What attracted Savio Fong to apply to CUHK in the late 1980s was the dome observatory in New Asia College. He had been in love with astronomy and made his own telescope when he was only nine. So when he discovered that the Humanities Building in CUHK was installed with a two-storey observatory weighing over one tonne, he did not hesitate to enrol at the University to major in electronic engineering. In his freshman year he single-handedly repaired the observatory that had been destroyed in a typhoon.

When he turned 30, Savio quit his well-paid job at Motorola and has since operated the Galaxy Scientific Group on a full-time basis. At first, the Group’s main business was to hold astronomy activities for secondary and primary school students. It also helped schools and other organizations to construct observatories. In 2009, Savio got invited to build an observatory in Ngari Prefecture in Tibet.

Building an observatory at over 5,000 m above sea level with scarce supply of oxygen, electricity, water and food was a painful ordeal, but this project made the name for the Group, which was soon contracted to construct telescopes for national observatories in Malaysia, Indonesia and mainland China.

Twenty years of entrepreneurship has taught him gain and loss are two sides of the same coin. ‘If I had seen things in money terms, I would not have taken on the Tibet project and many school activities. An incident that looks like a bad deal may lead to something rewarding. Life is a succession of losses and gains. It’s not advisable to feel too strongly about things; just try your best to do what you at present believe is the right thing to do.’

Christine N.

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