Not only has Derek Wu been nominated for the Young Entrepreneur Award in this year’s Enterprising Hong Kong Awards, but Future Lighting, the lighting retail and distribution company he is the CEO of, has been nominated in the CSR category.
The reasons underlying both nominations can be traced back, in part, to the unforeseen but fortunate consequences of the decision to send an 11-years-old Wu, and his brothers, to the UK to continue their education.
After graduating from Bristol University with an MEng in Aeronautical Engineering and from Imperial College with an MSc Computer Science, Wu remained in Britain and began to develop a very promising career in IT. Then, in 2010, while he was working for IBM, he received a call from home.
Future Lighting had grown quickly since it was founded in 2001 by Wu’s uncle, Danny Lam. At one time the business had a total of eight shops in Morrison Hill Road, Wanchai, and in Mongkok. But its focus solely on retail left it vulnerable.
“Should there have been any change in the economy or, say, a property crash, the company would have been very much affected,” Wu explained. “That was why my uncle wanted to introduce some fresh blood and modernise and diversify the business.”
