In Hong Kong on 10 October 1996, Bamboo was founded, less than nine months before the then British crown colony was to be returned to China. Bamboo had other owners and names before the current owners, ScanAsia Consulting’s Staffan Lofgren and Bamboo’s managing director Jan Hökerberg, took over in October 2003 from the previous owner, Swedish custom publisher Appelberg.

Already in April 2002, Bamboo had got the approval by Chinese authorities to form a wholly foreign-owned enterprise (WFOE) in Shanghai. According to our lawyers, we were the first foreign-owned company within our niche to enter China.

And we are still here, 20 years later in Hong Kong and 14 years later in Shanghai. Our business and our products have changed over the years but our philosophy – to develop high-quality solutions to satisfy demanding customer needs in marketing and communications – remains the same.

“Running a business for two decades, in this competitive part of the world, can be considered quite an achievement. We have gone through many crises, such as the Asian financial crisis in 1997, the SARS outbreak and epidemics in 2003 and the global financial crisis of 2007-2008, but we have come out stronger than ever and gained new experience,” says Jan Hökerberg.

“Our highly committed employees have played an important role in our success since many of them have stayed with the company for more than a decade,” he adds.