Hong Kong entrepreneur Adrian Ho King-hong addresses a session of the UN Human Right Council on through video.

HONG KONG - Young Hong Kong entrepreneur Adrian Ho King-hong on Monday told the international community that Hong Kong will get through the darkest moment before the dawn, with the support from the motherland, as the city struggles with the worst-ever wave of the pandemic.

Addressing a session of the UN Human Right Council on Monday through video, Ho said the Omicron variant has left many Hong Kong residents mourning the death of friends and family members in recent weeks.

Calling for a united effort, Ho said, “The night is darkest just before the dawn. … Hong Kong will continue to prevail the same way that SARS was defeated two decades ago.”

“Save HK”, a group established by Adrian Ho, was involved in fighting the pandemic in January when the city locked down several blocks in Kwai Chung estate, in its biggest-ever such operation

Ho, executive director of China Water & Energy Ltd, said that despite the downturn, businesses and foreign investors remain largely intact in the city, and as a businessman, he is confident that Hong Kong will weather the COVID-19 war.

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Ho is known for his patriotism and love for the nation and Hong Kong. He established a popular Facebook page, “Save HK”, during the city’s social unrest, to allow room and space for patriotic voices. It started off as a small and close group for a handful of friends and eventually turned into a 185,000-member community.

Rejecting the label of KOL (key opinion leader), Ho said his upbringing has always valued patriotism and Chinese culture and led to who he is now.

The group, founded on a whim, grew and turned out to be larger than originally intended.

Ho’s group was also involved in fighting the pandemic in January when the city locked down several blocks in Kwai Chung estate, in its biggest-ever such operation. The group helped distribute anti-pandemic items to residents who were locked down. When necessary, they were also asked to help out at testing centers to maintain order and help pack rapid antigen test kits.

To Ho, being able to tell the China story better to the international community is an honorable mission, something that he is willing to do in his capacity.

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After finishing college in the US, Ho returned to the city in around 2000. After majoring in business, he worked in the financial industry for about a decade before moving into the new-energy industry.

Ho, who is in his 40s, is investing in wind farms in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. He forayed into the new-energy industry around 2010 by starting his own company — China Water & Energy.

The road to entrepreneurship is a bumpy ride that comes with many challenges. During his decadelong endeavor in the northwestern part of China, Ho has at times failed to secure investments, and his deals to enter partnerships with foreign companies fell through.

But Ho remains optimistic about the opportunities that lie ahead for the new-energy industry with the nation’s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25). The time is ripe for the new-energy industry after 10 years’ development in terms of policy and supporting technologies, Ho said.

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Ho said his Hong Kong background landed him a favorable condition in investing on the Chinese mainland in terms of tax and application for investment projects.

Looking back, the young entrepreneur said his path of entrepreneurship in Northwest China would have been a lot harder if he had not been from Hong Kong.