Electrifying sustainable solutions

Startup name: eNovation Technologies Ltd.

Industry: IT + Green

Elevator Pitch: A high-tech company focused on developing environmental friendly technology solutions for local hotels, casinos and offices

Interviewee: CEO Sam Liu

Nelson Moura
[email protected]

When was eNovation Technologies created and by whom?
eNovation Technologies was founded in 2013 by a group of investors from two separate Macau companies, an environmentally friendly solutions company and an investment holding company.

What was the main idea behind creating the company?
The main purpose was to integrate information technology with environmental technology to create more integrated solutions – what we call IT + Green – for the Macau market. Our solutions are created mainly for casinos, hotels and the government in Macau.
Although we don’t create the technology per se, we integrate different existing technologies to create environmentally sustainable solutions for the Macau market.

Are these technologies developed in Macau?
Most of the technologies come from Singapore.

Are there many other local companies in the same field?
You can find many IT companies and many environmental companies, but not so many IT+ Green companies.

What was your occupation before founding eNovation Technologies?
I have an IT background of more than 20 years in Hong Kong and Macau and I was part of the initial group of investors. My expertise is in networking systems management, programming development, etc.

What were the first years of the company like?
I would say the first two years were focused on the investment rounds. After the development stage we got some projects and reputable clients.

How many employees do you have at the moment?
Right now we have 12 people in Macau, and another two in a remote office in Hong Kong.

Have you received any local government support?
We received a subsidy from the SME Aid Scheme, which really helped us during the development stage. The amount was not very large but it helped us develop our market and our solutions.
[The SME Aid Scheme grants loans of up to MOP600,000 (US$74,834) per applicant for different financial purposes, with a repayment period of up to eight years]

What’s an example of the solutions your company created?
One of the examples would be our cloud-based energy/water/indoor air quality (IAQ) monitoring systems. Monitoring systems are already implemented in many hotels, offices and casinos in Hong Kong and Macau but we found that they were mostly implementing standalone systems.
Cloud Computing and Big Data analytics are hot topics in the technology world at the moment, so we looked at introducing these kinds of technology to these systems in Macau, making it possible for companies to monitor how efficient their utilities are in terms of energy or water usage.
Another example of our solutions is smart lamp management. As you know, the light-emitting diode (LED) is one of most used energy saving technologies for outdoor lighting due to its durability.
We created a solution to self-control and monitor any problems a group of streetlamp LEDs might be having, in order to save energy and improve efficiency of maintenance calls.
It helps reduce the amount of manpower required to perform the maintenance of these lamps.

Do you see the market as a niche?
The concept of IoT is booming worldwide, representing a market valued at many billions of US Dollars. Together with Big Data and Cloud Computing they represent an extremely trendy sector at the moment.

How is the IoT field in Macau at the moment?
At the moment there are many developers and many competitive companies in the IoT field in Macau, presenting different technology solutions for the casino and hotel industries as a way of cutting costs.

Is the Macau Government adequately promoting this field?
To a certain extent yes; especially in sustainable development. For example, the Office for the Development of the Energy Sector (GDSE) launched a new regulation where CEM – Companhia de Electricidade de Macau (the local electricity provider) – would conduct buy-backs of electricity produced by local enterprises through solar panels, for a good fee and tariff.

Has the company found suitable investors?
Yes, we have. We’ve been searching for investors all around and we’re planning another investor round soon.

What are the main problems affecting startups in Macau?
Human resources – or better, the lack of them – is an issue that affects all industries in the MSAR, with the city having a low number of qualified people in all sectors. This is an issue the government should address a little bit, allowing the hiring of more external expertise.
Our company has been affected by this problem, of course, but we need to face the challenges and power through. Some of our employees are local residents and others are from Mainland China.

How would you compare the startup ecosystem of Macau and Hong Kong?
Different governments have different policies and strategies for allowing startup development. The funding policies in Hong Kong, I believe, are better than the ones in Macau. The city also has more mature startup and science platforms.

Your company attended the 2017 Macao International Environmental Co-operation Forum and Exhibition (MIECF) . . .
It has definitely been very helpful. We’ve been attending it for the last eight years and every year we can connect with new people and industries. It’s a very helpful forum and I can also see it has become more and more popular internationally.

What are the main business objectives for eNovation technologies in 2017?
We hope we can deploy one or two new environmentally friendly technological solutions and hopefully persuade our clients to adopt them.

What are the most important traits an entrepreneur should possess?
Anyone considering starting a company should seriously consider if he or she is really interested in being a business owner since it’s quite different from being an employee. That person should also make sure their business really makes good commercial sense. Having a startup is not simply a dream; it has to be innovative and realistic at the same time – mixed with a lot of hard work!