An interview with Kwok Ki "KK" Yeung

Company: KK Yeung Management Consultants Ltd.
Location: Hong Kong
Position: Chairman

I have learnt the basics of running a business since nineteen-fifties when I accompanied my father as his assistant for visits to Canton Fair held at the city of Guangzhou, South China when our family business was in frozen food and chestnut.
In 1963 I finished my high school education and joined Lowe, Bingham & Matthews, Chartered Accountants (presently known as PricewaterhouseCoopers). I worked with this firm for five years and pursued a career in auditing and accountancy. At the same time I acquired my qualification as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Management Accountant and Chartered Secretary.

My first involvement as consultant occurred during my secondment to the Hong Kong Productivity Council. The Council was then just set up by Hong Kong government in 1969 to assist Hong Kong industries.
Apart from my work as the senior accounting officer of the Council, I helped a team of government trade officers to build up a management consultancy department and consulted a number of Hong Kong clients, utilizing my previous training and experience.
I joined Hopewell Holdings Limited as their General Manager as well as heading their constructing company with some 3,000 staff. Thereafter, I joined Philips Hong Kong Limited and became its Assistant Managing Director and member of its Management Committee overseeing half-a-dozen companies and factories in Hong Kong with some 4,000 staff.

K K Yeung Management Consultants Limited was founded by myself on the 10th May, 1983 in a very difficult economic environment in Hong Kong when there was a record number of corporate failures in an era of credit squeeze.
We have established ourselves and reputed as “Companies’ Doctor” in Hong Kong. Since that time, our company has rescued over 30 Hong Kong company groups.
In the next ten years, we foresee ourselves establishing four more offices in China including Beijing for the Yellow River Delta, and Shanghai for the Yangtze River Delta apart from our Guangzhou office just set up for the Pearl River Delta.
The other two offices will be established in Tianjin to cover the Bohai Region and Nanjing or Wuhan to cover the mid-west China Region.

We have enjoyed working with chief executives and senior managers of European multinational companies particular those from the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany who have a lot of confidence in us in guiding them through the full process of industrial investment in China. Our consulting service to them has ranged from sourcing local partners to eventual setting up of companies in various cities in China with business licenses negotiated in line with their needs.
I am most happy to work with major banks as I am very keen to help their debtor clients. Through my help, the Hong Kong banks have learned that the best way to recover their loan would be working together with management consultants like us and to give time and assist their financially troubled customers to operate efficiently with high level of financial management expertise and governance.

For twenty years as a management consultant involved with a wide variety of Hong Kong, China and international businesses, I have found that each of our clients and projects is unique and special. There is no standard approach to solve their problems.
We have handled some very special projects. These projects involve consulting with Shenzhen government, Australia government and Malaysia government in their setting of special industrial development zone and free-trade zone.
We have also sent consultants to help manage (a) aquaculture farms in South and North China and Malaysia, (b) a major leisure development corporation (which I chaired) in south of Spain and (c) a grey-hound racing track and duty-free shopping development in Guam.

Why is your company a member of IMCN?
My company has become global member of IMCN because  the European network can refer to us their European clients who need our professional services to grow in the China Hong Kong and Asia Pacific territories and vice versa.