Galleon Industrial Ltd
- 香港总商会会员编号 :
- HKG0016
Galleon Industrial Ltd
Polyglot brothers Antonio and William Young owe the success of their business to their language skills. When the brothers set up business in 1968, very few people here could speak English, let alone Spanish, English, Cantonese, and Mandarin as they do. It was their language skills which opened doors for the Panamanian-born entrepreneurs and enabled them to build a humble business they called Galleon Industrial Ltd. into one of the largest toy exporters in Hong Kong.
"Many factories were fairly new in 1968 and did not have any foreign customers. Our multilingual skills and honest faces gave us an advantage as we entered the trading business," co-founder William Young (right) said.
Recommendations from friends and banks helped the two brothers find buyers for their products, and when the company joined in the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce in 1972, the Chamber's Trade Inquiry service helped business take off.
"These contacts have been extremely important to our business so I have stayed an active member for almost 30 years. Going on Chamber missions to other countries, attending Chamber events, and hosting businessmen on missions from other countries has been a major way for me to meet new customers and contacts," W. Young said.
But before the brothers built up their contacts, every Saturday afternoon they used to travel from factory to factory trying to find items to sell and trade.
"I sold anything from needles to elephants," W. Young said. But he soon realised that if he wanted to make it big, he would have to specialise in a particular line.
"Specialising in one type of export makes you an expert in that field so at least people can identify what you are. 'Galleon? Oh, they are a toy exporter'," he said.
Young has become something of an expert not only on toy design, but also on which factories can produce the best quality at the best price.
"Specialisation gives you a standing in that industry. You don't necessarily need to make extremely good money, but you do need a good reputation," he said.
"Why did we set up selling toys? Electronics importers can go to the factory directly and don't need an exporter. But with about 5,000 toy factories in Hong Kong, it will take an assorted toy importer about 10 years to visit all the factories."
The company has what must be the biggest toy showroom in Hong Kong. Located in Tsim Sha Tsui East, each room in his Toy Center is dedicated to only one type of toy -- dolls, cars, board games -- and some toy companies have even rented showrooms to present their own products at the centre.
"This centre provides importers from all over the world with a large variety of toys to choose from at just one location," he said.
Despite being in a field which seems to be disappearing in Hong Kong, Mr Young said importers still need middle men like him because they cannot consolidate all the toys by themselves.
"I have been able to survive because I dona€?t hide anything under the table. I arrange for the two parties to meet face to face so they know they are getting the best deal," Mr Young said.
Associates used to warn Mr Young that if his importers and manufacturers got to know each other then they would cut him out and do business directly. But he said their fears were unjustified because importers generally order too few goods to attract manufacturers. Also, importers still need someone to consolidate all the toys from each factory and ship orders to them.
Drawing on his years of experience, Mr Young has designed a few new toys which he feels offer great potential. The first is a highchair called "Babysitter" that can be converted into a rocking horse (left). A tongue presser with candy at the tip to ease children's fear of visiting the doctor, and a small musical toilet called Smarty Potty to make toilet training less of a nightmare for both parents and toddlers.
Mr Young said Hong Kong's toy industry must be more innovative to stave off increased competition from toy factories in China.
"Anyone can make toys because it does not require any high-tech skills like building aeroplanes, so many individual enterprises with cheaper rates are
forming in China. This has cut into Hong
Kong's orders because toys manufactured in China are cheaper and are improving in quality as well. Toy factories in Hong Kong have therefore been producing very few new toys," he said.
But Galleon is also moving into the new economy to ensure its survival, and will launch its Web site, toys-hk-china.com soon. Once online, the site will allow visitors to source goods, find out which manufacturers in Hong Kong or China can make a particular type of toy that an importer seeks, as well as learn of the latest toys.
