King Leung King-chung was just like many other Hongkongers used to a comfortable life with plenty of entertainment options and different cuisines close at hand – moving to the Arabian Desert to set up a business was the furthest thing from his mind.
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Leung, a finance graduate from the University of Hong Kong, had started his own tech start-up that included coding for websites during his second year of study. He then became one of the youngest start-up founders among his batch to join an incubation programme at the city’s Science Park.
Following such a promising start, a move to Saudi Arabia after graduation to start a shaved ice shop was unexpected, to say the least.
“I am a person hoping to challenge myself, and I wanted to get out of my comfort zone,” the 26-year-old said.
Leung bought a one-way ticket to the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh two years ago, having also considered a move to mainland China and Africa, convinced that he could forge a career in a country seen as having the most potential among fast-growing economies.
His journey, however, was anything but smooth in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the largest country economically and by area in the Middle East, with a population of about 32 million and gross domestic product of US$1.084 trillion in 2024. It was a baptism of fire that came at a steep financial cost.
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