HKR International's Victor Cha Mou Zing wins at HKB Management Excellence Awards

The CEO took home the Executive of the Year Award for Real Estate.

Victor Cha Mou Zing, deputy chairman and managing director of HKR International Limited, bagged the Executive of the Year Award for Real Estate at the Hong Kong Business Management Excellence Awards 2019.

Under his notable leadership, the company has grown into a conglomerate with diversified interests in property development and investment as well as hospitality and healthcare services in Hong Kong, Mainland China and all throughout Asia.

In an interview with Hong Kong Business, Victor Cha talks about how he goes about his busy work schedule, his definition of success, and the type of adaptive ability that allows HKR International to thrive and evolve across industries.

What does a typical work day look like for you?

Well, HKR International Limited (HKRI) isn’t exactly your typical company, so there’s really no such thing as a typical day. Certainly, we are best known for creating Hong Kong’s biggest private residential complex, Discovery Bay. But we have expanded into a host of other opportunities in the city and around the region, including real estate, hospitality, commercial property and even healthcare.

I can tell you one thing – I don’t like to waste time, so my days always start early, go long and are usually pretty packed. Heavy schedules can wear you down. To avoid getting tunnel vision, I try to carve out some time every day to do a little “dreaming.”

There are a few regular milestones. For example, Tuesdays and Thursdays we have Executive Committee meetings, partly to keep track of progress, but mostly to drive new initiatives. It’s a dynamic, team-driven environment, and everyone is encouraged to contribute to the discussions. I respect and appreciate the management team’s experience and professionalism, so most decisions are based on consensus and buy-in from across the board.

Add in a fair amount of business travel to visit our properties in Japan, Thailand, the Philippines and on the Mainland, and there’s not a lot of spare time. But, what I do have, I like to spend on projects outside HKRI. For example, I am the Chairman of the Hong Kong Arts Festival, and I also chair the Hong Kong Trade Development Council’s Hong Kong-Japan Business Co-operation Committee.

What is your business mantra?

That is a good question, but also a long story.

HKRI was founded by my father, Dr. Cha Chi-ming, who was born into one of the oldest and most prominent landowning families in Yuanhua Town, Haining, Zhejiang. He began his career at the Changzhou Dacheng Textile and Dyeing Company. After the Sino-Japanese war, he relocated the entire family to Hong Kong and opened China Dyeing Works in Tsuen Wan. While his textile empire was at its height, a new business opportunity came knocking – Discovery Bay – and HKR International was born.

Anyway, I remember my father used to say, “One year running a textile plant is like five years in the fields. And one year running a property business is like five years running a factory.”

What he meant is that HKRI isn’t a licence to print money. It takes hard work and dedication from everyone involved. I believe the best way to encourage that is by setting out a clear corporate vision, mission and values, and cascading them down to all employees. That way everyone is aligned, and their efforts are concentrated on doing what matters most.

The other thing is that there is no room for complacency. Markets change faster than you think, and the best competitors adapt even more quickly. To keep ahead you have to stay hungry.

Lastly, I’d say that perfection is something you should always shoot for. But never giving up might be an even more important ingredient!

What do you believe makes you successful as a business leader?

Maybe it’s the fact that I realised a long time ago that Darwin was right! It’s not the strongest species that survives, nor the most intelligent. It’s the one most responsive to change.

It’s the same with success in business. You have to adapt. And you can’t let obstacles stop you from reaching your goals, because most of the time they can be overcome if you are willing to give it a try.

The last 42 years have been a remarkable journey for HKRI, filled with excitement, satisfaction, and more than a few difficult moments. However, with respect and a passion for innovation, we overcame it all by always working as a team and embracing change, becoming stronger and wiser in the process.

Having said that, there is always room to be more successful. So, I’m a firm believer in stretching the envelope as far as possible to see just how much further you can go.

What qualities make someone right for the HKR International team?

You know the old joke on a lot of office coffee mugs, “You don’t have to be crazy to work here. But it helps!” It’s funny because everyone knows that, deep down, it’s kind of true. It’s often those intensely passionate people who make the biggest difference in a business.

I don’t mean nuts. I’m talking about people who are seriously creative, yet highly self-disciplined. Who are determined, persistent and extremely self-motivated. And who share our mission and values. These are the kind of characteristics that I see every day at HKRI and that I look for in potential newcomers.

What do you define as success?

That’s a tricky one. But it all started with my father, Dr. Cha Chi-ming.

Back in 1977 he was still in the textile business, and the modest new Discovery Bay development was facing force closure by the Moscow Narodny Bank. My father caught wind of this while travelling overseas and immediately flew back with a view to acquiring the resort.

It was a risky move for someone with no previous experience in real estate. However, with his characteristic passion and a unique vision, he set about transforming Discovery Bay into a multi-national residential and resort community. And, the results speak for themselves.

By any standard, Discovery Bay has been an outstanding success. It the largest privately-owned piece of land in Hong Kong – equal to about 8% the size of Hong Kong Island. It pioneered the concept of a mixed use development and was also the first environmentally sustainable community in Asia to be built from scratch. And, after more than 40 years, it still being evolving.

The commercial dimension shouldn’t be overlooked either. In fact, the shopping centres and plenty of dining options to serve the local community and visitors exemplify our philosophy of creating a lifestyle. We are building an international standard ice rink. A big facelift is being done to the marina. The combination of all these elements has made Discovery Bay a benchmark for modern multicultural development projects. I think the fact that so many developers across Asia have visited to learn its secrets speak volumes about its success.

We’ve been involved in many other large-scale residential development projects, such as Discovery Park in Tsuen Wan in late 1990s and the Coastal Skyline in Tung Chung, Lantau in 2000s. Most recently, our portfolio has expanded to include luxury residential properties like La Cresta in Kau To in Shatin, as well as modern village houses at Kap Pin Long in Sai Kung (house), and the 2GETHER development in Tuen Mun designed for young families. Another great project in the making is our development on Lo Fai Road in Tai Po, which is now underway.

In 2017, we celebrated the completion of the ambitious, over RMB17 billion, HKRI Taikoo Hui project that is transforming the Jing’an district of Shanghai.

As well as being a milestone in mixed-use projects, HKRI Taikoo Hui is a symbol of our vision and long-term commitment to the mainland China market. It demonstrates that we aren’t only focused on property development – but also investing in commercial and mixed-use properties for a diversified portfolio.

Located in a prime location, it has an occupancy rate of 99% for office space and 98% for retail. That’s impressive for a project with a total GFA of 323,000 sqm. It includes a mega shopping mall, two office towers, two hotels and a serviced apartment tower, as well as Cha House – a historic, 100 year-old historic building.

At the same time, we have a number of residential projects in the Yangtze River area, like City One and Rivera One in Jaixing, the Oasis One in Hangzhou, and the Elite House in Shanghai. We acquired three sites in Jiaxing recently, and we’ve won many awards for the quality of our projects.

I can assure you, we aren’t slowing down. Our plan for the next decade is to maintain a balanced portfolio of residential and commercial property – short term sales and long term investment. In terms of geography, the mix will be one-third in Hong Kong, one-third in Mainland China and one-third across the rest of Asia.

There are plenty more projects now being planned. Not forgetting the Group’s other interests in areas like hospitality, retail healthcare. But they all have one thing in common – they follow our vision of creating a lifestyle, and making the world better for everyone. If you stick to your values, finish what you set out to do, and are accountable to all of the stakeholders, I call that success.

What is the design philosophy behind HKR International’s projects?

HKRI has never been a property developer in the traditional sense. What we do is “We Create a Lifestyle.” We see ourselves as a lifestyle curator, enabling our residents, tenants and customers to live happy, harmonious and rewarding lives.

Today, the HKRI brand has come to embody high-quality, stylish and eco-friendly living that embraces comfortable accommodation, smart working, fine dining and most important of all, good health.

What makes HKR International’s developments stand out in the market?

With every project we seek to raise the bar, putting functionality above aesthetics to provide world-class facilities and services that allow people to live, work and play to the fullest. That means creating well thought through designs that put quality over quantity and feel comfortable and homey. Indeed, with Discovery Bay, we pioneered many concepts that are now commonplace in Hong Kong residential complexes.

Another thing that makes HKRI different is that we value and respect people, the land, society, environment and the earth. In addition to our commercial ambition, our bigger goal is to bring positive changes to the communities in the places where we operate. Ensuring sustainability and livability both for the short and long term.

What kind of challenges and opportunities do you foresee for HKR International?

There is never any shortage of challenges. The trick is finding a way to turn them into opportunities. Over the years we’ve become very good at doing just that.

Take the HKRI Taikoo Hui project for example. It was formerly Shanghai’s largest Shikumen-style residential complex, and when we got involved it was one of the last sizeable plots in downtown Shanghai.

That all sounded great. Then we discovered the site was also home to a classic, century-old European style mansion. Instead of demolishing it, we chose to make it an integral part of the ground plan. That meant bringing in state-of-the-art hydraulic technology and spending eight solid months preparing to move the entire 3,300 ton structure some 57 metres across the site. That's a rare feat and not a typical consideration anywhere in Asia's property sector.

Today, the building is called Cha House after my father. It forms the southern cornerstone of HKRI Taikoo Hui and it is a cultural landmark, connecting the city of the past with the Shanghai of the future.

The lesson here is that there are always opportunities are for people who are prepared, well equipped, and hungry enough to take them. Naturally, that includes embracing technology, and recognise the importance of riding the information technology wave to anticipate customers’ aspirations and develop better offerings.