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Gan Fock Wai, Stephen
Gan Fock Wai, Stephen
Industralist, Chinese Medicine
Sex: Male Birthyear: 1961 Age at Interview: 49 Education: University Occupation: Industralist Theme: Industry As a child, Gan Fock Wai occasionally came to visit Hoe Hin’s Pak Fah Yeow factory. At that time, the plant was located on the third floor of the present Hennessy Centre in Causeway Bay. After the factory moved out, its floor was taken over by a department store and eventually became a food court. Pak Fah Yeow’s iconic signs can still be seen on the exterior walls of the Hennessy Centre to this date. Gan Fock Wai helped out at the factory when he was just aged 6 to 7. To make his time there more enjoyable, he turned humdrum tasks such as injecting medicated oil into bottles with a syringe into games and competed with workers to see who could fold boxes fastest.
Title Happy times helping out at Pak Fah Yeow factory during childhood Date 01/12/2010 Subject Industry Duration 55s Language Cantonese Material Type Audio Collection Oral History Archives Repository Hong Kong Memory Project Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project Accession No. AY-GFW-HLT-001 Gan Fock Wai lived on Electric Road when he was child. Bearing a Hoe Hin Pak Fah Yeow sign at its entrance, the residence was small and was eventually demolished. To this day, Gan Fock Wai remembers that his father's car was an American model whose rear seats had two cushions with the Hoe Hin Pak Fah Yeow sign on them! While there were frequent violence like burning cars and planting bombs on the street during the 1967 riots, Gan Fock Wai’s father's car was spared any damage as he said the people burning cars would know he was Boss of Pak Fah Yeo when they saw the two cushions in the rear seat! Gan Fock Wai believed that the rioters’ respect for his father was because the older man had done many good deeds and was well respected by most Hongkongers.
Title Pak Fah Yeow’s founder’s car escaped destruction by arson during Hong Kong’s 1967 riots Date 01/12/2010 Subject Industry Duration 1m55s Language Cantonese Material Type Audio Collection Oral History Archives Repository Hong Kong Memory Project Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project Accession No. AY-GFW-HLT-002 In the old days, Gan Fock Wai’s father had good connection with many Cantonese opera artists and movie stars such as Sun Ma Sze Tsang, Chan Po Chu and Wu Fung. He even pledged brotherhood with top film directors who were happy to allow Pak Fah Yeow billboards to appear in their movies, as a way to promote the product brand. Back then, a lot of Cantonese opera artists and movie stars loved using Hoe Hin products. Those who are still alive today remain very supportive to Pak Fah Yeow.
Title Pak Fah Yeow’s founder’s amicable relationships with film directors and movie stars helped boost the company’s public image Date 01/12/2010 Subject Industry Duration 30s Language Cantonese Material Type Audio Collection Oral History Archives Repository Hong Kong Memory Project Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project Accession No. AY-GFW-HLT-003 Gan Fock Wai has always believed that Hoe Hin’s long history has been one of its greatest strengths. Simplicity is another reason why the company’s products have a long life and sales remain good. Hoe Hin’s best-sellers include Hoe Hin White Flower Ointment, Hoe Hin Strain Relief, Fook Zai 239 and – most profitably of all – traditional Hoe Hin Pak Fah Yeow White Flower Embrocation (Pak Fah Yeow). Fewer product types ensure simpler, more streamlined management and operational procedures that offer Hoe Hin many benefits. In terms of production, the company’s warehouse does not need to maintain a vast inventory and there is no need to store different types of packaging and raw materials. When procuring raw materials, it is also easy to understand price movements. The process of buying packaging materials is equally straightforward. As production processes are also simple, manpower control is easy. In marketing, focusing on developing a product whose characteristics are well known and widely accepted greatly simplifies marketing strategy. It is also much easier to grasp market pricing.
Title Hoe Hin products are simple to sustain long-term development Date 01/12/2010 Subject Industry Duration 2m9s Language Cantonese Material Type Audio Collection Oral History Archives Repository Hong Kong Memory Project Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project Accession No. AY-GFW-HLT-004 Gan Fock Wai has taken real pride in promoting Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) implementation ...Gan Fock Wai took pride in introducing GMP into Hoe Hin. Studying food engineering in the UK in the 1980s, he learned that food factories there had to achieve minimum GMP standards. Returning to Hong Kong after graduation, he began to work as a technical salesman with Edward Keller, noticing that many pharmaceutical or food factories in Hong Kong did not meet the GMP minimum. After joining Hoe Hin, Gan Fock Wai did his utmost to introduce the concept of GMP into the company. When Hoe Hin subsequently implemented Australian GMP in 1996, it was at a time when Hong Kong people knew very little about the standards.
Title Gan Fock Wai has taken real pride in promoting Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) implementation in Hoe Hin Date 01/12/2010 Subject Industry Duration 1m20s Language Cantonese Material Type Audio Collection Oral History Archives Repository Hong Kong Memory Project Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project Accession No. AY-GFW-HLT-005 Hoe Hin’s sales network in Hong Kong has always been comprehensive and its distribution strategy continues to be based on the interests of both large and smaller-sized chain stores, pharmacies and herbal shops. In doing so, the company has been careful to avoid letting a few merchants monopolise the sales ofPak Fah Yeow products. Gan Fock Wai says that the company wants shops and pharmacies of whatever size could survive and sell Hoe Hin products. Aside from large chain stores, Hoe Hin’s distributor must also take care of pharmacies of every size. Hoe Hin carefully controls the sales ratio at specific sales outlets and has in place different strategies to balance them out in cases some larger stores exceed the set percentage.
Title Pak Fah Yeow’s distribution strategy took care of the interests of merchants of all sizes Date 01/12/2010 Subject Industry Duration 1m48s Language Cantonese Material Type Audio Collection Oral History Archives Repository Hong Kong Memory Project Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project Accession No. AY-GFW-HLT-006 With regard to the brand image, Hoe Hin has long used different promotion methods such as aromatherapy, celebrity endorsers, music and medicinal functions. The company recently launched a trailblazing series of “Go! Go! Go!”-themed ads that show its products’ wide range of applications among users of different nationalities. Hoe Hin also continues to use various products to sponsor different functions such as Cantonese operas, operas, young people's concerts, sports, online games, product expos and charity events. The use of a variety of promotional media ensures that each type of Hoe Hin products image can reach every level of society. Music is often used to make brands look and feel more appealing to younger consumers. Gan Fock Wai himself was a keen singer and contributed vocals to songs such as “Go Fly” and “Love 80 Years More” that won Hoe Hin’s image a place in the hearts of a younger target audience. His efforts proved so successful that even primary school students knew how to sing “Love 80 Years More”!
Title Music made Hoe Hin’s image look and sound more relevant and appealing to younger consumers Date 01/12/2010 Subject Industry Duration 2m22s Language Cantonese Material Type Audio Collection Oral History Archives Repository Hong Kong Memory Project Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project Accession No. AY-GFW-HLT-007 Gan Fock Wai has always been a firm believer that the many meritorious deeds Hoe Hin has done in the past helped to ensure its products enjoyed a long life. When his father Gan Geok Eng was managing Hoe Hin, the company had already actively participated in charitable activities that made many positive contributions to the community. Gan Fock Wai stressed that to achieve sustainable development, it was essential that Hoe Hin not only contributed to society, but also happily shouldered its social responsibility. As a result, he insisted that staff adopted eco-friendly practices in key operational areas such as production and sales.
Title Charitable and environmental efforts have long underpinned Hoe Hin’s sustainable development Date 01/12/2010 Subject Industry Duration 57s Language Cantonese Material Type Audio Collection Oral History Archives Repository Hong Kong Memory Project Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project Accession No. AY-GFW-HLT-008 Pak Fah Yeow is an iconic traditional Chinese medicine brand whose long history, good reputation ...Gan Fock Wai has always believed that a brand represents the value of a product. A product with a history has higher value. This is especially true to Chinese pharmaceutical products because a long history means the brands are effective and safe and the company who makes them is trustworthy and reliable. Besides drug resistance seldom happens to products made from well established formulas. For Chinese pharmaceutical products with a long history like Pak Fah Yeow, they were sold at a higher price than newer brands.
Title Pak Fah Yeow is an iconic traditional Chinese medicine brand whose long history, good reputation and high value are second to none Date 01/12/2010 Subject Industry Duration 1m3s Language Cantonese Material Type Audio Collection Oral History Archives Repository Hong Kong Memory Project Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project Accession No. AY-GFW-HLT-009