Kit Wong

Hong Kong migrant, Kit Wong is driven by a vision.
In the south-east Auckland suburb of Howick, that vision is rapidly taking shape. The Somerville Business Park is New Zealand's first multicultural business centre. It has over 90 shops, including professional offices, retail shops selling Asian products, an Asian-operated medical clinic and ethnic restaurants. Kit sees Somerville not just as a business, but also as a way of helping new migrants settle in.



"You have to go through a learning curve to learn the New Zealand way of doing business. It's very different from Hong Kong. Somerville provides the sort of support migrants need. It's not only a social and economic centre, it's a cultural centre."



Kit and his wife, Teresa, admit that it's not easy to start a business here and that the social transition can be difficult. But having made the transition they love their life here. "We chose New Zealand because of the lifestyle - its green environment, pure water and clean air."