I was born in Hong Kong and grew up in the countryside. I did not reach a very high level of education because I did not particularly excel in school. I completed Middle school and left to find work. My family was poor so I began to work early. I worked to support my family. In 1988, at the age of 24, I immigrated to the UK. It was my first time travelling by aeroplane. I entered the UK with a two-year Work Permit of Second Tier Overseas Labour. My first job was working for a Chinese restaurant in Gravesend, Kent.

I met my wife in 1989 and, in 1991, we got married. We put our money together and bought a house. We lived in there for about 3 or 4 years. But in the 1990s, things went bad for us; my wife had no work. I was the only one working, whilst we had to pay mortgage and everything. Businesses everywhere were having a bad time. For one to two years, we were rather down. With a family to feed, outgoings were a burden as costs went up. You have to pay for the bills, electricity, water and so on. On top of this, there was Council Tax.

Later a friend introduced me to a Hotel near Gatwick Airport, there I worked as assistant chef for the Chinese food section in the kitchen. My wife was then a full-time housewife looking after our children. With all the various bills to pay, we were merely able to keep our head above water. Then in 1994, a relative offered to lend me $500,000 Hong Kong Dollars to buy a takeaway shop in Leyton.

Having started the business, things did not appear optimistic for us. Business was poor in the beginning. I still remember clearly that we had only £52 turnover for the first week. Compared with the £300/week wage at the Gatwick hotel, this was unthinkable. What was I doing, I asked myself?

Weeks went by, business remained stagnant. I had to sack employees. By the end of the third month, there was only one part time guy left to help me, with myself being full time, and my wife helping out with this and that as well, after dropping off the children to school. Slowly though, things picked up a little. Business turn-over could now cover the outgoings.

By the year 2000, six years after we started the business, we became more financially comfortable. We decided to purchase another property, leasing out the Leyton business. The new premises was in Manor Park, East London. Nowadays, our children are grown up. They all did well at college and some are now working in IT and insurance. You see, for me, hard working is vital. Most of us are not particularly talented, the important thing is hard working. Be strong, be brave when facing challenges.