Giving HK Retail a Modern Makeover — Dinner with Vanessa Cheung, Group Managing Director of Nan Fung Development

Time Auction’s here to give YOU the opportunity to converse with the great change makers of the 21st century. Volunteer 10 hours to any charity and earn your space to spend time with these amazing people over food.

This time, we got the absolute honour of picking the brain of someone’s work you should definitely follow. She is the founder of The Mills — a project that has gotten a lot of attention for revitalizing the old Nan Fung Textile Mills factory and turned it into a ️ techstyle-innovation hub for the 21st century. Her work focuses on pushing Hong Kong into better leadership and future design (through The Mills and being a convener of NarrativeHK), and promoting a better wellness ecosystem through her company Quo Kefir Believers and CrossFit Asphodel.

She is none other than Vanessa Cheung.

On retail startups in Hong Kong:

Many brands / new businesses thought opening a physical retail store is the next step to succeed. But given the current trends, there are many ways to represent a brand depending on their target audience.

On giving the startups the right help and what The Mills represents:

We’re here to help startups look for the right advisors / partners and get the right help. It depends on what they need: some of them just need us to give them the introduction to factories, some of them just need marketing help, technology help or materials they want to develop. We’re being a platform.

While talking about her work in helping Hong Kong startups to shine, Vanessa was posed with the question of her daily schedule. She referred to her new baby who has helped shift her focus and prioritizing exercise:

When talking about what she’s more grateful for:

I think of the opportunities given to me with the help and support of my family . Because of my family I got the opportunity to have a good education, good career, made good choices, and now I have my own family!

A habit that has improved her life:

‍ Exercising and sleeping before midnight.

On what superpower she wishes to have tomorrow (if possible):

Imagining one place and going to that place. Teleporting?

Her call to action:

Stay curious. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and drill on things (especially) that you want to do. Don’t just sit around and wait.

Thank you so much to Vanessa for raising 86 volunteer hours and all the volunteers who dedicated their ours for the greater good! We would also like to personally thank photographer Steve Hung from Kachick and our venue sponsor WeWork Tower 535!

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