A Portrait Of The Fascinating, Famed Financier—Cheung Yiu Tung Billy
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Website: http://igihe.com/
#IGIHE #Rwanda
Transcript
00:00 In 2007, Hong Kong national Changyu Tang Billy arrived in Rwanda for the first time.
00:08 Back then, the country was still suffering from fresh wounds of the 1994 genocide against
00:12 Tutsi.
00:14 With little hope for return on investment, the businessman who was running other investments
00:18 in different African countries did not initially consider Rwanda as a potential area of investment
00:24 but was gradually impressed by the country's fast development.
00:28 This pushed him to inquire into the efforts behind the fast development pace where he
00:33 obtained information from a former cabinet member.
00:36 That is when he decided to invest in Rwanda even though his plans were mocked because
00:41 they perceived Rwanda as a small country that would hardly progress.
00:45 Billy defied odds and came to Rwanda.
00:47 He became one of the investors who established Kigali Marriott Hotel and then paved the way
00:52 for more investments including Century Park Hotel and Residence which has become one of
00:57 Kigali City's hospitality icons.
01:00 Speaking to Igihe, Billy revealed that he was attracted and impressed by the country's
01:05 bold vision and its fast development.
01:10 I started doing business in Africa since year 2000 and we've been doing a lot of supply
01:21 in different sectors, different areas but I realised that there's a big potential in
01:29 hospitality, hotel, restaurants so then 2008, 9 and then I start thinking of what more I
01:40 can do in Africa and I picked Rwanda to start this journey.
01:46 Our first time I came was 2006 or 2007, I don't remember very clearly.
01:54 First time I came it wasn't so good because it was very quiet.
02:02 I didn't know traffic jam, you know business people we look at traffic jam as indicator
02:12 and every time I come there's some improvement.
02:15 You see that's why I always tell people that travel because when you travel to different
02:23 places you find different opportunities and of course when you talk to more people and
02:31 actually that time I had an opportunity to meet the former Minister of Finance and he
02:39 introduced me the plan for the country and the plan for Zigali then I could see that
02:47 they have the plan for the conference hub for Zigali, hospitality kicks in.
02:54 So that's where I find the opportunity and that's why I picked Rwanda to invest.
03:01 Of course there's also other factors, you know, investing is very different with trading.
03:07 You come, you do your business, any time you want to pull the plug you go.
03:12 But investing is like you are putting your money in one place.
03:18 My first investment project is Marriott Zigali Hotel.
03:23 I'm not the only shareholder, I have other shareholders as well.
03:27 It's a mixed use development, we have villa, apartment, hotel, F&B.
03:43 At the moment we have some villa already ready, some apartments ready, some F&B running, we
03:53 have a Chinese restaurant with a big garden and we have a continental restaurant such
04:01 as Billy's Bistro and by the way we won the best restaurant of the year 2021.
04:08 I'm very thankful for the recognition and the support from all the customers and also
04:15 we have a lounge called Chillax.
04:17 It's a very popular lounge in Zigali, however it was badly hit by the COVID, it has been
04:27 up and down but now the curfew has been removed so businesses start coming back and people
04:36 enjoy the place.
04:38 We are sitting on 9.7 hectares, so where we are is only in phase one.
04:46 Then we have phase two, phase three and phase four.
04:49 For phase one, roughly a bit about $50 million USD but if you look at the whole project,
04:57 we are roughly around $200 million USD.
05:00 This is a big project as I just mentioned earlier, we still have phase two, phase three,
05:05 phase four.
05:06 So I would say let me focus on finishing phase one.
05:12 I'm very happy that we have just signed with Accor as a franchise and also Alip Hospitality
05:22 to operate the whole project.
05:24 So a lot needs to be done still, so let me focus and we think of others if any opportunity
05:32 comes along.
05:34 What advice would you give to people who are considering starting a business in Hong
05:40 Kong?
05:41 I want to tell people who is Billy, I'm from Hong Kong.
05:53 I've been doing business in Africa for more than 20 years now.
05:58 I'm a very simple guy and I don't talk much.
06:03 I rather work and I move on.
06:08 So I'm a very hard working person.
06:12 I have many different things but the main business for me now is real estate and hospitality.
06:20 As I mentioned earlier that I'm also into trading supplies.
06:27 I started doing business in Africa since year 2000 and we've been doing a lot of supply
06:37 in different sectors, different areas.
06:42 I realised that there's a big potential in hospitality, hotel, restaurants.
06:49 So then 2008, 2009 I started thinking of what more I can do.
06:58 The first job in a restaurant was in Hong Kong.
07:01 I think 1984, 1985, somewhere around there.
07:08 And then when I moved to study in Canada, then I started waitering.
07:17 What is your experience in Rwanda?
07:27 The experience that I have here in Rwanda is I find this small country, so people say
07:36 small, small country.
07:37 Well, it's not small.
07:39 It's 11 million people and there's many even smaller countries that have 1 million, 2 million.
07:49 And it's a very organised country that I feel good about it and we get a lot of support
07:59 from government and I could see that this country is really moving.
08:05 Let's talk about hospitality in Rwanda.
08:10 Rwandese, I've been working with them now for a number of years.
08:16 They need to improve themselves.
08:20 As much as I could see that the government is pushing the economy on hospitality, tourism
08:29 sector, but the people, they're behind.
08:34 In Central Park, I have the opportunity to get involved, not down to very small, lower
08:43 level, but I've been participating in some management meeting and I realised, sorry to
08:52 say, but some people are lazy and some people are too much calculating.
08:59 Why would I say that is that some people, young people who come, who has no experience,
09:06 now we are giving them a chance to learn.
09:12 They will be like, "But how much are you paying me?
09:15 Why are you sending me there to fold napkins?
09:20 It's like what I'm getting and what you're paying is not equal."
09:28 You see, I've been through this.
09:31 I would say why I am successful.
09:38 One of the reasons is that when you are young, you work, you learn.
09:46 Whether you get nothing, but actually you're not getting nothing.
09:51 As long as you work, you will get something at the end of the day, whether it's face value
09:57 like money or some knowledge.
09:59 So whenever you have an opportunity, you shall learn as much as possible, especially when
10:08 you are young.
10:12 Opportunities are not everywhere, but when it comes by, grab it and then you see what
10:18 you can get out of it.
10:20 But being lazy, you're not going anywhere.
10:22 [MUSIC PLAYING]