Tech-savvy youngsters aim to bridge e-commerce gap between East and West

He is otherwise reserved and unassuming. But Arnold Ma - who is just 27 and whose company is less than two years old - does not hesitate when he comes out with one big boast: that his firm knows more about how to make it in China than anyone at Google.

"It's a big claim, but I say we do, definitely," the tech wunderkind asserts from his office in London's Camden Town.

"Google is nothing in China, really - I think they have about 2 per cent market share in search engines. We definitely know more about Chinese digital than Google does because that's what we do; that's our bread and butter."

While US and European digital giants struggle to compete against the Chinese competition, Ma's company, Qumin, can proudly declare itself to be the "world's only full-service Anglo-Chinese digital marketing and e-commerce company". And its founder and CEO says he's calling his concept "the billion-dollar product".

Qumin sells Western brands to China, and will, in due course, be helping Chinese firms to break into the West. It offers a complete package of services, from search engine optimisation and pay-per-click expertise to web design, app building and social media.