Hong Kong where 7 million move effortlessly !

I have been in Hong Kong since Friday, almost 5 days and have been blown away by the way that this city has developed since the last time I was here with the Satachi team shooting the ill-fated XT commercial for Telecom. That must have been 2008, (4 years ago) and I can still see Paul Reynolds (the CEO) in overdrive endeavoring to capture the sympathies of the NZ public from the South Island lake that they filmed his apology at !

This time my visit has been very different, to be here over a weekend has meant that I was able to do so many of the touristy things, which even though I have been here a few times before, I have never done.

Maucu the Contrasting Worlds ...

I have visited Maucu Island,  the Vegas of the East! and loved the mix of Asian and Portuguese architecture contrasted by the flashy casinos that take center stage, so much money, it is overwhelming to say the least.

Maucu

I have trawled the ladies market and been blown away with the blatant knock offs, Marc Jacobs, Jimmy Choo, Mulberry and off course the much loved Louis Vuitton, featured loudly and proudly from the walls of so many stalls (yes reluctantly I did make a few purchases but not for me, for Sam my daughter of course) a very real consideration for any well established brands producing in this market ...

Monkey Entourage

I have climbed the 500 steps to the temple of 10,000 Buddha's .. whilst being chaperoned by groups of monkeys ..sampled an array of Chinese food, managing to stay away from the pork and chicken products ..and visited the huge malls of IFC and Landmark on Hong Kong Island .. these are like nothing I have ever seen before on the travels I have done .. all the while I have felt incredibly safe and have never seen any police nor heard a siren and I find that incredible in a city this large.

Temple 10000 Buddha's

Yesterday was about business .. I am determined to get to know the nuances of this market, who is here, and what does success look like for them. I have met with Invest Hong Kong, to discover some of their stories, met up with two NZers living here, one for over 30 years !!  The delight of the day had to be my meeting with a Chinese male that is heavy into manufacturing for a large NZ brand ..  this meeting was all about establishing the relationship first, as is so often the case and out came the wine, one of my favorites no less, Gibbston Valley Pinot Noir 2009 !! Needless to say the rest of my day was written off as I whiled away what was left of  the afternoon with this charming Chinese man, of 63 years of age!!!... then I'm hardly getting any younger .. ! Stuffed into a taxi at 6pm I raced to my next appointment only 5 minutes late, to continue on the wine trail at the Dolce de Vita Bar in Lan Kwai Fong, here I learnt all about the hospitality trade in this country from another wonderful host, Grant .. so for those of you that intend to visit, the picks for food are Yardbirds and Dragon I on Hong Kong Island and I definitely intend to sample them when I am next back !

 
Day complete I devoured a Subway Sandwich as I navigated the ferry back to Kowloon ..  looking forward to the expo that I intend to spend the day at today. The opportunities here are endless  and I can see why so many ex pats want to live here, many that I have met have no intention of coming home, or are doing so reluctantly to give their children the wide open spaces that they had to grow up in. Success here is about relationships, it is about taking time to investigate all the opportunities, sure there are horror stories but I have seen these in NZ as well.

Temerity of 10000 Buddhas

Talk to as many people as you can, arrange to meet others working and doing business up here, Trade NZ has been a huge conduit for me in this market, in all my meetings I have yielded useful information, whether it be as simple as a relevant trade show or a great place to eat, it is all part of doing business up here .. as with everything this city transacts largely with mainland China, thankful that they don't live there, they have established their factories in Guang Dong and Guangzhou.

You will need someone on the ground if you intend to do business here and I suggest a Chinese person is a strong way to go .. either that or a crash course in mandarin!



My two weeks are very quickly coming to an end.. I am pretty much on my own in this city and have never felt more connected. I'm not sure I want to leave .. but then I  have commitments .. in fact stuff that I'm excited about ..as  I get to judge the Edible Art Awards in Hastings this Saturday with Ray McVinne .. another great NZer that I haven't yet met.

OMG this really is the land of opportunity !!!

5 whole days in Guangzhou China and I  know how to pronounce the city's name without stumbling. I have loved every minute and have been blown away by the opportunities here. It does not have the huge risk and great levels of difficulty, that so many NZers would have me believe .. sure there are risks in working with the Chinese in China but business is about risk, calculated risk and I've been taking these all my business life.

I have packed so much into 5 days here, food, fabric, shoes, accessories, interviews for the 'Her' Mag and factory visits .. I have been to places that by NZ standards are simply squalor and seen the women and men that make up the manufacturing industry here at work and never have I felt unsafe or threatened.



 I have meet many new people, from a wonderful Egyptian .. Bob, to a whole contingent of NZers living up here that have been introduced to me by KEA (this even included a friend of my daughters, hows that for two degrees of separation!) I have had average food and not very good wine in a bar owned by a german..(The Happy Monk) and wandered home at night quite comfortably on my own, often later than perhaps I should have.

Yes I did my homework before I came up here and it has truly paid off, traveling with the MBA Girls has been wonderful, I have two new friends, Kirstin and Sarah,  that are just as excited by the opportunities as I am ..
Guangzhou is massive, at an unofficial 20 million population some would think that it is as high as 30 million.
 I have no idea how they track all these people (life and death are all around us, it would be very easy to go missing here) and sure, they live differently to us but to be informed around this is so much better than sitting in our NZ bubble and criticizing their conditions and the wages.

Kirstin in a fabric market in Guangzhou

I have a new respect for the Chinese and for the way the Communist Party run this country it is so large, there are so many people, so many changes that are appearing for this developing nation that   democratic leadership in so many peoples opinions would never work !
 If change needs to be made the government simply passes a law, take for instance drinking and driving. To stop this with  the bourgeoning middle class emerging and all the trappings of the west, the government simply said  if you drink and drive and get caught, then you go to jail for 3 months, no negotiation, a very daunting prospect for anyone I'd say, even the chinese .. theres no pussy footing around here.. and I love that !
I have spoken to so many people about the working and living conditions here, which are changing rapidly  and I truly believe that as a source of manufacture, they are far superior to anything we can ever offer in NZ quality and efficiency wise, this is driven out of their cost effective labour and lets face it the extensive social welfare system that we have in NZ  is simply not conducive to any NZers wanting to work in this industry and these environments and the irony here is that nearly all our NZ factories are Chinese !

 So some tips for manufacturing /sourcing in this market:

 Do your homework before you come KEA and Trade NZ are great places to start and then theres aways Google .. which amazingly we found was in a few cases out of date but is most cases a mine of information as always.
Be prepared to get outside the NZ/English circle of comfort, we went into factories where no one spoke english and they as yet where not dealing with NZ, although they were exporting to english speaking countries, this is very important, you do not want to be their virgin experience no matter how good the price may seem.

Some of our highest prices came from the English speaking agents that sure make the transition into this country easier but definitely not in the most cost effective way. (there are many NZ designers up here using this type of platform)
Consider an interpreter before you come (you can sort this through the hotel or KEA) .. it is simply a must if you want to get out side your comfort zone and experience all that this wonderful city can offer.

 Don't get complacent, look at all options some of our best came from the off the beaten track stuff and visits we nearly shelved as it all looked too hard in the light of our discoveries to date.
 One visit saw as taking a driver back into the city from our last appointment in the Guan Dong province, OMG it was like country boy comes to town, as this driver tries to navigate the unknown territory of the this furious city . several loud phone calls seeking directions from his help desk??? 3 to 4 stops in the middle of the motorway while he got his bearings and the other vehicles torpedoed around us, several uturns .. and I knew that this was never going to happen in my life time, so out we jumped and grabbed the familiar green city cabs that saw us comfortably to our hotel which ironically wasn't so far away.

Come up here initially simply to discover the opportunities .. be okay about doing nothing initially.
Leave plenty of time, as getting to places and being hosted takes time, taxis are cheap, but always have the address of your hotel and the place you are visiting written in chinese.. there is very little english spoken here and even those that do are very little understanding of what the words mean.
  
Bring small NZ gifts with you (as well as a good supply of business cards).. the girls had NZ wine, honey and lambs placenta cream .. when we gave these out, the dynamic's of the conversation and level of helpfulness changed.

Bring a wide variety of your product with you, if you are looking at manufacturing up here  .. what you first thought may be suitable for this environment may not be the case .. have options that will   enable you to have all sorts of conversations.
Ask questions, every body has information, we found some wonderful markets simply by talking to people all sorts of people.... in fact we never stopped.

If you do decide to go head with manufacturing/sourcing from this country .. employ a Chinese speaking interpretor in NZ this can be done easily through your university, remember this country has many different dialects .. so they will need to speak the correct one .. yep even chinese people cant all understand each other.
 And as always bring the principals of good business into your dealings here, assess the risk, look at the capabilities, consider the turn around times, its not all about price !!!

 Remember until the job is worth more than the money it will never pay more !

Jimmy Choo knock off territory

So yesterday we left the wonderful city of Guangzhou and headed to Hong Kong .. for 6 more days of exploration into another market and its offerings .. a quick stumble through a late night market last night  highlighted the very real risk of manufacturing product here, as Jimmy Choo knock off bags   adorned so many of the stalls ..I wondered how Tara Mellon would respond to the blatant profiteering off the back of the Choo name .. I suppose in one way you could always look at it as the highest form of flattery .. in that to be in this environment you'd have to have the name sake .. and  I even heard that Karen Walker sunglasses have made it to these market stalls  !!!!

I'm in China!

I'm in China! Guangzhou to be exact and no,  I'm not a virgin to these parts as I have already made the tourist trip to Shanghai a few years earlier, that  trip was so different and a lot colder for one .. this place is warm .. too warm in fact my packing will and is already proving to be inadequate . so how Im going to show off that wonderful new collection that I have with me remains to be seen ..  possibly the least of my worries as  I navigate this new country from a business perspective.

Guangzhou

I left NZ on St Patricks Day .. a big mistake calling the ones I love at the last minute! Yep you guessed it ... they were well and truly 3 sheets to the wind in fact even more than three sheets possibly 6 in some cases! When I called some very silly conversations and lots of declarations of love, I switched off my phone and boarded Air NZ's  midnight flight .. I'm still suitability frustrated by the lack of free range product  in Business class,  it is non existent even after several emails from me  .. come on Air NZ  this is your chance to lead the world and  enable so many animals to have a better life, and surely it is achievable at the business class level!

I selected my food from a much reduced menu, given the smattering of pork and chicken dishes  and wondered how I would cope with the Chinese offerings that were yet to come, in that don't they eat anything? .. and knowing we have an extensive itinerary of hosting I simply decided it was time to put on my vegetarian hat again and minimise the offence that I otherwise may chase by rejecting the pork, chicken and egg dishes.

I am traveling with an MBA group from Auckland Uni. They are in their final year and two of the Girls Sarah and Kirstin are doing an assignment on the manufacturing and sourcing capability for my company in this country .. and today we are off to a jewelry and shoe market . Even the two Girls are excited as they sell single items  here, pity about the sizing, 38 seems to be the biggest in this market environment .. its makes one feel a bit like Sasquatch ! 

Sarah and Kirstin from Auckland Uni

So we have been here for two days, have done some touristy stuff  sampled some of the food, although we have yet to taste chinese food such is the variety in this city. We have checked out the shopping and in Kirstins words, shes great at these little sayings they just pour from her lips ... "the malls look like the West has just spewed up on the East"  and shes right .. you guessed it all the usual suspects are here from Louis Vuitton to H&M! The prices are relatively cheap by NZ standards, we have only been badly ripped off once for a 400 RMB taxi ride from the train to the hotel in Guangzhou that should have been 15RMB, but then we were distracted in that we had just discovered that one of the bags we had was not ours .. so some frantic calls and an expensive bag swap occurred all instigated by Air NZs baggage agent . but not without a few RMBs changing hands possibly the least of our worries as the missing case had all the very  necessary chinese gifts.

Hotel in Guangzhou

Yesterday we went to Shamian Island  an important port of Guangzhou's foreign trade. We saw some wonderful architecture  but the highlight for me had to be the many brides and grooms that were having there wedding photos taken. It seems it is custom to do this a few weeks before, rather than on the day  so this area was littered with them literally or as Kristin said.... "I do I do I do I do",

My interest was peaked as to the custom of marriage in this country and I as barraged my KEA dinner guests with more questions  I also wondered how so many of them, they appear to live such frugal lives could afford all this ongoing pomp and ceremony? The photos, the wedding, the parties etc...

Weddings are expensive right ??? .. not so in China, apparently you can even make money  on your  wedding .. as all the guests bring money .. not gifts...  gone are all the useless toasters! Yep they get money and lots of it .. weddings are a money making venture in China ..   well aren't they a clever race??? 

Yes I have alot to learn ... and learning is the stuff I enjoy most.

Our first official day of meetings is today ..   I can almost smell the opportunities !!!!

Not me.... I don’t want to win Big Wednesday??

Seriously I have never coveted a lotto ticket - or even bought one. I am quite unlike my partner, Tony or, it would seem, a friend of mine that works in health who has the whole scenario plotted out for the day she does win. I suppose it’s like the day she decided to go organic with her vegetable garden. Apparently she just went outside focused very hard and willed the snails and slugs to go away and they did… really?

A second friend was so amused with the concept of the absolute power of ‘can-do’ thought that she decided to use it to will her gardenia bush to flower for the three flowers she needed to include in a bouquet to enhance the visit she was intending to make to a sick friend.
Yep you guessed it… it worked! She got her three blooms. But back to Big Wednesday and my first friends plan... According to her plan for the Thursday am after the win… she will make the call to her work (I can’t see this being an early call given that she's partial to a bevy or two) telling them the car she drives (a work one) and the keys are in the drive and can they sort the pick up quickly as she needs room for her new and very flash automobile (isn't that what happens on the TV advert?).
Obviously, with my accountant’s brain in action, I have pointed out the stupidity of this and suggest that she work out her required notice to get all that is owed to her. Even if she no longer needs it, there will be a worthy organisation that would gratefully receive this final pay from her I’m sure.

I suppose the bigger thing for me is, I don't and have never shared the same lotteries dream.
One of my favourite sayings is...’Until the job’s worth more than the money it will never pay more’
Think about it… until you love what you do, you will never bring an advanced level of passion to your work and if you don't love something you can never be good at it and subsequently not get the returns you covert. So why the hell do we put ourselves in these situations i.e businesses and roles that we don't love??
Message time: ‘If you don't love what you do get out!’
Yep, it’s as simple as that.
It will never be fair on your employer, your customer and more importantly yourself. And I, more than anyone, know this. Each day I go to work and, sure some days are hard. The 160 women that I deal with each day equates to 160 hidden agendas… try that coming at you daily ARGHHHH! Yet I still absolutely love what I do!

Every day I strive to create a culture that is second to none; one that attracts the best of girls to work in my retail stores and my head office and we have success here… just look at what our customers are saying and they truly must be the strongest measure… as well as those dollars in the till.
I love the product I create. Who wouldn't when the frocks that grace our stores and the environment that I work in just keep getting better? And on this note, my environment is in a constant state of flux as I am always looking for change and growth within.

So effectively I have very little need in regards to being in a role that I love, that also extends and excites me each and every day. My measure will always be my team, my culture and, of course, my bottom line… and both are healthy. So I have no need or inclination to win Big Wednesday. In fact, I have never given it a second thought as I am way too focused on my next venture and how I can perhaps propel it to make a lottery type return!

I think my life is about to explode

I am off to China! Yep, there was a whole lot of deliberation around this but now that I am finally going I am even a little bit excited. No, it’s not a virgin visit, so I have a fair idea as to what to expect.

The great thing about this trip is that I simply get to attend, enjoy and assess any opportunities that may come up or not and look forward to the few sightseeing ventures that seem to have appeared on the agenda... bliss!

I am however, a little apprehensive by all that I will leave behind, especially the ripening of the 8 fig trees I have at home as I had big plans for my latest café venture to have wonderfully homemade chutneys to grace the equally wonderful food that is being concocted for the menu of Flutter (the new space in our Hamilton Birds of a Feather store – keep an eye out for it!). But given this can’t be changed I am determined to simply look forward as to what might be, rather than what will possibly happen at home and at work!

Given my last blog was on Time it is possibly relevant to reflect on the wonderful weekend that I afforded myself in the Hawkes Bay visiting my father with my sisters and my Mum. I simply don't do enough of this… time with the ones that are closest to me. I was truly surprised this time with the wonderful surprises I get from simply taking time out to listen to the content of my sister’s lives. I am always so distracted by all that is gong on in mine. We had some wonderful moments, some very good and some very average dinning experiences.
Vidals in Hastings was the clear winner of the stay for foodie experiences and believe me. we had a few extremely bad ones. Check out this photo of their sardines… loving the presentation!

Vidals Hastings - Sardines

I continue to be challenged by the slow adoption to free range product. I think we found one place in the Havelock Village that claimed to have happy eggs… shame about the unhappy pork though. Please tell me what that is about?? Don't we either make a stance or not? Why have we forgotten, so conveniently, about the Mike King saga and simply returned to the purchasing and eating of animals that have been farmed so inhumanly? How the hell do I make a change? Do I get to spend the rest of my days walking out of cafes and restaurants until I find that appropriate ones? I guess I do.

So much has happened in this last week. Thursday night saw me in Wellington at the British High Commissioner’s Home launching the evening gown collaboration with Kiri Nathan. Some wonderful women attended and I am sure we will sell lots if Kiri 's gowns as they truly are stunning. This has given her the start she deserves in this very tough industry.

 View the Kiri Nathan for Annah Stretton Range here

The excellent response to our Make Me Over competition that has been running online has seen some incredible transformations. And it is even more fantastic to see such healthy voting activity online… check out some of these images…

W Blakeborough - Pukekohe

V Henry - Tauranga

Click here to place your vote for Make Me Over

The team have also been so well engaged in this. Feedback from Maree, our Pukekoe senior manager, is as follows...
“Some of these ladies have presented themselves for the competition stating that they just don't have a clue how to dress, or feel that they could never look great in a frock. Not only have we been able to provide styling advice whilst dressing these ladies but we have also gained their trust and instilled confidence in them. It is the emotional ‘Thank Yous’ and the appreciation that is shown by them that emphasises for me as to why I love my job. I encourage every woman that walks through our door to have fun and inevitably the styling sessions that we provide create a great deal of this fun!
 

Today is the day that provides the overload component… so much to cram into the five days that I have left before I depart… well here goes!

The Perfect Gift .. Time

It’s possibly the only thing that I actually want and need in my life ... and as my partner Tony identified with an excellent gift that he gave me for an earlier birthday ... an old car bonnet ... masquerading as a piece of art with the words time scratched on the bonnet , yep there’s not much more that I want from this life except more time.

I reflected on this the other day as we looked at a riverside section in all its glory and wondered if we were to be lucky enough to ever purchase and build a house in a space like this and if we did would I have enough time and years left to enjoy it?

Interesting comment made by Tony the other day ... Honey you need to stop lighting all these wicks we have so many candles burning ... he's right on two counts, there are a lot of lit wicks, so to speak, at the moment, but at least I can see a finish line and at least the wicks are all in line with our core business.

Time ... so when did I become so time poor, am I time poor?

And how the hell do I choose what is best to fill up each of my days?

A hard one.  At the moment I am right in the middle of deliberating as to whether I should go to China with two wonderful girls that have elected to do their final MBA assignment on myself and the clothing company. As part of this they have identified some opportunities in China around the manufacturing of jewellery for our collections. Essentially it will be two weeks away on what will possibly be not a lot more than a study mission for me.

I can’t help but reflect that whenever I put myself into a new place opportunities present and these girls have certainly done their homework and have a full itinerary to which I can simply gatecrash, but there is so much going on at home with the two new stores in Aussie ready to be opened for the 1st of April, Adelaide and Launceston (Tasmania), and the start up of our First Bar / Cafe,  Flutter in Barton Street in Hamilton. Not that there is never not a lot on in my life but this month just seems so much busier.

Take yesterday, I was racing to a finish line of 5pm so I could get to a local cafe evening, where they were filming for a TV3 foodie program. I was very keen to be in the space and support as I have been working with the owner to create excellence across his team and his food offerings over the last couple of months. Exhausted by a day that seemed to never end I really just wanted to go home and nurse a big glass of pinot, after all a new selection of the very best had just arrived from the Fistonich Estate (Villa Maria), but knowing how important it was that I was at the cafe, I went ... and what a great night. I may have even met a girl that I can entice to open our Adelaide store ... maybe, maybe not, but to be part of another celebratory moment that is so well deserved and received is just as wonderful as experiencing my own!   

Lovely Ladies at the Workmans Cafe - TV3 Foodie Program Night

It is so easy to become exhausted by the content of my normal day and never surface for air, but so much of what I do is simply caught up in a 50 first date movie rerun, my growth and the growth of this company is about getting out there and experiencing things, putting myself in new situations no matter the work load that gets left behind or the questions that I have left unanswered.

I will never become too time poor to make great decisions re growth ...  and really managing time is just about a discipline as there is an ability to have it all, it is simply about the way that you prioritize!

So do I book those flights to China today... knowing I will leave behind a company that will slow their progress without me or do I simply bury myself in the breeding mountain of paperwork and wonder  what my virgin trip to this part of China might have been like...?

It's a very, very small global stage we all play on!

Two degrees of separation… we talk about it often and I get to experience it almost every day.
Take Sunday as an example: Yep I know I display tendencies of being a sick puppy as far as work is concerned but, I was sitting down quietly thinking about a pending late lunch date with my partner at one of our favourite places, The Woodbox in Tamahere and I started to read some of the articles that had been written/ submitted for the next Her Magazine ...
First one off the pile was on the president of Gatorade in USA, a girl by the name of Sarah Robb O'Hagan… a great fit for our mag that is themed around social media and has the very capable Claudia Batten on the cover. Anyway, I was half way through the article on Sarah and I realized that this very capable woman had been my neighbour in Havelock North when I was a small girl going through my primary school years. A few quick texts to my Mum confirmed this. She was a good friend of Sarah's mum and all was revealed, Sarah Robb O'Hagan was in fact Sarah Buxton… and it gets even better… Her sister Anna, that she also speaks about in the article, is in fact a golfing buddy, unbeknown to me, of my sister!

Sarah Robb O'Hagen

Excited about the prospect of perhaps being able to establish some sort of relationship with Sarah, especially after reading about her capable and exciting life, we head off to lunch... albeit a little bit later than intended given my partners absolute resolve to finish building the chook pen that was given to me for my birthday in December. I was absolutely convinced it would die a natural death (as the underfloor heating project did several years ago - I can still see random bits of white polystyrene amongst the shrubs on the bank) …but no. He did it!

Polystyrene still in the garden from the Underfloor Heating project!

We sat outside at the restaurant as the day was glorious and discussed the schizophrenic behaviour of the weather bomb on Saturday and the plight of the southern Taranaki townships and reflected on how, not so long ago, this would have been us as we exited from our Rangiora store after another speight of quakes.
The waitress approached… “Hi I saw you in Sydney last week, yep, that’s right we were there!” And that’s not all… she was out with my daughter last night in Auckland as her man is a friend of one of Sam’s flatmates… arghhhhh!!!

Completed Chicken Coop! Just need the chickens...

It never stops and you will never know where you will experience these connections or perhaps what sort of behaviour you need to be showcasing when you do. Some of my first lessons in business were around never burning your bridges… that supplier that you treated so badly just because you could will one day turn up on the other side of the fence in a role that your business is dependent on and just how often does that happen? That staff member that pissed you off ends up being the best friend of one of your VIP customers and so the list goes on.

I suppose the more traction a brand develops the more clout you will have to further cause or voice to an agenda. Consider the Lucy Lawless vs. Shell event of late… talk about excellent global media coverage and all because she is who she is… a great example of using your brand to expedite a cause that is so important to you. Repercussion?? Who knows, but as Lucy said… when a cause is this important, her career pales into significance.

I’m not so sure; especially for someone like me, given that my actions or the crusades that I pursue will have direct impact on my team and my brand in that, if they turn our customer base off on-mass then I will have people losing jobs as our sales reduce. Lucy only has to consider herself and perhaps her immediate family. I have a much wider circle to consider. And this in turn means that I will always have to be aware of how I am interrupted, or how I present (given I am the Brand). Not such a bad thing given I have worked for 20 years to get myself to this place!