Kelvin Lau's eyes welled up with tears three times during the one-and-half-hour interview. One of these was when he narrated a story about a little girl trying to save the starfish that washed up on the beach by throwing them back to the sea. An old man laughed seeing her: "Don't be silly," he said. "There are so many starfish on the beach. How could you save them all?" The girl answered: "Sure, I can't save them all, but each one matters."

"It's a simple story but it made a difference to my life," says Lau, sitting at a caf in Beijing's Taiyanggong.

Born in Hong Kong 35 years ago, Lau moved to Canada with his parents and two older brothers when he was 11. Although early years in Canada were not so easy for Lau, generally things went smoothly for him as he went to college and later landed a decent job as a software engineer. But a few years into his job, with Sony Ericsson, Lau began to get restless.

"In 2011, I started wanting to leave Vancouver to see the world, do something different, meet different people," Lau said. He obviously did not want to get settled in one place quite so soon in his life.

His employers sent him to Beijing, where he would be a senior software engineer. The first two years passed off smoothly, thanks to Ericsson's generous staff welfare policy. When the two-year contract was nearing its end, Lau began to feel restless all over again. He wanted to do something other than what he had already done, something that will make a difference to the nameless multitude of people he saw in the Chinese capital every day.

The biggest, most visible, problem in Beijing was of course the smog. As a highly health-conscious person, Lau would be perpetually worried, wearing a pm2.5 face mask even when most people would take theirs off to enjoy the seemingly clear blue sky.

"The mask I wear is a US brand. My friends would ask me where I bought it. So when I went back to Canada, I bought some for them," Lau said.

It seemed there was a demand beyond his friend circle. Lau registered an online shop to sell pm2.5 face masks. He wasn't sure if the business was sustainable. "So I prayed: if I could sell 30 masks in the first month, I will continue in the business," says Lau.

In the first month he met the target, but only just. So he decided to carry on. Also the fact that people doubted the sustainability of his venture made him more determined.

"Many of my Hong Kong friends believe it's very difficult to do business honestly on the mainland, given the presence of a grey market and incidents of laws being flouted," says Lau, "but I wanted to prove I could overcome the obstacles."

In May 2013, Lau left Ericsson to dedicate himself fully to the Taobao shop. He sold masks worth 170,000 yuan in a single month. Suddenly, Lau was the man of the moment, pursued by local and foreign media. However, in early 2014, cold winds blew the smog away and the sales dropped.

Lau diversified his business, dealing in car safety seats. He started selling his wares in physical stores on the mainland, besides opening online stores on jd.com and Wechat.

At the end of 2014, Lau got a big procurement order from Agricultural Bank of China and the prospects for 2015 look good too. However, he's still itching to do his bit to influence people, make a difference and help those in need.

"I am thinking of developing an App to connect business with charity. I really want to do this even if it sounds like I am going back to where I started," says Lau, smiling.

yangyangs@chinadaily.com.cn

(HK Edition 02/05/2015 page7)