in the first few years and has been growing at a steady pace since then. From a traditional trading business, the company now operates a bag factory in China, employing around 100 people, with sales, design and R&D staffs in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Although I am running a bag factory, this is not my passion. From the day I connected an internal LAN in my office back in 2000, my interest in IT was revived. I have designed every single IT infrastructure for the company, and I enjoy fixing every computer bug which I have encountered.

In 2007 I was named as one of the top ten e-businessmen by the world's biggest B2B website, alibaba.com. Business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce is a ‘Web 2.0’ phenomenon; moving into the era of ‘Web 3.0’, I will transform my business into a business-to-consumer (B2C) platform and use it to get a greater share of the profit pie.

The last eight years have not been all smooth. With strong inflation in China, costs are ever going up and profit margins are getting slimmer as the world moves into globalisation.

I guess life is about change and adaptation. Believe in your instincts, explore yourself and enjoy being who you are.