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China's Economic Reform and Opening-Up Has Turned Entrepreneur Carlos Chan's Liwayway Group Into One of the Country's Larg

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China's Economic Reform and Opening-Up Has Turned Entrepreneur Carlos Chan's Liwayway Group Into One of the Country's Larg Friday, September 28, 2018 CHINA DAILY HONG KONG EDITION 9 Chinese miracle beckons for Filipino ‘snacks king’ Carlos Chan’s Oishi Shanghaojia is China’s economic reform and opening-up has turned entrepreneur one of the China’s largest and trusted foreign corpora- Carlos Chan’s Liwayway Group into one of the country’s largest and tions. Watch the video and learn about how this trusted foreign corporations. Willa Wu reports. Chinese Filipino Carlos Chan, chairman reaped fruits in of Liwayway Group of China with the help he Oishi Shanghaojia brand is one Companies, shares of the reform and of the most widely-respected and stories behind Oishi opening-up policy. recognized brands in China — a Shanghaojia’s success remarkable success story of how the in China. country’sT economic reform and opening-up RAY ZHOU / CHINA DAILY policy has pulled in foreign investment. The company, renowned for its snack foods, is a part of the Chinese miracle — brought here by Carlos Chan, a Chinese Filipino, who is today ranked No 21 on the Forbes list of the Philippines’ 50 wealthiest individuals. The tycoon shared the secrets of his success with Oishi’s snack products are on display in the China Daily. company’s Cavite City plant. The products range from prawn crackers to potato snacks, from cookies Chan set up Oishi’s fi rst overseas plant in and biscuits to sweets. Pudong, Shanghai, in 1993, in cooperation with two State-owned companies. He gave his brand the Chinese name — Shanghaojia, which literally means “excellent, top grade and high quality”. The auspicious name didn’t bring much luck to Chan at the beginning. He had to wait for nearly half a year for the plant’s operating license to get the nod. Then, no sooner had the plant opened when it looked like his fl edgling enterprise was bound for disaster. Chan got a phone call from the manager of his newly-established Oishi plant in Shanghai. “I’m afraid we have to leave the China mar- ket,” Chan recalled his plant manager telling him. “The employees here won’t cooperate with us.” Chan answered: “I will come and talk to them.” He had already learned valuable les- sons, working shoulder by shoulder with his father in the family business — “be patient” Workers in Oishi’s Cavite City plant handle raw materials and “make friends before doing business”. for the brand’s signature prawn crackers. The entrepreneur recalled the tense atmo- sphere as he walked into the meeting with the plant’s Chinese workers. “They were all stand- ing, red-faced. I wasn’t allowed to sit either.” Chan stood for almost an hour listening to his employees’ complaints. The workers had been hired from two State- owned companies that had leased the factory to the Filipino group. “They were dissatisfied with the man- agement. We were foreign employers. They thought we were capitalists, intending to exploit them. It was an ideological issue,” Chan said. Talking slowly, Chan described himself as An overlook of Oishi’s biggest plant, located in Cavite City, Philippines. PHOTOS BY DARA WANG / CHINA DAILY “a shy man”, something he had to overcome to follow his father’s advice to be patient: “That Thus, the reform and opening-up policy Bio Chan had dreamed of becoming a painter. GDP in 2017, and is on its way to becoming to me, means having an attentive ear and talk- became the catalyst, helping to create one of He was majoring in architecture in college one of the world’s major financial centers ing to people regardless of their background.” China’s largest and trusted corporations. Carlos Chan (Shi Gong Qi) but, as the eldest son, he dropped out to help by 2020. Chan heard the workers’ complaints and Deng, the architect of modern China, put Year of birth: 1941 out with the family’s growing business. With its successful experience in China, answered them. Tensions eased. Chan was forward the reform and opening-up policy Chan got his entrée to Shanghai through Liwayway expanded its snack business to Place of origin: invited to sit down. The Chinese Filipino in 1978, allowing the once reserved country other markets, including Myanmar, Thailand, Jinjiang county, Quanzhou, the movies he watched when he was a kid. to open its doors to foreign investment. The employers and their Chinese workers started Fujian province In those movies, he saw it as a lively, vibrant Indonesia, Cambodia, India and South Africa. calmly discussing how to build mutual trust. policy has lifted around 700 million people place — a place that would be ideal for busi- “My roots are in China,” Chan said. “The Chan ordered annual increases in their out of poverty and has been the driving force Chairman of Liwayway ness. Philippines is my home too. It has accom- salaries. The workers had been earning only behind the Chinese economic miracle. Group of Companies He’d been considering entering the China modated my family and given opportunities 200 yuan ($29) per month in the fi rst place. Eight years after Oishi Shanghaojia was President of Philippine market since the mid-1980s. Ten years after for us to thrive.” He installed heaters in the sta canteen. “We nearly forced to close, it became the first Soong Ching Ling the company produced its fi rst bag of Oishi The mogul’s love for both countries pro- needed to let them know we cared about them non-Chinese company to win the Shanghai Foundation prawn crackers, it was facing increasing com- pels him to act as a bridge between China and not treat them like mere laborers.” Famous Brand Award. It’s an honor given to Philippine special envoy to petition from local rivals. He got little encour- and the Philippines. Three Philippine presi- Chan’s communicative management style brands ranked among the top fi ve in their China agement from people who knew the market, dents, including incumbent leader Rodrigo has imprinted his corporation. “We’ve main- respective industries, and which have earned or thought they did. Duterte, have named Chan as a special tained good relationships from top manage- broad consumer trust. In 2006, Oishi Shang- “Many told me it would be hard to profi t envoy to China. ment down to frontline workers. Every deci- haojia won the additional honor of being from the China market. People there were Talking about that role, Chan said his sion is made after we put everything on the recognized as a “China Famous Brand”. Personal milestones: poor,” Chan said. “So you mean they don’t main task is to bring the two countries closer table to discuss,” said Desmond Cheng, the Today, Oishi Shanghaojia snacks can be have one or two yuan at all?, I asked people together. He has initiated many sisterhood plant manager of the corporation based in found everywhere, in small convenience 1993: who turned the stoplight on my go-to-China pacts between provinces and cities of the two Cavite City, Philippines. shops or large supermarkets all over China. Sets up Oishi Shanghaojia proposal,” Chan said. countries, including Bohol in the Philippines Chan’s style won him loyalty from his sta The company, now in its 25th year in China, plant in Shanghai, China He wasn’t willing to give up and decided to and Jiangxi province in China, Cavite in the and business partners. Cheng joined the com- has 15 plants across the country. The compa- see for himself. He was determined to crack Philippines and Anhui province in China, and pany in 1996 and has worked for the group ny’s products are distributed throughout the 1998: the Chinese market. In the late 1980s, he Palawan in the Philippines and Ningxia Hui ever since. In his eyes, Chan is a “good and country by over 700 wholesale distributors. Wins Shanghai Magnolia started making frequent visits to Shanghai. autonomous region in China. down-to-earth boss” who is always ready to Data from Liwayway show that, currently, Gold Award, a prize in There was no direct fl ight from Manila to After the deadly magnitude 8 earthquake talk to employees and willing to help when- Oishi’s market share accounts for 26 percent recognition of expats Shanghai. He had to change planes in Hong struck southwest China’s Sichuan province ever they need it. among similar products in China. contributing to Shanghai’s Kong and often enough, he was the only pas- in May 2008, Chan donated 13 million yuan According to Cheng, many of the employees Oishi’s success story began in the Philip- development senger in business class. ($2 million), including 1 million yuan worth of with Chan’s Liwayway Group of Companies in pines in 1946 when Chan was only 5. His Chan’s fi rst direct experience of Shanghai Oishi products, to the a ected areas. 2001: the Philippines are like him, having worked parents, immigrants from South China’s Fuji- proved a disappointment to him. He also paid for 100 high school students Oishi Shanghaojia wins with the group for more than 20 years. “They an province, founded Liwayway Marketing “It was under-developed. Roads were shab- from the devastated areas to go to the Philip- Shanghai Famous Brand view the company as their family, willing to Corporation in Manila, the capital city of the by and people all wore the same color — blue,” pines to help them recover. Award build their entire career here,” Cheng said. Philippines. the magnate said. But he hung on and learned “I believe when someone dies, he or she, It was 1994 when Oishi’s Shanghai plant The company started out repackaging about the local market and the country’s legal standing in front of God, will inevitably be 2005: produced its fi rst lot of prawn crackers.
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