Ten years later, the entrepreneur expects his fortunes to multiply through explosive growth in his social networking website, Zorpia.com.

Zorpia is a cyber nation, everybody is connected to everybody on the internet. Thats why the number of users can keep increasing, says Ng, who founded Zorpia.com in 2003, when he was a sophomore majoring in computer engineering in the United States at the University of Illinois.

Back in 1998, when he was studying at St Pauls Co-educational College in Hong Kong, he had made HK$1.8 million from jpop-mp3.com, through advertisements on the website.

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It closed down in 2000, after the internet bubble burst, as going ahead with expansion plans would have eroded profitability.

Ive paid a certain amount to my parents, to alleviate their mortgage burden, and I used some of the money to buy IT-related stocks such as Apple and Google, he says, adding that he was watching closely the development of IT businesses as this would help with his investment portfolio.

Ng, while still pursuing his computer engineering degree in Illinois, decided to set up a photo journal website for people to download pictures from their friends albums.

The original idea of Zorpia was that they would have to pay when they downloaded pictures, but it turned out the site connected everybody, he says.

In less than a year, the number of users had reached 500,000 and his site drew the attention of internet giants Google and Value Click, who now hope to cooperate with Zorpia over online advertising products such as Adsense. Realizing that Zorpia could be a lucrative business, Ng rejected a job with Microsoft, which offered him an annual salary of US$72,000 (HK$561,600), and decided to return to Hong Kong when he completed his degree in 2005.

Ng, born to a jeweler father who also owned a jewelry factory in the mainland as well as an outlet in Hong Kong, had strong financial support from his family.

Since the setting up of Zorpia, the Ngs have invested more than US$1 million to keep the website running, including organizing promotional campaigns as well as hiring staff.

The site is maintained by 30 staff based in China, the Philippines, and Hong Kong.

To save costs, Zorpia shares one- third of the floor space with Ngs fathers jewelry shop in Causeway Bay.

My dad is my partner, he helped manage people. He gave me a lot of advice, as he is more experienced in managing staff in the mainland. They have a different working culture, Ng says.

Facing fierce competition from other social networking sites such as Facebook and Friendster, Ng says Zorpia operates on a different platform to try to emulate its counterparts business-wise.

Zorpia is about maintaining friendships and getting to know people all around the world.

Facebook and Friendster cater to the needs of those looking for a relationship, Ng says.

To diversify his sources of income, he has also launched a premium user plan.

For a monthly fee of US$1.50, users are allowed to enjoy additional functions including a record of who has viewed their home page, and the ability to hide their online status from other users.

Although only 1 percent of users subscribe to these extras, this makes up 20 percent of Zorpias total income. Earlier this year Ng was approached by a well-known media corporation in the United States that wanted to absorb his business. He rejected the deal.

They wanted to use my technology, but it is likely that they would change the entire atmosphere as well as the business model of Zorpia, he says.

Ng says he is still open to potential buyers who will cherish the philosophies of Zorpia.

At the moment, Zorpia has about eight million registered users. If there are investors willing to invest in my site, I think the growth of Zorpia will be explosive.

Since last year Ng has been invited by a number of institutions, including Huanan Polytechnic in Guangzhou and Hong Kong University as guest speaker to share his experiences of starting and running a business.

My advice to young entrepreneurs is that they have to figure out what they like and what their passions are, and to find a business angle from their interests.