Published 19 Aug 2019

NewGen is a cross-corporate talent and development program, developed between four large corporations in Hong Kong, including Fung Group, McDonald’s, New World Development and Towngas. The six-month cross-corporate program aimed to groom young talents and future leaders into becoming more #intrapreneurial, #innovative, #inquisitive and #impactful through a series of workshops, company visits and business case presentations.

On July 5, 2019, the first batch of delegates from the NewGen Program, 49 young talents from the four corporations, had their graduation ceremony from the NewGen Program, held in the Victoria Dockside in Hong Kong.

Joanne Ho, Chief Operating Officer, Fung Academy gave the opening speech for the graduation ceremony. “Having worked in Fung Group for more than 20 years on future talents, I am deeply aware that young people are the future of all industries. We believe human learning is the core leadership skill. Learning ability is critical to becoming future leaders, and we should all keep up with the times and live to learn.”

Senior executives, speakers at the NewGen Graduation Ceremony

On the day of the graduation ceremony, 8 mixed groups from the 4 corporations gave their final presentations on business cases raised by different companies and exhibited a lot of creativity. The topic that was raised by Fung Group came from Cobalt: “How might 22 Factor grow their business in Hong Kong?”

All groups incorporated learnings from previous workshops and site visits into their final group presentations. For the topic from Cobalt, one group conducted market research through surveys to understand 22 Factor’s position in the market; found upon the painpoints of the brand market share, and discussed that pure e-commerce does not let consumers ‘feel’ the quality of the luxury yarns. Their suggestion was to use non-direct marketing model to build a brand community with customer loyalty. Another group suggested using KOL online marketing, combining the company’s focus on digitalization and Cobalt’s advanced 3D knitting technology to provide consumers with personalized customized services.

The judging panel included Carmen Chau, Chief Commercial Officer of Fung Group; Henry Chan, Senior Director, Finance of McDonald’s Hong Kong; Lynn Fong, Assistant General Manager of New World Development Group; and Daniel Fung, Head of Strategy and Innovation, Towngas.

Carmen Chau, giving the judges’ summary

In the judges’ summary, Carmen was excited to thank everyone for delivering wonderful and thoughtful presentations: “I am very happy to see that each group has its own characteristics and I am proud to witness that you have learned a lot from the six-month program. Today’s graduation ceremony is not an end, but a new beginning. Hope you will continue to enhance your abilities and cherish this precious friendship.”

NewGen program graduates from Fung Group