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Gora Dhillon came to HK from India in his 20s and hustled his way as a small shopkeeper selling mobile phones in HK to opening HK’s largest Indian grocery retail chain, now called StarMart. From a small grocery store in Chung King Mansion in HK, StarMart has now become a chain with 7 stores in HK, 2 in Macau, 2 in Vietnam, 2 in Australia and distribution in China. Today, StarMart is one of the biggest wholesaler for Indian supplies to most of the grocery stores of HK.

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𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐐𝐮𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬:

𝑁𝑜 𝑗𝑜𝑏 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑙. 𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐼 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑚𝑦 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑠 𝑏𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠, 𝐼 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑖𝑡 𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑡𝑦. 𝐼 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑣𝑒𝑔𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑠. 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑟 𝐺𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑.

► “𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑖𝑔𝑔𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑢𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑. 𝐹𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑, 𝑠𝑜𝑤 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑠, 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑝 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛 𝑜𝑟 𝑛𝑜𝑡. 𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑝, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝 𝑠𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑜𝑤 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛.”

► “𝐼 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝐻𝐾 𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝐼𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛.”

► “𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑎𝑓𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝐻𝐾. 𝐻𝐾 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑒𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑠𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑚. 𝑁𝑜 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑎𝑦 𝑙𝑜𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑒𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒. 𝐻𝑜𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑚 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝐻𝐾. 𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎 𝑑𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑟, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝐻𝐾 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠.”

► “𝐻𝐾 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡. 𝐼𝑡’𝑠 𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝐻𝐾. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑡𝑎𝑥𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 [𝐻𝐾] 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑡’𝑠 𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑜 𝑏𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑑𝑜𝑐𝑢𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑑.”

► “𝐼𝑡’𝑠 [𝐻𝐾] 𝑎 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑡.”

𝐆𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞:

Gora Dhillon is Founder of Dhillon Group of Companies in Hong Kong, owner of StarMart grocery stores and distribution.

Gora started his work life as a farmer in the Indian state of Punjab. He believes he gets his entrepreneurial spirit from his farming experience. He believes no job is small and willingness to learn and work hard is the biggest skill needed to succeed.

Today, StarMart has grown to be the largest South Asian grocery-cum-supermarket chain that directly imports, distributes, retails and wholesales a wide range of products while also supplying the food service industry in Hong Kong. Gora’s next big project is opening of a holistic Ayurvedic wellness center in Fanling where people can get themselves treated and pampered for a few days in different kinds of Ayurvedic treatments.

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