Hong Kong was a booming metropolis in 1977, home to 4.7 million people who were mostly immigrants from China during and after the second world war. It was a bustling British colony made successful by its laissez-faire trade policy, and a hard-working Chinese work force. The seventies witnessed tremendous growth in manufacturing, trade, and finance in this little colony of 400 square miles.
An entrepreneur, Mr. Lun-Ping Leung, who recognized the potential of EPS (expanded polystyrene or commonly known as Styrofoam) during the time he worked as a manager in a thermos factory, seized an opportunity to build a small factory in Hong Kong to supply packaging parts made of EPS to a burgeoning consumer electronic business in Hong Kong.
He named his factory Yee Fung. Yee means quality, Fung means plentiful.
The business lived up to the promise of its name. Business for Yee Fung grew rapidly from his first make-shift factory on the foothill of the iconic Lion Rock, to multiple locations within southern China. Yee Fung’s legendary quality attracted the most discerning customers. Japanese consumer electronic companies, such as Sony and Panasonic, relied on Yee Fung’s products to protect their TVs and VCRs.
1993 was a big year. After years of making packaging products that quickly get discarded by the consumer once they unwrap their electronic products, Mr. Leung had a new vision. “How about we put our energy towards making something that saves lives”?, he said one day. HKSM was founded that year with the single mission to make quality helmet that saves lives.
After success with a couple smaller helmet brands, Mr. Leung’s big break came when a small but world-renown cycling helmet brand, Giro, winner of the most Tour de France races, came to knock on Mr. Leung’s door. After a long search for a partner in Asia to manufacture a few of the most difficult helmets Giro’s designers want to make, they found Mr. Leung’s HKSM. Not a single top brand was making a helmet in China at the time.
The risky move paid off for both HKSM and Giro. For Giro, what was not possible to make in their own factories had become possible in HKSM. A dream became reality for Giro’s designers. For HKSM, this big project quickly transformed HKSM into the highest quality helmet maker in the world, fueling Giro’s rapid growth after they moved production to HKSM.
Over the last ten years, Mr. Leung has successfully passed day-to-day operations to his son, Sidney, a Canadian educated businessman who returned to Hong Kong to learn and run the family business. This smooth transition has allowed Mr. Leung to focus on long term strategy, while allowing Sidney to inject new concepts and recruit new leaders into the business.
With a long-term vision, and exceptional leadership in place, HKSM will continue to make positive impact by protecting riders and athletes!
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