Johnny Luk
Follow your passion and you will succeed
For Johnny Luk, nothing is more important than passion. He knows he just needs to follow his passion, and he will then never cease to grow. When asked about the key for success, he said, “no matter what you want to do with your life, be passionate and you will succeed.”
Johnny Luk, who graduated with a Master of Science degree in Management (Operations Management) from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2008, is Co-founder and Director of Speedy Group Corporation Limited, a leading integrated IT service company. While there seems to be heightening redundancy risks with many organisations recently, this is irrelevant for his company. His company is still actively recruiting IT talents.
Speedy Group was set up by two young and adventurous guys, Johnny and a friend he met over the internet, in 2004 when they wanted and needed to make a living with something they were passionate about. They had never thought that the company would grow to such a large scale.
Currently, Speedy Group is a major player in the area of cloud hosting and domain name registration in Hong Kong. They became the first group of HKIRC-accredited registrars to offer .hk and .香港 domain name registration services, which paved their way for providing more comprehensive services for the local Internet community. Speedy Group has been awarded the HKIRC Best Performing Service Partner for many years.
Speedy Group is the largest provider of school-based IT support services in Hong Kong, providing quality IT technical support services and solutions to over 400 primary and secondary schools. It also provides a full range of IT services to various private companies and the public sector, including the HKSAR Government. Large as it is today, the company started out quite modestly.
Johnny has developed a keen interest in weather and meteorology since he was young. At 16, unlike most other teenagers who would spend their pocket money on popular products or entertainment, Johnny invested around $3,000 to buy a server in order to set up a website, so that he can monitor the weather and engage in discussions and exchange with other weather fans.
But then he realised he needed money to finance such operation, so he partnered with one of his fellow weather fans to provide website hosting service using the spare space in his server. With a growing interest in IT, he took a Bachelor Degree programme in Information Technology offered by the Monash University in Australia and graduated in 2004. That was when he and his partner decided to venture into the business world and co-founded Speedy Group.
The start-up blossomed with reasons. For one thing, Johnny is a hardworking person. In 2005, when his alma mater invited him to submit a bid for the tender for IT support services, he had had no experience in preparing a quotation or drafting a pitching document. After doing a lot of research and asking around for advice, he won his first contract from the school. True to the company’s motto “Serve with our heart”, its high-quality, customer-centric service has impressed many users and thus additional requests flooded in. It is now serving over 400 primary and secondary schools.
Under the COVID-19 pandemic, the change in the mode of teaching and learning has created more demand for IT support from Speedy Group. Johnny said, “I am not just focusing on business volume and profit. I see the need to serve others too at this very critical moment.” As a socially responsible organisation, Speedy Group helped coordinate with different organisations to distribute iPads and MacBooks to schools in the past few months, so that students who did not have such devices can join online classes. The company also provides the much-needed advice and support for schools to enhance the effectiveness of distance teaching and learning.
Hoping to become a more versatile leader, Johnny took a Master of Science programme in Management (Operations Management) at PolyU to hone his business acumen and management skills. There he obtained knowledge on resources and quality management, quantitative analysis, decision making, human resources practices, etc., which proved to be of immense value when his company expanded. He always reminds his young employees about the importance of life-long learning. “The world changes so fast. What we learnt yesterday might become obsolete tomorrow. Therefore, don’t stop learning,” said Johnny.
“Human resources management is a challenging task but it is essential to any business, because a company’s success depends not only on a product or a vision, but also on its employees who carry out the vision, build the product or provide the service day in day out,” he said. For Johnny, connecting with his employees is very important. “Planning a career can be tough in the fast-changing job market. Speedy Group assists its employees in their career development within the organization,” he added.
Johnny is still young and is full of ambitions to lead Speedy Group to a next higher level. The company has recently joined the Data Technology Hub of The Hong Kong Science Park in Tseung Kwan O with a view to driving synergies with various IT peers and partners to unlock the potential of the field. He hopes to contribute more to developing Hong Kong into an IT hub.
“I will continue to be based in Hong Kong,” said Johnny. Born and raised here, Johnny cherishes the city and calls it home. He encourages youngsters to stay here too, opining that there are plenty of opportunities for them to grow and prosper. He said, “The IT industry will continue to be in need of professionals in the coming years. We at Speedy Group recruit many recent graduates and provide them with comprehensive training.”
For those who are interested in starting a business, Johnny emphasizes the significance of creativity and resilience apart from passion, which are indispensable qualities for starting and leading a company. If one has got all of these qualities, he or she is ready to embark on the journey.
