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Delirium

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Delirium chief defies year of dotcom madness BYLINE: Gwyneth Roberts BODY: JOE NGAI IS 26 years old. He has a degree in economics and an MBA from Harvard. He is also the chief executive of Delirium Corp, a pan-Asian e -business solutions provider. If you are secretly hoping this tale will evolve into one of spectacular dotcom disaster, like so many others in the past year, stop reading. Mr Ngai may have come far in a short space of time, but he has none of the arrogance one would associate with a young overachiever and while the dotcom bubble may have burst, this infant executive is not picking up the pieces. "We were all caught up in the bubble at some point," he said. "That is the definition of a bubble - even those who are conservative …show more content…

We are laying the groundwork." All this wheeling and dealing seems a far cry from Mr Ngai 's childhood ambition of being a musician. He was the principal cellist for the Hong Kong Youth Symphony Orchestra and at one stage had intended to study music. "If I had wanted to be anything growing up it would have been Yo-Yo Ma," said Mr Ngai, who did have the privilege of playing with the top musician 10 years ago at the Tanglewood festival in the US. "Unfortunately, I didn 't have the talent. You learn your limitations quickly in music." The fluid nature of ever-evolving technology satisfies his desire to be constantly learning. "One clear path I saw for myself was in technology. Technology keeps changing and when it keeps changing you keep learning. That excites me. I don 't know exactly what lies ahead but I know that it will be different. The one who learns quicker will be more successful." Mr Ngai 's strategy for personal success also applies to business. The new economy is here to stay and companies need to adapt. "Like it or not, we are in the new economy. Does it mean we must throw everything away and start new ventures and hope to make lots of money? No. It means we must equip ourselves to be competitive. I am very positive about how technology can make things better in the future." Despite widespread downsizing among Internet firms, Delirium has no plans to cut staff. It is exploring a stock market listing on the Nasdaq or in Hong Kong later this year or early

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