Pan Hanting (right) and Kong Lingqin are now rooted in Guangzhou.
Pan Hanting in a fashion brand costume.
I think that if Hong Kong compatriots start a business in a mainland city, the advantage is actually relatively large, because after all, the Greater Bay Area radiates the entire domestic market, and the development and change rate of the domestic market is also very fast. If you want to develop in this market, you have to adapt to its changes, which will greatly improve your resilience and your growth will become more rapid.
--Pan Hanting
From their acquaintance and love at Jinan University to mutual support after graduation, Hanson and his wife, Hanson from Hong Kong, are working together towards a common goal – to build their own career in the Greater Bay Area.
From offline to online, from milk tea shops to buyers to self-created brands, from graphic designers to tide brand managers, Pan Hanting and Kong Lingqin have never stopped on the road of entrepreneurship, and finally found a breakthrough point in their career development in the things they love, and created their own "NOTHING" tide brand, so as to gain a firm foothold in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and realize their self-worth.
From selling milk tea to selling clothing
In the autumn of 2001, Pan Hanting and Kong Lingqin met at Jinan University in Guangzhou, and in 2004, Pan Hanting and Kong Lingqin became each other's closest life partners, and also became comrades in arms who struggled together on the road of entrepreneurship in the Greater Bay Area.
Pan Hanting and Kong Lingqin's first entrepreneurial attempt was to run a milk tea shop next to their alma mater. "When I started my business, I started thinking very nicely, that is, if I opened a milk tea shop next to my alma mater, there might be a lot of students; and I also liked to drink milk tea, so I made such an attempt." Pan Hanting recalled that later encountered a series of blows and setbacks, just in time to meet the construction of the Guangzhou Asian Games project, the road repair coupled with the heavy rain at that time, so that the sidewalk outside the store became rough and difficult to walk, and the flow of people was also reduced a lot, which forced them to end the business of the milk tea shop.
"If you think about yourself, in fact, I usually like fashionable things, like to wear, and I also like the culture of some clothing, so later we made clothes." 」 After reviewing with Kong Lingqin, Pan Hanting decided to start again and change the direction of entrepreneurship to what he pursued and loved - the fashion and clothing industry.
The two people who first entered the clothing industry started from clothing buyers. "You have to consider the cost, and then the style, the customer loves the things, you can't just do it from your own standpoint." This was the biggest insight of Pan Hanting and Kong Lingqin at the beginning of their clothing business, and later in order to cater to and meet the needs of customers, they gradually went to Japan and even further abroad to get goods. The two found a new direction for entrepreneurial development in what they loved, and their plans for the future gradually became clearer.
Self-created brands support Xinjiang cotton
"In the process of doing it, we will slowly find that what we take back belongs to the culture of others, which is equivalent to playing the role of helping others to publicize it in the process, in fact, slowly doing it will find that we can't find ourselves, and we can't find the meaning of continuing to do it." This is the original intention of Pan Hanting and Kong Lingqin to decide to create their own brand. They want to integrate some of their own ideas and values into the product through their own brand, so that more people can feel it. In the previous Xinjiang cotton incident, Pan Hanting and Kong Lingqin used this as inspiration to design a set of clothes, and they hoped that through this practical way, they would express their views on supporting Xinjiang cotton to the public, and also speak out for the motherland.
"What about the NOTHING brand is actually derived from a movie that I loved when I was a child, called Scarface, which tells the story of the male protagonist's transformation from a nobody to a somebody." This was The inspiration for the name NOTHING. He feels that when he created "NOTHING", it is actually a process from 0 to 1, from scratch, he wants to tell everyone not to fear difficulties and setbacks through "NOTHING", to know how to constantly break through in adversity, as long as you are willing to do it, the future will have unlimited possibilities waiting for you to achieve.
At the same time, Pan Hanting and Kong Lingqin also believe that it is very suitable to start a business in the garment industry in the Greater Bay Area, first, because the primary productivity resources here are very rich, and second, because the popular Cantonese culture here has a large part in common with Hong Kong. Moreover, they said that Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan compatriots starting a business in the Greater Bay Area will also get a series of government funds and policy help, and the advantages of time, place and people will make it relatively easy to start a business.
Find a new way out of the epidemic
At the time of graduation, Poon Anding and Kong Lingqin once returned to Hong Kong for employment, but the fast-paced living environment in Hong Kong made them confused. "Later, I felt that this rhythm would make me feel that there was only work in my life, and I felt very confused, and I didn't know what I wanted to do." This is Pan Hanting's insight from the life of Hong Kong at that time, and then later, due to the fact that his family and relatives lived in Guangzhou, he and Kong Lingqin set the wedding venue in Guangzhou. It was also at this time that the two couples had the idea of taking root in Guangzhou, which they felt was a free and inclusive city, where they felt a long-lost sense of happiness. They got married, started a business and had children in Guangzhou, and now Guangzhou has become a warm harbor for their family.
In their lives in the mainland, Pan Hanting and Kong Lingqin also made many mentors and friends. "You're doing something good, and the most important thing is not to say how well you're doing, but to let more people know." This is what Pan Hanting's friends said to them when the couple first started to create their own brands, and Pan Hanting felt inspired after hearing it, and he was more clear about the direction of his future development.
During the epidemic, Pan Hanting and Kong Lingqin ushered in the most difficult moments since their founding. "When you make a dress, the first thing is to have raw materials. [Because of the epidemic] from the raw materials, you have no more. "This is the biggest problem they have encountered during the epidemic, the shutdown of various industries has paralyzed the clothing production line, they can't make new clothes, their business can only rely on selling inventory, and when the inventory is sold out, they can only stop working and waiting." Fortunately, the government has launched some targeted support policies during the epidemic, and they are also committed to finding a new way out under the epidemic, and finally survived the crisis of this industry winter without any danger.
"Opportunities are reserved for those who are prepared"
"I think that if Hong Kong compatriots start a business in a mainland city in the Greater Bay Area, they actually have a relatively large advantage, because after all, it radiates the entire domestic market, and the development and change rate of the domestic market is also very fast." If you want to develop in this market, you have to adapt to its changes, which will greatly improve your resilience and your growth will become more rapid. This is some of the experiences and insights left by Pan Hanting in entrepreneurship. He feels that starting a business in the Greater Bay Area is a very good thing, the convergence of different cultures, the rapid development environment, which is not only a challenge for entrepreneurs, but also an opportunity for development.
Written by: Lin Yaohua Li Lin Intern Qiu Shuping Du Anqi Zhu Langxian Xiao Qianyu Ouyang Wanheng Courtesy of the interviewee