Editor’s notes: in collaboration with Hong Kong’s Cyberport
As the year of 2024 ends, we sought insights from startups’ founders across the tech landscape. These leaders reflected on their triumphs throughout the year, sharing valuable perspectives on their achievements and the challenges they overcame. Furthermore, they unveiled their ambitious aspirations, meticulously outlined their strategic plans for 2025, and offered insightful predictions on the trajectory of the tech industry in the coming year.
We talked to Sharon Tam, Co-founder at Harvest Elite International Ltd (one of Cyberport’s incubatees) to learn more about the company’s achievements in 2024, its plans and priorities in 2025. She also shared her views on the outlook of the tech ecosystem in Hong Kong for the new year and how she sees Southeast Asia.
Harvest Elite International Limited is a Hong Kong-based Information Technology professional service company that provides smart system solutions.
How was your start-up in the year 2024?
2024 was a very exciting year for Harvest Elite. We started the year riding on the back of a successful HKICT Silver Award, followed by our showcase in the 2024 Barcelona Mobile World Congress (MWC) with the HK Technology Pavillion and topped off with joining the Cyberport Incubation Program. The emersion amongst high energy start-ups with similar entrepreneurial mindsets and being supported by a team of experienced industry experts, was a truly humbling experience.
As the global tourism sector returned in full force in 2024, it was the ideal environment to test the viability of our VHSHUB offering, a hotel system that facilitates direct connections. VHSHUB performed exceptionally well with strong month-on-month growth, moving it from a proof of concept into a viable product that brings value to our clients. In addition to Hong Kong, we have successfully established our presence in Thailand and Japan.
What are your expectations/aspirations for 2025?
In 2025 we aim to grow our business activities by three times and aspire to successfully expand our business across other Southeast Asia destinations.
What are the plans and focus in the new year?
This year we plan to further develop existing relationships and deepen our client offering, bringing even greater opportunities to benefit users of VHSHUB. Focusing on our core strengths is key, but constantly adding value, developing an ecosystem to generate direct connections is our differentiating factor.
We will continue to develop our Hong Kong market, but will focus on expanding into Singapore, Japan and Malaysia, strategically targeting locations where our product will bring the most benefit.
How is the outlook for 2025 for tech ecosystem in Hong Kong? What’s your view about Southeast Asia?
It will continue to be an ever evolving and dynamic landscape, with a consistent flow of new tech being ever so prominent. There are significant opportunities for those who can dynamically evolve, finding the right balance between user benefit and effective adaptation and innovation of technology.
Hong Kong has an abundance of innovative start-ups that are world class in many respects, it just needs to find the right opportunities to bring this to the global stage.
Our view on Southeast Asia is bullish. The region is populous with many diverse cultures, presenting different sets of challenges so start-ups like ours will need to be strategic in its expansion plan. Albeit such challenges, there are many untapped opportunities that could prove to be rewarding.