Company Name: Hoe Hin Pak Fah Yeow Manufactory Limited

Year of Founding: 1927

Mainstream Products: Chinese pharmaceutical products

Brief History:

Hoe Hin Pak Fah Yeow Manufactory Limited (‘Hoe Hin’) was founded by Gan Geok Eng. In 1927, Gan Geok Eng invented the medicated oil of White Flower Embrocation in Penang. He set up a squatter factory there and produced it manually. The White Flower Embrocation was first sold in Malaysia and then expanded to Singapore. In 1935, his wife Low Khoon Choo registered the trademark of White Flower Embrocation in Penang and Singapore. In the 1950s, Gan Geok Eng moved to Hong Kong for business development. At first, he set up a factory on King’s Road, North Point and promoted the embrocation in different ways, such as large outdoor advertisement and publicity by famous Cantonese opera performers. It had been an exhibitor of the Hong Kong Brands and Products Expos in the period between 1953 and the 1970s. In the 1960s, the factory moved from Electric Road, North Point to Hennessy Road, Wan Chai. Simple machines were installed for semi-automated mass production and the overseas market was extended to Thailand.

After the 1970s, the management of Hoe Hin was progressively handed over to the second and third generations of the family. The factory was moved to Quarry Bay and then to Chai Wan. At this stage, the embrocation was mainly produced automatically by hi-tech machines. Hoe Hin was listed in 1991. It received the GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) certification in 1996 and was certified with the ISO9002:1994(E) in 1999. In the period between 1980s and 1990s, Hoe Hin expanded its business to the US and Australian. Today, Hoe Hin continues to focus on marketing and is trying to build up a younger image for the brand. The product is now repositioned and efforts are made to expand the daily usage of the White Flower Embrocation so as to maintain stable sales growth.