 |
|
|
Mary Gadams at the finishing line of the Atacama Crossing in Chile with Hong Kong participant Derek Kwik. She says all products at the event were sourced in China through Hong Kong
|
|
Chicago-born Mary Gadams, president and founder of Hong Kong-based company RacingThePlanet?#160;launched the 4 DesertsTM series in 2002 - world class sporting events in the world's four largest deserts: Sahara in Egypt, Gobi in China, Atacama in Chile and Antarctica. She began her career in investment banking and spent three years working in the chairman's office of a US$100 billion dollar conglomerate in Seoul before giving it up to concentrate on her business. A keen sportswoman, she has climbed some of the world's highest peaks, competed in countless marathons including three Boston Marathons, captained three Eco Challenge teams and holds a 3:18 personal record in the marathon.
"I came to Hong Kong in 2001 to visit a friend who took me hiking in the New Territories. I fell in love with the hiking trails in Hong Kong and decided that Hong Kong has some of the best choices in the world for outdoor activities. I've lived in six countries including the US, Spain, China, France, the UK and Korea so I'm not saying this lightly.
I decided to give up a good position in Seoul and move to Hong Kong in 2002. I had started RacingThePlanet?in Virginia in 1996 and was involved with several events in Africa and the Middle East for ten years but I wanted to grow the brand globally. Hong Kong seemed like a good place to base my business because of its proximity to China. One part of the business was organising events in some of the harshest parts of the world and the other would be selling RacingThePlanet?branded products online.
Hong Kong is the perfect location to source from China. I'm not a Mandarin speaker and being located in Hong Kong has enabled me to use local companies here to help me source different products from China. We recently staged the Atacama CrossingTM in Chile where over 100 competitors and staff from 21 countries took part and every RacingThePlanet?product was sourced from China through Hong Kong - caps, shirts, jackets, stickers, medals, badges, banners. We used the Atacama CrossingTM event to test a small outdoor clothing line.
I am also currently looking for Hong Kong partners to create a tech line such as altimeters, special watches and MP3 players to be used in outdoor sports. I find Hong Kong companies to be so flexible and creative in finding solutions for developing the best products.
Superb infrastructure
It is so easy to set up a business in Hong Kong. The Internet infrastructure is superb and the postal service extremely efficient. When I was organising the Atacama CrossingTM, I only went to Chile twice and I managed to bring together a team of 50 international staff from around the world to help in the event. Everything was organized by email.
It's so convenient to fly in and out of the Hong Kong International Airport. My job takes me all over the world and it's important to have a lot of flight options.
Having my office in Central is just so well positioned. I can't see moving in the near future. From Hong Kong, I oversee seven representative offices in Sydney, Seoul, London, Paris, Santiago, Tokyo and Cape Town. Hong Kong native, Clare Buttery, Director of Business Development, also works with me in Hong Kong and is an incredible asset to the company.
I have grand ambitions for the company. I want to grow it into a US$100 million dollar business in 5-10 years. I want the brand to provide life-changing experiences for people (through our events) and provide high quality products to use in the events and everyday life. I have very good demographics among the participants who are executives, lawyers and professionals generally aged between 30-65.
All our advertising is done through television shows produced about the events and newspaper and magazine articles also about the events. So far we've done an hour show with the National Geographic Channel at our Gobi MarchTM event in China, and the BBC just filmed our Atacama CrossingTM event for an hour prime-time reality show. We've also had features in Fortune, Runner's World, Trail Runner - about 150 different publications to date.
Hong Kong has so much to offer. I'm an outdoorsy, sporty, person and people always think that Hong Kong is one of the worst places in the world for a person like me. I tell them on the contrary, it's one of the best."
Related link
RacingThePlanet?/a>
