The young men owning the countless telephone businesses in shopfronts and kiosks along the High Street, (like GSM Global Communications next door), competing with this business, may like to ponder the many lessons that can be learned from the life of the owner of 3 Store. He was a refugee who was forced to leave school before the age of 15 when his father died. He went to work in a plastics trading company for 16 hours a day.

This unprepossessing little mobile phone business is remarkable for being the Walthamstow outpost of that same man's business empire. It is owned by a man who Forbes magazine rated as the ninth richest man on the planet in 2007, with a personal fortune of US$23 Billion.

A 2004 Harvard Business School article summarizes Li Ka-shing's career in the following way:

"From his humble beginnings in China as a teacher’s son, a refugee, and later as a salesman, Li provides a lesson in integrity and adaptability. Through hard work, and a reputation for remaining true to his internal moral compass, he was able to build a business empire that includes: banking, construction, real estate, plastics, cellular phones, satellite television, cement production, retail outlets (pharmacies and supermarkets), hotels, domestic transportation (sky train), airports, electric power, steel production, ports, and shipping.'

Now 78 and a KBE, GBM, Grand Officer of the Order Vasco Nunez de Balboa, Commandeur de l’Ordre de Leopold, Commandeur de la Légion d’Honneur and JP, Li Ka-Shing is the Chairman of the Hutchinson Whampoa empire, which 3 Store and Superdrug further down the High Street are but miniscule parts of. Li's businesses cover almost every facet of life in Hong Kong and will soon extend to every aspect of our lives in the UK as well, if we are not careful.

Hutchinson's latest service so far is only available in Hong Kong. Follow Me Follow You - is an unique and exclusive service provided by 3HK. It enables users to search and get the map location of their own and other peoples' mobiles. This is described as a ‘user-friendly application for keeping close communication with others or managing a work force on the move’, available for only 28HK$ per month.

It may be a fun way to keep track of teenagers in shopping malls, but the man who fled China in 1940 may be going to bring Big Brother to a work place near you. On the other hand, he is not all bad - he has a long record of public services and philanthropic giving and in 2006, Li pledged to donate one-third of his fortune to charity. I wonder if any of his young local competitors will ever be able to say something similar about themselves.

Next door to Blue Inc.