Sze Nga Shirley Leung
MBA 2019
After graduating from the University of Sunderland in Hong Kong, Shirley decided to take the plunge and left her job of 10 years at Nestle to set up her own business. She is the founder and CEO of Jumbo Services, a one-stop provider of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG). FMCG are products that are sold quickly and at a relatively low cost. Examples include non-durable household goods such as packaged foods, beverages, toiletries, candies, cosmetics, over-the-counter drugs, dry goods, and other consumables.
Shirley established Jumbo Services in 2019. They offer an online FMCG outlet and also other services to FMCG brands such as:
- Sales strategy advisory: What is the best sales channel (supermarket, online, etc)?
- In-store promotion: Arrange demo booths and promoters in supermarkets
- In-store display: Design attractive display in supermarkets to showcase products
- Re-packaging service: Suggest combo offers (eg. put coffee and cereal in a pack to sell)
Shirley explained: “I established Jumbo Services to introduce unconventional FMCG sales and promotion ideas to the Hong Kong market. In our e-shop you can pick what you want online and wait for our delivery at home. It’s getting more popular in Hong Kong as people are concerned about shopping in a brick-and-mortar shop.
"As part of our services, we also offer in-store demo, merchandising and repacking. By tactfully repacking different merchandises into combo sets, I have been helping brands to boost revenue and inventory turnover. Short-dated stock are offered as giveaway to customers who spent above a certain amount. That proves highly effective in stock clearance and saving storage cost.”
Shirley has applied her experience of more than 15 years of sales and marketing in the FMCG sector when running her own business. In 12 months, she has expanded the company from one to five staff members and achieved a remarkable 500% growth despite the economic downturn due to social unrest in Hong Kong coupled with the outbreak of Covid-19.
For Shirley, juggling her responsibilities as a mother of three kids from 2 years to 3 years old and growing her business during the pandemic hasn’t been an easy task.
She explained: “Social unrest in Hong Kong coupled with Covid-19 outbreak have been the biggest challenges. I recalled on the very first business day of Jumbo Services, social unrest had put the city in suspension, and I had to do the opening ceremony at home.
“With the unsettled pandemic conditions, my expansion plan to China and Macau has been put off due to stringent border controls. Alongside these challenges is the shift of shopping mode from offline to online. I had to adapt quickly and go digital in riding on the trend.”
When asked what attracted her to the University of Sunderland in Hong Kong, Shirley replied: “I was attracted by the 2-year fast-track program. The hybrid of online and offline classes makes the MBA program flexible without compromising on the teaching quality. The lecturers were very knowledgeable in the subject matters and the tutors were able to provide good coaching in helping me to complete assignments. It was a pleasant learning experience.”
Shirley’s advice to recent graduates entering the job market is very simple: follow a career you are passionate about.
She advised: “As the saying goes, ‘love what you do and do what you love’. Also, the world is changing every day with new things coming up. To stay competitive, you must be aware of what’s new in your area and realize how they affect what you are doing. To me, real learning starts upon graduation.”
Talking about her plans, Shirley said: “Online to offline (O2O) is the prevailing trend in sales and marketing. I have already created an online FMCG outlet. Going forward, I will open brick-and-mortar stores to connect on/offline business and raise the brand’s visibility as well as market share.”