Its been a hard last 12 months here , first the riots that has crippled the economy and then the virus.
It seems that we are coming out of it now and number of cases has now become very small. What has become pretty clear here that the infected were coming form a couple of hotspots, one a restaurant where one family member has it and passed it on to another 8 to 10 who ate with them one night and it star fished out from them plus a church org where the pastor/leader had it and passed it on to visitors to the place. Also had a few from the Princess Ship in Japan.
Overall , I think they did a good job in HK controlling it. People very quickly masked up and cut social activity and put into action basic hygiene things. The key points that seemed to help are basic hand hygiene ie wash well when coming home and make sure you dont scratch eyes, lick fingers or pick nose… try to push buttons etc on doors/lifts with tissue or something that can be disposed. On buses shout stop to drivers rather than pushing bells/buttons. Cut down on social gatherings and only do what is necessary.
We had the panic buying of masks, toilet rolls , dettol, alcohol, rice etc but that tailed off quick quickly when people saw that food supply was still secure.
Its been tough, but people have been disciplined without drastic lockdown measures and seems like we are through it , or at least wave 1.
On the non HK side , I am wondering what impact will be on investing. I have a company in Canada where we have terms signed for a pretty decent investment and am a bit concerned that the 4 investors may pull out that will have a big impact on us and our recruitment etc. The plus side is that 2 investors pulled money out of the equity markets to invest so are looking at it that we have made them 25 to 30% already so hoping they follow through.
I have done a fair bit of angel and ECF investing and am sure that a significant amount of my investments will be severely impacted by what is currently going on and think that this will also have a big effect on start up/early stage as the value of liquidity will have a huge premium now.
One sector that I dont think will be affected so much is ECF as I think the target market they have of millenial/young will still put cash into a good PR vid and hype.
What has happened in Europe has really surprised me as it seems way worse than Asia where there did seem a lot more controlled growth and spread. I am hoping that this is not due to a stronger , mutated version.
We are seeing impact here in HK that has had the double hit, tourism down 95% Feb Y on Y , all conferences moved to SG , any hospitality industries suffering hugely such as leisure parks, restaurants, bars etc . Large fall in incomes and spending as many people are on low base and commissions and commissions are zero for last 6 months.
Huge recession coming in HK and I fear globally, but thats workable if we get this health problem solved which is the priority fo course
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