Sonder Consultants Asia

Their objective

With offices in Australia, the UK and US, the Sonder team decided they wanted to further enhance their presence in Asia-Pacific with an office in Hong Kong. However, they faced a number of challenges in realising this ambition.

First, they were new to the Hong Kong market and were unsure how to establish the most appropriate entity or apply for the employment agency license required to operate their business.

Similarly, they wanted to understand how to hire both local and expat employees and the related immigration and visa requirements, as well as ensuring they were compliant with all local employment laws and regulations.

They also wanted to focus on running a highly successful global business and not have to take people away from that in order to establish the Hong Kong office.

As a result, they were looking for a partner who could deliver all they needed and get them up and running in the shortest time possible.

Our solution

Sonder decided to partner with Hawksford owing to our expertise in Hong Kong and the wider Asian region as well as our ability to keep their administrative burden to a minimum during the set-up process.

We discussed entity options with them – including set-up times, reporting requirements and so on – and it was agreed that a limited company was the most appropriate option for them. So, we established this on their behalf including opening company bank accounts.

In tandem with this, we obtained their employment agency license and subsequently helped organise the necessary work permits and visas for both local employees and those being brought in from outside Hong Kong.

As a result, the Hong Kong business was fully operational within two months.

Following this, Hawksford has gone on to provide company secretary, payroll and accounting services as well as support with HR. We look forward to helping Sonder grow their operations in Hong Kong and beyond.

Committed to your ambitions

Helping you realise your business or personal wealth ambitions is what matters to us. Providing solutions and overcoming obstacles is what we do.

We’re here to help you make the most of whatever opportunities are out there. We don’t take a ‘cookie cutter’ approach and always look for creative ways to help you achieve your objectives.

When we say you come first, you can be sure that we really mean it.