LCN:

They searched for products around the world before deciding to order from one of the industry's leaders LCN Germany. They ordered hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of products through a local distributor and started planning for their grand opening.

"We were very excited when we received the delivery," Mrs Choy said. "But all our joy turned to disappointment after discovering most of the glass jars had been broken during shipment, and then to disbelief when the distributor insisted we still had to pay for the damaged goods."

"Some of those jars cost over HK$3,000 each, which to a one-man band that we were at the time threatened to put us out of business before we even got started," Mr Choy added.

After fruitless discussions with the distributor, the couple decided to fly to Germany to meet the supplier and find out if they were really as uncompromising as the distributor was making them out to be. What they found was that LCN Germany was in fact having a lot of problems with their Hong Kong distributor.

During the meeting, they talked nails, exchanged experiences, and by the end of their visit, the family-owned LCN Germany was so impressed by Mrs Choy's skill and knowledge of the industry that they invited her to become their Asian distributor.

Mr Choy supported his wife's decision to take on the role and decided to quit his job as Director of Sales and Operation at Hong Kong Parkview to focus on making the venture a success.

With LCN's good reputation in Europe and North America, demand for their products in Hong Kong grew and before long the business had developed into three core areas: selling of products, training, and the establishment of a salon, catering to the rich and famous.

Mrs Choy attributes part of their success to the emphasis the company puts on quality, which it ensures through its own R&D facilities in Germany while adhering to Germany's strict good manufacturing practices.

"All this work and effort towards developing the highest quality of products and services helped us win the Professional Beauty Award in 1999, and more recently we were appointed as the official nail, hand and foot care products supplier to the Miss Hong Kong Pageant 2002," she said proudly. "This was the first time that any product was officially appointed for contestants to use in the pageant's 30-year history."

LCN Training Institute

In addition to distributing LCN products across Asia, training is a very important aspect of the business. Since opening in 1992, LCN Hong Kong has trained over 3,000 professional nail technicians across Asia, many of whom have gone on to become trainers, salon owners and loyal LCN customers.

"In Asia, nail salons are still considered a bit unusual and exclusively for women," Mr Choy explained. "But in Western countries, even men have their own salon. I think it will be some time before Asian women are comfortable with men doing their nails, but look at how hairdressing, facial and even massage businesses have become perfectly acceptable for both male and females."

Currently, the industry is not regulated by government, but this hasn't stopped Mr Choy from qualifying as a '5-S' (Quality Environment Management System) company, and is also in the process of adopting ISO 9001:2000 standards to make sure the business maintains its goal of meeting the highest international standards.

He is also thinking of taking the business IPO, but is concerned that this might have some negative repercussions on the company philosophy and guiding vision which has so far proven to be a very successful formula.

"I always think that a good manager should be doing the right thing, instead of just doing things right," he said. "Some friends of mine have told me of their positive and negative experiences of listing their companies, so it is going to be a tough decision to make."

He has little doubt that the industry will continue to grow, and that Hong Kong's economy will also be running a full steam soon. But he says the rising tide of insecurity and negativity in Hong Kong worries him.

"All this negativity isn't encouraging more businesses to open here. Hong Kong business people are famous for being risk takers and adaptive, that is the spirit of the Hong Kong people. I do hope this spirit can come back again," he said. "I see a very bright future for business here, but we have to go out and grab the opportunities. We might fail, once or even twice, as we did, but we will never succeed if we don't even try."

Company: LCN (Hong Kong) Ltd

Business: Hand, nail and foot care

Established: 1992

Year joined HKGCC: 2002

Web site:

www.lcnasia.com