Who? Otto Ng, Lawrence Chu, Megan Lam, Elaine Ng, Victor Lee

Where? Dinner at Salisterra at The Upper House

Here’s what you missed: The season was wintery, but the atmosphere was anything but frosty on December 8, when 20 entrepreneurs from the Gen.T community attended a cosy dinner at the Upper House’s Mediterranean restaurant Salisterra for an evening of inspiring conversation that instilled optimism for the future.

As glasses chimed and plates of seasonal, sun-kissed food flowed from the kitchen, Genevieve Chew and Jacqueline Chak, co-founders of womenswear brand Edit and architecture and interior design studio Editecture, spoke of the sustainable mahjong line they launched last autumn. The biodegradable sets are made from upcycled fabrics and resin and were inspired by all the time the makers had spent at home during the early days of Covid-19.

Meanwhile, Arnold Chan, founder of non-profit Teach For Hong Kong, shared his pandemic silver linings; namely, how Covid-19 has been good for the education sector because it forced the industry to try new ways of working and embrace technology.

Kevin Mak spoke about the performing arts theatre that he worked on for 10 years with architectural firm OMA and how it will open at last in Taipei in 2022. Rice Robotics founder Victor Lee, whose company produces the cute sanitisation and security robots that patrol luxury retail destinations like K11 and Hysan Place, talked about the exciting possibilities of his industry, while journalist and founder of Hong Kong Free Press Tom Grundy shared his platform’s success in acquiring reader revenue, and Brandon Ng shared how his green energy company AMPD is making construction more sustainable.

Other guests included Elaine Ng, the multimedia visionary behind bespoke textiles consultancy The Fabrick Lab, and Vince Siu, founder and CEO of Press Start Academy, who chatted over burrata, beef cheek cappelletti and salt-baked turbot in one last hurrah before the Christmas holidays.