Finding more Asian opportunities beyond Hong Kong and China

WILD GEESE: Rob Agnew, Managing director of Matrix Services, Hong Kong

HONG KONG’S position as a gateway into China has underlined its status as one of the globe’s true boom towns, but Dubliner Rob Agnew believes the whole region, not just China, provides great opportunities for Irish companies.

Agnew is managing director of Matrix Services, which does business-to-business research, specialising in financial services and financial media companies.

Originally from Raheny, Agnew went to Coláiste Mhuire school, then studied biochemistry at UCD. Like many who graduated in the late 1980s, he was forced to emigrate to find opportunities. “In 1989, I left because I had to leave. I did accountancy in London, then won a Donnelly green card and emigrated to the United States.”

After nearly eight years in New York at the Reuters news agency and financial information firm, which brought him to Singapore and Hong Kong, he set up on his own and now considers Hong Kong home. He has been here for 10 years.

“My business is simple. Westerners come to us and ask us how they can exploit X market in Asia. Around 60 per cent are on the buy side – asset managers, fund managers, life insurance companies. Forty per cent are financial media companies – Thomson Reuters, Haymarket, Dow Jones.

“Generally speaking, the project is about ‘how do I exploit China’ so it nearly always involves how big the Chinese market is or how do I exploit it, what products should I sell, what are the regulatory issues, on a project by project basis,” Agnew says.

It has been up and down, although generally he has been able to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the world’s fastest-growing economic region. He had a terrible year around the Sars epidemic in 2003 and a difficult time during the financial crisis in 2008, but things are picking up.

“Most of my clients are Westerners, mainly UK and US, so if the budgets slide back in home markets, it’s unlikely they are going to do projects. Everybody is interested in here but it depends on whether they’ve got the budgets.”

He says the lure of China’s vast markets is “mesmerising” and obviously worth considering. However, he advises Irish companies to also think about elsewhere in the region, as they can often be easier places in which to do business.

When it comes to doing business in Asia, he recommends setting up some kind of permanent representation on the ground.

“This could be an employee or a representative, but you can’t do the market by just thinking you’re going to fly in and fly out.

“Another thing which always strikes me, and some European countries have done this better than Ireland, is that many companies who originally started sourcing from here have built up nice businesses selling back into here.”

He adds: “Irish companies sourcing here have a great opportunity to sell back into here, but there are great Irish success stories here.”

Pointing to the counter in the Starbucks where we are meeting, he notes that the vanilla essence in the vanilla lattes comes from the Kerry Group.

“Go and talk to a company that has done well here. Liam Casey’s PCH is a success story, for example. There is a great network of Irish people around Asia,” including Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland, also the chambers of commerce.

“The growth in the middle class around Asia is one of the world-changing things over the next couple of years and it’s already having a direct consequence in the areas I deal with. You have the internationalisation of savings – this huge pool of capital sitting in Asia. A good proportion is now looking for international locations to invest.”

This includes greater internationalisation in pension money from places like Australia and South Korea, which are being privatised and looking for investment opportunities globally.

“The internationalisation of Asian capital, there’s an opportunity for Irish companies to latch onto that. Even a small percentage of this would be a great opportunity.”

The Asia Pacific Irish Business Forum (APIBF) plans a half-day session in Ireland in the coming months to show some of the opportunities on offer.

“We had the APIBF here in Hong Kong and one of the things that came out very clearly was to do a forum session in Ireland, and there is a good feeling we should do this. So we hope to do it in Dublin ... with speakers from industry specialisms – financial services, food, technology, from education and get an Asian to come to Dublin and say, bang, these are the opportunities for Irish businesses.

“There isn’t enough awareness about Asia in Ireland. What I suggest is be brave, look beyond your comfort zone and look to Asia as your priority, not as your fourth option.”