Nancy Porchetta
Managing Director
Rebound Internet Services Limited

The work I do in Hong Kong takes vast inspiration from the encounters I have had with different cultures and peoples. I have traveled to 20 different countries, each with  something new and exciting to offer. Through merging with different communities in different places, I gained an understanding of their cultures, their people, and their way of thinking

Three years ago, I started Rebound Internet Services Limited, a company providing various services, from website design and web application programming, to e-marketing, corporate branding and re-branding. Before Rebound I had never really imagined myself as a business woman. Oddly enough though, my experiences have helped me to break out of a common framework or world view, and have also given me the ability to understand my clients.

Prior to my return to Hong Kong, I studied design in London, and from there moved to Africa to join my diplomat husband. During our time there, I was a member of the Diplomat Wives Group, participating in charity fund-raising. As a diplomat's wife, I was not allowed to work for an income, and in this unstable environment I was unable to build up anything for myself. However, I assisted with setting up workshops creating art products for the local female community. Many African women are not treated as equals to men in their societies, and it brought me a great deal of satisfaction to know that the work I did was helping them towards sexual equality and independence.

During my time in Africa, I saw people struggle from day to day, having to think constantly about how to survive. Living alongside them, I constantly empathized with their pain, and was abundantly aware of their problems – including those as basic as the lack of food. After having become accustomed to living in unsophisticated places that often had only the most primitive supplies and living conditions, my own ability for observation and sensitivity is now trained to be very sharp.

Leaving Africa behind me and adapting to city life was not easy. My values were, and still are, very different from those of people living in places like Hong Kong. It took a long time before I was comfortable settling down here, and there was a huge gap for me to overcome before I could merge into the commercial world to do business. After moving back and forth between Hong Kong, Italy, Senegal and Kenya, I finally started Rebound in 2004.

Today, I believe that my perspective on life makes my company stronger. I can easily understand my clients' needs and thoughts, as my experience has helped me to become more sensitive and understanding. The effort and devotion I put into my work brings me so much satisfaction. I originally chose my industry because it was the only one in which I could freely develop my creativity and express things I wish to express. Through design I can convey many different messages. I love the whole process it involves, and I love seeing projects develop through to completion. Receiving positive feedback from my clients is, for me, the most satisfying thing in the world.

I have been an active board member of the Women Business Owners Club for the past year, and am now privileged to serve as Vice-President.