Matthew Burlage says Hong Kong has interesting opportunities and people are focussed on business

But Burlage was only too aware that, at any time, he could be posted to another country, away from the city he had come to know and love. So Burlage did what many have done before him - quit the job and start his own company from scratch.

Hard work, the supreme ease of setting up a business in Hong Kong and a wide network of contacts have helped the American make a success of IRG Limited, a company which is described as Asia's leading telecommunications, media and technology boutique investment banking firm.

The 40-year-old's Chief Executive Officer role involves primary responsibility for the firm's strategy and financial advisory business across the Asia Pacific region, including Japan.

For much of the week, he criss-crosses Asia, fixing up deals with major corporate clients, but he always ensures weekends are back in Hong Kong to spend time with American-Japanese wife Miki and their five children. 

Great place to live and work

"Four years ago we decided we wanted to stay here," he says. "I was working for a large securities firm and that meant they could transfer me to London or New York. That was one reason I started IRG; Hong Kong is a great place to do business and to live.

"There are very interesting opportunities here and people are very focussed on business and making money. Whether you are local or expatriate, the idea is to make a go of it. 

"I travel throughout Asia a lot and try very hard to organise my travel so that it falls in the middle of the week  - leaving Tuesday and coming back Thursday. I travel most weeks, around 46 weeks total in a year.

"Hong Kong has another side which we like to enjoy. My wife and I love to go hiking out on the trails in Sai Kung, in Tai Tam Country Park and along the Dragon's Back.

"Recently we completed Trailwalker along the 100-kilometre MacLehose Trail. It was pretty brutal and left us fatigued. Our team finished in 22 hours, which put us among the top 50 teams. It is the third year I have done it and the fourth time for Miki."

Before starting IRG - the initials stand for ideas, reach, growth - Burlage was a managing director at Lehman Brothers in Hong Kong, where he created the first and largest dedicated technology, media and telecommunications group at an investment bank in Asia. He was involved in giving strategic development advice to companies such as PCCW, Yahoo Japan! and PT Indosat.

The three other IRG co-founders are Tom Britt, another American long-term Hong Kong resident, who is a legal specialist in the same area, Juliette Chow, who originally hails from Hong Kong and spent her late teen and university years in the United States and Briton Ravi Sarathy.

While Burlage was setting up IRG, wife Miki was also taking her first steps as an entrepreneur, starting Childz Play, a developmental play program for children and Asian Music Vibration which organises musical entertainment for children.

The pair clearly plan to stay in Hong Kong for a long time to come. "The family loves it here," adds Burlage.