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HONG HONG: After hiring office space from landlords of serviced business centres in Hong Kong for a few years, UK-born Chinese businessman Andrew Chung and his Australian partner Lachlan Sloan decided last year to switch roles and become landlords themselves.
Armed with users' knowledge of the service and persuaded by what they viewed as the strong growth potential in Asia, Chung and Sloan established Compass Offices in October last year to go into competition with the market leader in the sector, Regus Group.
Compass now has seven offices in Hong Kong and Singapore. In terms of numbers, that is a modest start and far from comparable with Regus, which has about 1,000 offices in the world.
But Chung, 40, and Sloan, 37, are confident that the company has a niche proposition for customers in the Asian market, citing competitive pricing, flexibility and transparency.
Unlike standard serviced office operators that provide spaces accommodating one to five people, Compass has the flexibility to provide spaces that house "huge numbers of people", Chung said.
For example, one of its clients is investment fund DKR Oasis Management, which Compass provided with an office for its staff in Hong Kong. The company also offers clients offices with receptions and entrance areas, Chung said, adding that flexible space and transparent pricing was one of the firm's selling points.
He said the monthly rental for a "floating" office is as low as HK$3,000 (RM1,270). But tenants of temporary office space are required to move on to a new office if a longer-term tenant is found.
Sloan, co-founder and group director of the firm, said it had invested in IT infrastructure that could meet the requirements of banking and finance sector clients. "Because we are a new set-up, we can provide our clients with the most up-to-date IT services -- something that older companies cannot do," Chung said.
Compass is expanding rapidly in the region, opening on average one office every month, with additional locations in Australia and Japan expected this year. The company also plans to expand on the mainland if demand grows.
Both Chung and Sloan had early ambitions to become entrepreneurs. Chung founded his own recruitment company, Wall Street Associates, at the age of 27 and Lachlan, a former Wall Street Associates chief executive, started his own dotcom business straight out of university.
Chung also has a portfolio of Hong Kong property and UK restaurant investments.
Falling rentals have made it cheaper to acquire the properties to provide serviced office space, which makes it a good time to launch the business, Chung said. – South China Morning Post
