The tough get going

As the year grinds on and the pandemic shows no signs of receding, businesses are now regrouping and finding ways to move on. The new normal, as it is being called, is anything but normal, and the key qualities to thriving in this new era are resilience and grit. Individuals, businesses and governments are all adapting quickly, but the constant problem solving and crisis aversion sometimes seems like a game of whack-a-mole.

The world may yet just arrive to a better place once we have put the pandemic to rest, but complacency for now isn’t a choice.

In our cover story, Harbouring ambitions, we sail to Hong Kong, which is unrolling significant new legislation in a bid to keep up its reputation as the region’s financial hub. The Hong Kong Limited Partnership Fund Ordinance, effective from 31 August this year, seeks to snatch for itself a healthy piece of the massive private fund management business pie.

The special administrative region wants to offer an alternative home for private equity and venture capital funds that have over the years based themselves in offshore jurisdictions, but are seeing increasing pressure to shift their domicile as governments across the world tighten the screws on tax evasion, base erosion and profit shifting.