Jean-Baptiste Dabadie, Managing Director of AsiaPack Ltd, receives the SME Award from Yvonne Choi, Permanent Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development (Commerce, Industry and Tourism)
	Jean-Baptiste Dabadie outside the firm's factory in Shenzhen

A company that started out as a packing centre for a French hardware tools manufacturer has been awarded the first SME Award from the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Hong Kong. AsiaPack, a contract packing business based in Hong Kong, has expanded into a global business, posting double-digit growth since it was established a decade ago, and with a US$3.5 million turnover last year.

"We have grown a lot in the last 10 years," Managing Director Jean-Baptiste Dabadie said. And while its production facilities are based in Shenzhen, Mr Dabadie said the company owes much of its success to being in Hong Kong.

"It would have been impossible to survive without our production facility in Shenzhen," Mr Dabadie said "But it would have been equally impossible for our business to exist without our office in Hong Kong."

When the company decided it did not want to enter into a Chinese mainland joint venture, Mr Dabadie said basing the company in Hong Kong was the obvious choice.

"Setting up a company here takes only one day, whereas it would have taken months to form a foreign company in the mainland." He also prefers the resources and expertise available in Hong Kong. 

"I've known some companies that thought they could save time by going directly to the mainland, only to find out the hard way. Skipping Hong Kong will only make the process longer," he said.

Mr Dabadie recalled that the company's first four years were very complicated. "The packing business in the mainland back then was not very sophisticated. When we first set up in Shenzhen, mainland authorities could not understand why we would want to set up a business like this, where you pack someone else's products."

However there was a lot of interest from companies about the new service.

Key to expansion

According to Mr Dabadie, the key to AsiaPack's rapid expansion was moving its operation facility to the Shenzhen Export Processing Zone seven years ago. The Export Processing Zone, which functions like a free trade zone, allows in goods from other countries duty-free. The arrangement also allows products from different suppliers to be packed together without having to obtain a license. As one of the first tenants, the company was able to have its 5,000 square metre ground-floor facility custom-built.

AsiaPack, which employs 200 people, has since been steadily expanding its service, branching into designing and producing retail displays and providing a labelling service of unfinished goods. And its Platform to the World strategy, introduced a year ago, allows clients to expand their market. The service comes at an opportune time for some of its French clients, which have been able to compensate for the economic slowdown back home by selling their products elsewhere, including Hong Kong, Japan and Australia.

"We will prepare the shipment for them as it's a way for our clients to save cost by not having to open warehouses," Mr Dabadie said.

The company also offers clients options to use more environmentally friendly packaging, which can also result in reduced shipping volumes.

The company had toyed with the idea of completely shifting to the mainland when it first moved into its Shenzhen warehouse. Mr Dabadie, though said AsiaPack would "never" close its Hong Kong office, which handles all the paper work, from invoicing to arranging some of the shipping or air services. "Hong Kong's financial and logistics infrastructure are reliable and efficient," he said. "And the tax system in Hong Kong is not just lower, but much simpler."
 
Building recognition

AsiaPack beat 14 other French small and medium-sized firms in the running for the first SME Award from the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the French Trade Commission. Key criteria included strategy, innovation and the company's contribution to trade development between Hong Kong and France.

"We're very proud of this award," Mr Dabadie said. "This is a big step forward for us, and getting the recognition helps us focus on where we want to take our business next."

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