3 Things I Learned from Andrew, VP of Genting Hong Kong

Ever wonder what the secret is to popular nightclubs and restaurants? Or how one can excel in this competitive F&B industry? We were excited to find out from Andrew Li, Vice President of Genting Hong Kong and Executive Chairman of ZOUK, who has brought you many high profile venues and events such as nightclub Bungalow, BEATSHIP and ZoukOut Boracay.

Throughout our dinner with Andrew, we learned about his 3 mottos which could be applied to any industry:

1. Grind it out

While his life sounds glamorous, Andrew didn’t start off his career organising parties. As a hotel management trainee, he started his career folding towels everyday for 3 months. He admitted it was difficult in the beginning not only because the task was numbingly tedious, but one can easily feel undervalued this position.

He eventually understood that it was an important learning process and everyone has their own position as a cog. If one person fails to deliver, the whole team will suffer. This is especially important given the high turnover rate in the industry.

While nowadays many young graduates like to jump around companies every 1–2 years, his advice is to first cut your teeth in the top 3 companies in your desired industry and learn the best practices.

2. Your Attitude is more important than your Aptitude

Besides learning practical knowledge from top industry players, it is crucial to have the right attitude so people will be willing to teach you.

“It doesn’t matter what your degree or credentials are, what matters most is your attitude.”

For the exposure and opportunities he had at Four Seasons, Prive Group to now at Genting HK and ZOUK, he is grateful for his mentors and peers who worked with him side by side.

3. No such thing as a perfect job

“There is no single job that you’ll love 100%, but you have to find a career you are passionate for.”

As we round up the night, Andrew’s last advice to the students were to find a career that gets your out of bed every morning. Part of his morning routine after an event is to hopping onto social media to see if his customers were happy — after all it is the key determinant of a successful party!

“When people enjoy what they are working on, you can see the sparks in their eyes. Their whole orientation is different.”

In 2015, Andrew spearheaded BEATSHIP, a beach club party held on the Superstar Virgo, a smashing success with over 16 parties held to date. A lot of people, including Andrew himself will say that this was out of luck, but I think this is a result of his constant desire to provide unique experiences for the fun-loving crowd simply out of his passion for this industry.

Thank you for Andrew for generously donating a dinner at Common Room for Time Auction, and sharing with us the glamor and the behind-the-scenes of the hospitality industry. The dinner has indirectly contributed 96 volunteer hours to Food Angel, Hands On Hong Kong, The Samaritans, 仁愛之家 and a charitable donation of HK$1,250 to Animals Asia.

If you like this, subscribe to Time Auction, a platform that connects you with inspiring people while encouraging volunteerism.

By Wendy Ki, Time Auction Ambassador and Fion Leung, Co-founder of Time Auction

Volunteer testimonials:

Ji Hoon Sherk, HKUST Student

For investing great time into a worthy cause, I believe everyone was truly rewarded back with the great insight from Mr Andrew Li. I will definitely be participating in similar Time Auction events in the future!

Dilara Alp, HKUST MBA Student

My first impression when I read about Time Auction was what a great opportunity I could have, meeting with inspiring and successful people from Hong Kong. The part I appreciated the most about it is how it transforms an ordinary networking into a much more friendly and casual event. It enables you to listen to and ask questions about more personal reflections of the guests and the communication is essentially better as compared to a the generic networking events. I wish I could attend many more Time Auction meetings, however I couldn’t invest more time into voluntary hours. Regarding the voluntary work, this platform motivated me to participate in organizations I normally would not be able put side time for. I had a great chance of working for Food Angel and I already feel very inspired by the great good that’s being done. Thank you Time Auction for organizing this. Thank you!

Riley Chan, HKUST Student

Thank you so much Andrew! It’s great meeting you. I enjoyed listening to all your interesting and frustrating experience. I’m surprised by the long and monotonous hospitality training that you had to go through twice, and impressed that you didn’t give up. Also, I admired your passion and your humble and positive way of thinking. Thank you for being the mentor for us for one night. It’s really amazing.