JSM’s Aspiring Future Lawyers Join a GuideFong Tour to Explore Hong Kong’s Ethnically Diverse Entrepreneurial Community

On 16 July 2025, Johnson Stokes & Master (JSM)‘s July cohort of Summer Interns – each an aspiring trainee solicitor and future lawyer with the potential to shape Hong Kong’s legal profession in the years to come – embarked on a unique team-building and community engagement experience with us through a GuideFong Tour. 

Organized by the Foundation for Shared Impact (FSI)’s Project GuideFong, the tour was designed to immerse these young future legal professionals in the vibrant yet often unseen world of Hong Kong’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) founded and managed by ethnically diverse entrepreneurs. Against a backdrop of economic uncertainty, where visibility is a key challenge for many local businesses, the tour provided a direct lens into the resilience and entrepreneurial drive that is quintessentially Hong Kong.

The element of surprise added an extra layer of excitement for the Summer Interns: they had no idea what awaited them until they met us at the Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station, where we briefly unveiled the day’s adventure.

A Day of Discovery: Unveiling Tsim Sha Tsui’s Entrepreneurial Spirit

The GuideFong Tour took participants through the Kowloon Mosque, Far East Mansions, and Chungking Mansions to highlight the area’s distinctive multicultural fabric and entrepreneurial community. 

Our journey began at the largest mosque in Hong Kong, also referred to as the Kowloon Mosque and Islamic Centre, or Kowloon Mosque, where we were privileged to be greeted by Mufti Muhammad Shoaib, the esteemed Imam. He guided us through the mezzanine floor, pointing out the mosque’s first stone, inscribed with Persian, a testament to the deep roots of Hong Kong’s Muslim community. 

JSM’s 2025 July cohort of Summer Interns, GuideFong Ambassadors, Adnan Riaz, and the esteemed Imam, Mufti Muhammad Shoaib

Built originally in 1896 by the Muslim garrisons of the Hong Kong Regiment of the British Army, the Kowloon Mosque suffered extensive damage due to construction work for the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) station in 1976, and construction of the new mosque was completed in 1984. As a monumental establishment that can accommodate 3,500 worshippers at a time, the mosque serves not only as a place of worship for Muslims and a venue for celebrating Islamic festivals, but also as a hub for social interaction and cultural exchange with non-Muslims. Mufti Shoaib shared insights into the Hong Kong Muslim community of over 300,000, emphasizing the mosque’s role as a crucial hub for spiritual, financial, familial support, as well as community connection by opening its doors to everyone. 

Adnan Riaz, FSI’s Community Business Program Assistant and the tour guide, highlighted the diversity and inclusion efforts that have enhanced the social recognition of the Kowloon Mosque to strengthen the relations between Muslims and non-Muslims in Hong Kong. For example, in 2022, the Kowloon Motor Bus Company (KMB) renamed the bus stop outside the mosque from “Kowloon Park” to  “Kowloon Mosque”, and it held an Open Day and Employment Seminar at the mosque for non-Chinese-speaking Hongkongers to apply for vacancies at the company. KMB has also installed a Fare Saver machine at the door of Kowloon Mosque to make it easier for Muslims and other members of the public to benefit from fare discounts when visiting the mosque. 

Said one GuideFong Tour participant: “It never crossed my mind to visit the Kowloon Mosque because I always thought I must be religious to be accepted inside. I’m surprised to see that it is very clean and simple inside because from the outside, it looks very grand.”

“Visiting the mosque was really inspiring,” said another participant. “I’ve never been to a mosque before, and actually didn’t even know it was open to the public. It was really great to learn a lot more about Islam!”

Meeting Hong Kong’s Ethnically Diverse Entrepreneurs

Malik Iftikhar, founder and owner of Malik the Tailor

Next, we stepped into a shop of bespoke tailoring at Malik the Tailor, formally known as New Famous Fit Fashions. Malik Iftikhar, a Pakistani tailor and entrepreneur, passionately shared his love for the craft and playing with fabrics. He surprised everyone by revealing he had made suits for numerous renowned figures, including well-known lawyers and political dignitaries. His practical advice for the Summer Interns on selecting their first suits – to focus on a sombre color, classic style, and a comfortable fit was a memorable highlight. 

The tour then took an “interesting” turn to Far East Mansions Shopping Arcade. Despite a name hinting at grandeur, the shopping arcade’s lack of foot traffic and abundance of shuttered shops starkly highlighted the downturn in the retail industry and the ongoing struggles facing local SMEs.

This reality was further amplified by Jassi Gill, who has been running his business, Golden Sports HK, for 18 years. To increase foot traffic and visibility during the COVID-19 pandemic, Jassi relocated his shop from the first floor to the ground floor. While Jassi’s story illustrated the adaptability of small business owners in a challenging economic climate, he also lamented that the arcade’s post-COVID decline was a drastic contrast to its once-bustling self just five years ago.

Our exploration continued as we took a shortcut from Minden Avenue into the legendary Chungking Mansions via the back alley. A lively hub right in the heart of Tsim Sha Tsui, Chungking Mansions is home to countless SMEs founded and owned by ethnically diverse entrepreneurs. 

Jassi Gill, founder of Golden Sports HK

Opened in November 1961, Chungking Mansions became an iconic Hong Kong establishment capturing imagination worldwide after the release of film director Wong Kar-wai’s 1994 poetic cinematic work, Chungking Express. Today, Chungking Mansions is home to an eclectic mix of cultures, affordable housing and short-term accommodation, and small businesses. It is also a microcosm of global trade: according to an estimate by Gordon Mathews, professor of anthropology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and author of Ghetto at the Center of the World, one-fifth of all mobile phones used in sub-Saharan Africa have passed through the walls of Chungking Mansions.

To allow tour participants an immersive experience of the multicultural spirit of Chungking Mansions, we introduced them to the bustling GuideFong businesses. On the ground floor, we briefly visited Tess Karl Buah, founder of the first Ghanaian restaurant in Hong Kong, Ghana Locals. Then we tasted the popular South Asian sweet snack, jalebi, at Kamal Sweets Corner, where Mr Singh the owner generously offered his sweets and proudly shared stories about the craft of making Indian sweets. We then went up to Paul’S Kitchen, an African fusion food restaurant founded in 2015 by a passionate husband-and-wife chef duo, Geraldo Paul Kobla Agbenyegah and Selina Ip King Tze. 

We also visited Nissar Abbas, who runs Chakwal International Hair Salon in the basement. Nissar, whose eldest brother opened the salon in 1992 before passing it to him, candidly spoke about the challenges of running an SME in Hong Kong as a non-Chinese speaker. He emphasized the power of building one’s own community. He also proudly shared how he and his team successfully scaled the salon from one barber chair to eight, and their commitment to hiring diverse talent, including their latest addition, an African-Canadian barber renowned for his fade cuts.

The tour culminated with a delicious meal at Sher-E-Punjab, where we enjoyed refreshing mango lassis, and engaged in rich conversations about Hong Kong’s changing consumer behavior trends towards Shenzhen and China-based businesses, and their profound impacts on local businesses. Here, the JSM Summer Interns were prompted to reflect on how they can leverage their roles as Hong Kong citizens, conscious consumers, and future legal professionals to support small businesses in their neighborhoods and shape the broader economic landscape.

“Since we learned about Project GuideFong through a previous engagement with FSI, we have made a commitment to ‘Shop Local, Shop HomeKong’ to support GuideFong-listed businesses through JSM’s catering for events such as graduate recruitment. It’s such a simple but impactful thing to do,” said Rachael Guan, Graduate Development and Recruitment Manager at JSM. 

Dinner at Sher-E-Punjab

GuideFong Tour: A Lens to the Multicultural World in Hong Kong

The GuideFong Tour equipped JSM’s Summer Interns with a broader perspective of true diversity and inclusion, by enabling their understanding of Hong Kong’s rich multicultural history and the vital role of community support for the city’s social and economic wellbeing. 

Said one participant: “The GuideFong Tour was a unique and meaningful event that stood out from any typical law firm activities that I have experienced. Rather than simply handing us branded T-shirts and getting us to volunteer, JSM created an opportunity for us interns to bond with one another while exploring ethnic minorities’ culture in Hong Kong — through a mosque visit, discussions about their way of life, and even enjoying delicious naan at an Indian restaurant opened by Hong Kong Indians. This thoughtful approach made me feel genuinely valued on a personal level, not just as an intern but as part of the JSM community. It sparked a genuine sense of belonging and excitement about growing with a firm that cares so deeply about its people.”

“Learning about the struggles of smaller shops in different industries really taught me a lot about the economic hardships and other barriers that smaller stores face,” said another participant. “It made me realize how much impact a seemingly ‘small’ shop, like the one in Chungking Mansions, can have globally. It truly brought the abstract concept of economic resilience to life.” 

“I was genuinely surprised by how warm and welcoming everyone was, from the Imam to the shop owners,” recalled Ishwinder Kaur. “The tour was fantastic for enhancing my cultural understanding. A key takeaway for me was discovering the GuideFong website – it’s going to be a great resource for connecting with and supporting these local businesses in the future.”

The tour is just the beginning of a lifelong journey of intercultural exchange and building a better community through our shared humanity. We hope that as Hong Kong’s young lawyers of the future, JSM’s Summer Interns will take the insights gained forward into meaningful actions. Whether it is advocating for inclusiveness and equity policies, offering pro bono business support, or supporting local small businesses in their daily lives, every action counts in our collective efforts to build a resilient and sustainable society. 

At FSI, we are committed to cultivating future impact leaders through impact-based experiential learning and providing direct business support for under-resourced entrepreneurs. If your organization is interested in providing your students or young professionals with similar opportunities to develop soft skills and an intercultural mindset through hands-on community engagement, get in touch with us at info@shared-impact.com!