Although he had never attended a business class before, Bor Hung decided to write a business plan for opening a suit store in a nearby shopping mall as his Personal Project in Grade 10. He reached out to a business teacher to mentor him on this project, conducted in-depth research and wrote a detailed plan, and amazed his teacher with his outstanding business plan. This accomplishment motivated Bor Hung to continue writing business plans throughout high school and during his time at HKUST.

In his final year at university, he landed a job writing business plans for solar energy start-up NEFIN Group and worked there part-time until he graduated. After finishing his degree, Bor Hung received offers from several multinational corporations, but his boss at NEFIN—also an HKUST alumnus—encouraged him build a career in the startup world. Bor Hung was also motivated by YouTube Founder Chad Hurley, who he met during a volunteer stint at the Boao Forum for Asia in 2015. "I was inspired by how Chad started another start-up after selling YouTube to Google, instead of joining Google like his partner," explains Bor Hung. "Chad continues to pursue entrepreneurship, not because of stability or money, but because of his passion for entrepreneurship. Once you do it and like it, then you will continue. His entrepreneurial spirit really inspired me."

With these pearls of wisdom in mind, Bor Hung decided to stay on with NEFIN and is now responsible for project development focusing on private companies. He also works on setting up NEFIN's subsidiary in Malaysia and helps to develop the company's subsidiary in mainland China. One of the biggest challenges to his work is his youth – he is only 24, which has led senior executives to dismiss his ideas. This is one of the reasons why he works mainly with private companies while his colleagues handle project development with governments and other organizations – private companies are not as concerned with his age as long as he can tell them how NEFIN can add value to their company. However the most difficult challenge is a psychological one: as the one setting up the Malaysian subsidiary from scratch, it was hard to get things moving without any existing infrastructure or completed jobs. Even getting the company registered and opening a bank account was a great struggle. "It is difficult to overcome the psychological burden of being turned away and rejected," recalls Bor Hung. "It had a big impact on my self-confidence, making me question why I'm doing this or whether I have made the right choice."

Despite these challenges, however, Bor Hung stays firm to his conviction of putting all his effort into everything he decides to do, and this can-do attitude has not only helped him achieve great success in his work, but was also instrumental in his being admitted to the prestigious Schwarzman Scholarship program. He is one of only four HKUST alumni to be accepted into this program, a prestigious one-year Master's Degree in Global Affairs at Tsinghua University. Later this year, he will set out to engage with an international community of some of the most brilliant minds in business, politics, and society.