A lot of people are getting lay-off. It is now the period to think about starting a new business on our own to leverage our expetise.

TEN Association organize a new event on Thursday, Apr. 9, 2008 from 6:30pm to 8:30pm.

The topic is “Businesses that Can be Started with Less than HKD100,000 – Small Business Investment Opportunities During Challenging Times”

Venue:

Skylark Lounge, Parekh House, 1/F, 63 Wyndham Street, Central

Panelists:

Jamie Donaldson, Managing Director, McNeill and Partners Ltd.

McNeill and Partners is a capital management and consulting group.  Mr. Jamie Donaldson is Principal in charge of McNeill’s activities in Hong Kong & China.  Jamie has over 20 years experience in China, and has been actively engaged in direct investment, corporate finance, and capital management in Asiafor the past 18 years.  Jamie is also an entrepreneur, having started five businesses on his own and acquired three existing businesses in the past 15 years.

Prior to establishing McNeill’s operations in Hong Kong, Jamie was executive director of Asia Securities Group, and director of capital markets for ATÞCapital Corp., before which he worked for HSBC Investment Bank.  Jamie holds a B.Comm from CanterburyUniversity.  He speaks Mandarin and Cantonese.  He is a distinguished past guest speaker at T.E.N. (April 2006).

Joop B. M. Litmaath, Chairman, Scarfell Enterprises Ltd.

Joop Litmaath was born in Hollandand is a graduate of “Nijenrode” University.  He arrived in Hong Kongin 1963.  He has held senior management positions with the worldwide Hagemeyer Group.  In 1974he started his own import/export company.  The company imported timber and exported various consumer products.  The company later merged withScarfell Enterprises Ltd., which manufactures and exports a wide range of pet toys and accessories.  The factory is located in Heshan, GuangdongProvince.

Joop has been actively involved with the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce (Board member 1992-2004), the Dutch Business Association, (now calledthe Dutch Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong)where he hasbeena foundingmember.  He is a distinguished past guest speaker at T.E.N. (December 2006).

Among his many prominent activities and distinctions Joop is a Past President of the Rotary Club of Hong Kong andfounder/leader of the Hong Kong City Jazz Band. In 1996 he received a Knighthood in the Order of Orange-Nassaufrom H.M. Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands; and was honored by the D.B.A. in 2005 with a Life-Time Achievement Award.

Steven C. Book, Managing Director & CEO, Delbrouck Industries Ltd.

Steven C. Book has been an entrepreneur for more than 30 years, and has successfully started and operated seven companies.  He has been doing business in Asia, incl. Hong Kong and China, for 20 years.  He is the founder (in 2000) and majority shareholder of Delbrouck Industries Ltd., an OEM plastics and plastic moulds manufacturer with the factory located in Ping Wu, Shenzhen.  The company also creates, develops, manufactures and markets several proprietary specialty products worldwide.   A former marketing consultant with a leading USinternational consulting group, Steven has extensive experience in product development, marketing, and new product launches.  Steven Book has an MBA and an MS in Marketing from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA, a business school that has been consistently ranked among the best in the world in teaching entrepreneurship.

Steven has for a long time supported various entrepreneurial organizations in the USand Hong Kong, and has been a mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs and inventors.  He is a past executive director of the Entrepreneurs Club in Hong Kongwhere he was also Chairman of a Start-up Workshop for four years.  He has been the guest speaker at T.E.N twice in the past (May 2006 and September 2008).  Steven C. Book currently serves as Honorary Chairman of T.E.N.

The three panelists, each with decades of entrepreneurial experience in Hong Kong and China, will present ideas, suggestions and recommendations to entrepreneurs who are considering starting a new business in the present challenging business and financing climate.  Special emphasis will be made on opportunities requiring less than HKD100,000.00 in startup capital, in view of the current difficulties in raising outside capital via conventional sources such as banks or VC firms.

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