MBA Connect Story: Striving To Be One Of The Most Successful Entrepreneurs
Sam Ngan (Part-time, Class of 2011)
Founder & CEO,
MemePR Limited
Having graduated from CUHK with a bachelor’s degree in computer science only three years earlier, in 2009 Sam Ngan decided to go back to his alma mater and do a part-time MBA for the simple reasons of preparing himself for any challenges in his new role in management, broadening his network and making some friends. He was hardly prepared for the major changes in his life, which the MBA put into motion and even today he sometimes wonders how it all happened.
“The CUHK MBA opened the doors for me,” he says. “My MBA turned me from a technical guy into a capital market participant and then a serial entrepreneur who runs startups. I have established three internet technology companies by now. Every change on this journey started with my MBA which, for two years, lifted me up from just working daily in my isolated cubicle. It has deeply affected my life.”
The attractive mix of his work experience at a major telecommunication company, newly acquired knowledge of corporate finance and keen business sense led him to a fulfilling job as a senior consultant at a financial advisory company right after his graduation. He worked on business valuations, mergers & acquisitions and business advisories for some large listed companies and private equity funds. His expertise in technology and finance gave him the edge to work as a niche specialist in the Hong Kong market.
The entrepreneurship courses Sam had taken as part of his MBA had a strong influence on him. He also took some entrepreneurship courses as an exchange student with an international management program at UC Berkley, the US. “The MBA is truly good for meeting people and forging new business relationships. The courses and professors gave me the ability to thrive and find the path in chaotic situations. They aroused my interest and broadened my horizon and since that time I believe, the only way to learn how to run a business is to actually run one. Before that, I didn’t even know how venture capital and startup ecosystems worked. I wanted to know more,” he says.
Within a couple of years, his disruptive persona led him to leave the comfort zone of his job again. As Strategy and Product Director of a startup, he had the opportunity to broaden his perspectives by moving to Taiwan. “I started with building up an early stage project in a new environment, producing sales, leading people, raising money, defining strategy… I was doing nearly everything and learned how it is all done,” he notes.
Starting off with a concept, they pivoted the business several times to respond to market demand and secured over US$10 million in funding. In three years, the company was financially and commercially stable, even meeting listing requirements. Sam decided this was the best time to start his own business.
“It’s a tough journey. If I didn’t get this experience, I would have never started my own companies. This is the first time I am experiencing how to run a company that creates new things, the process of Zero to One. I am passionate, infusing a sense of commitment into everyone around me,” Sam says.
Today he concentrates his forces on disrupting the marketing industry with his company MemePR, which is an intelligent platform that offers small and mid-sized enterprises localized marketing strategies and marketers, making the process of finding the right marketing services in Greater China and Southeast Asia no longer a hassle.
With the help of world-leading AI technology, the conversational, AI-powered marketing robot MemePR looks out for customers’ needs and provides agile, just-in-time knowledge and proposal of what their marketing service should focus on for their target audiences. It will then match clients with the best fitting mediums and marketers from 1,000 plus global partner networks in over 10 countries for campaign executions. This does not only provide cost-effective marketing services for cross-border clients, but also help them digitalize the marketing data from the beginning to the end of each campaign. This allows for fine-tuning the strategies in subsequent marketing campaigns.
MemePR follows a “Global First” strategy focusing on wide market penetration in the Greater China and Southeast Asian markets. They are serving clients in 12 to 13 countries with about 1,800 partners worldwide. Sam has offices in Hong Kong and Taiwan and is opening another in Singapore in June.
He says, “I have been strongly influenced by pioneers disrupting the traditional markets. I hope that we are also influencing others, enabling dreams and making a better world. That is my vision.”