"Keep asking others about your idea, if you stick to your determination in creating values and helping others, you can create something that will really make a change"
- Plato Wai
SHOPLINE is a global online shop platform founded in 2013 by three young entrepreneurs, aiming to provide solutions to companies that seek for online presence, creating connections between online and offline services for brands. Later on, they were nominated for The Best Startup Accelerators Of 2015 and successfully grew into an enterprise with a scale of more than 100 members across Hong Kong and Taiwan. Currently, they are supported by engineer teams from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam and Mainland China.
Plato Wai, the general manager from SHOPLINE shared his personal journey of becoming a member of SHOPLINE on our Friday speaker series. In this session, Plato opened up the conversation by sharing his overview about what qualities makes one become an entrepreneur. His philosophy towards career development shredded lights on our students' perspectives to look at the opportunities they could encounter in future, and the skillsets one should prepare to pave the path of entrepreneurship. Plato also walked us through the business model of SHOPLINE and shared an in-depth discussion on the personal development as an entrepreneur with HKUST students.
Inspiration comes from everywhere, even the smallest things in life can become something as impactful as to change people’s lives when it ignites the creativity within us. Our guest speaker recommended the book, Alchemist by Paulo Coelho to be the book of inspiration to his own journey that guided him through the decisions he had made. It is a magical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure as extravagant as any ever found. Let’s see what part of the story sparked Plato’s entrepreneurial path!
"Thank you Plato for your fruitful sharing. "Even if you have the same idea as others, it all comes down to execution". As a business student, I learnt a lot about theories and strategies, but seldom do I learn about #execution. You have inspired me the true definition of an #entrpreneur, that is not only to take risks, but to take them wisely as well. What differentiates an entrepreneur with a normal person that has an entrepreneurial mind, is that he/she is capable of stepping into others' shoes, being able to bring added value to others, and not just creating something out of #curiosity or just for fun. Failure is indeed a crucial part of success, and I will definitely remember the importance of #resilience, that is to be always ready to change if an idea fails."
Benjamin Chu - Student from ENTR1001
#resilience #curiosity #fearlessness
"I'm extremely thankful for Mr. Wai sharing his past experiences as an entrepreneur. Obviously facing failure and continuing to work is no easy feat, and I truly appreciated his ability to maintain his motivation towards continuing to work with startups even after facing these challenges. Him going further on by learning from these mistakes (such as learning the importance of choosing partners, continuously discussing your ideas, etc.) was admirable, and I personally see this as an exceptional trait an entrepreneur should have, which he reflected. All in all, I do think that Mr. Wai had traits that fit my perspective of an ideal entrepreneur ( riddled with mistakes but continuing to strive on ), and I hope to adopt the attitude he has. Thank you again, for sharing your journey and providing us with tips that we wouldn't be able to learn without actually taking the risk ourselves."
Seung Yeol Yoon - Student from ENTR1001
