Migrant Nicho Teng is behind one of South Australia’s fastest growing companies
NICHO Teng is lighting up the business world and saving energy at the same time.
NICHO Teng’s decision as a teenager to study in Australia was based on two reasons: time and weather.
He hated the snow, which ruled out Canada, and Australia’s timezone and promise of good beaches and “sunshine” attracted the then 16-year-old from China’s Fujian province on the country’s south east coast.
But his decision to choose Adelaide — as opposed to Sydney or Melbourne — to complete his high school study 13 years ago was not influenced by geography.
“My agent told me you better go to Adelaide, it’s more a traditional western society rather than Sydney and Melboune, they are more international,” the 29-year-old former Glenunga International High student says.
“I came when you had the original airport, it had two gates and a single floor and I wondered if I had gone to the wrong place.
“I now spend two days a week in Sydney but I now prefer living in Adelaide ... this is my second home (outside China).”
Mr Teng’s commitment to SA is demonstrated in his investment in his Netley based LED lighting company, Haneco Lighting and a $300 million apartment project in the CBD through Chinese developer Greaton.
The Flinders University economics graduate started Haneco in 2011, operating from a small shop on Anzac Highway, Keswick, employing six staff.
Mr Teng’s parents are in the construction game and he says it was on a return visit to China that he witnessed a “revolution” in LED lighting.
He secured clients such as the Stamford Grand and in its first year Haneco turned over $800,000.
Fuelled by triple-digit revenue growth the company’s turnover hit $45 million last financial year and employed 70 staff across Australia — 45 in Adelaide.
Mr Teng says by the end of this financial year that he expects revenue to reach $50 million as demand for energy efficient globes and products increases in the face of steep electricity prices.
The firm recently moved into new headquarters in a 4000sqm office and warehouse complex on Marion Rd from where it trades directly with about 380 electrical wholesalers Australia-wide.
Last year it sold more than one million low-energy LED lights.
“We are turning to smarter technology, not just lighting but control systems,” he says.
“At the end of the day your business is about adding value for people, if you’re not you don’t have a reason to exist.”
The company manufactures its products in China, distributes from all major capital cities but Adelaide is its research and development hub.
And while Mr Teng has rather quietly been lighting up Adelaide he has also put his stamp on the Sydney property market with more than $1.2 billion in property development through Greaton, which he joined in 2011.
Mr Teng was recruited to the company in 2011 which started building townhouses in Toorak Gardens and is now behind the $300 million West Franklin tower on Morphett St and $700 million worth of development in Sydney.
The company hit national headlines when it beat major players to buy the $730 million Darling Harbour hotel project “The Ribbon” in Australia’s largest hotel transaction.
And earlier this month signed on as a major sponsor of Port Adelaide Power as a show of support for the club’s foray into China.
Work started this month on the Brown Falconer designed West Franklin development on the former Balfours site, which will feature 268 apartments once finished.
Nicho’s feeling confident that the project will be a success.
“We have achieved nearly 200 sales already, sales are crazy,” he says.