XinGeng was iLEAD’s Shanghai first company visit. The visit to the workshop, the stories of XinGeng and the founder, would be remembered as one of the most enriching and meaningful visit for most of the iLEADers.

Story

The story of Xin Geng began when a Singaporean business man, Vincent Chu, was having lunch with 2 reporter friends from China. They tumbled upon the living condition of people in Henan, a rural area in China. People in Henan had to sell their blood for survival. Without the sanitised needles, many people contacted AIDs. Being diagnosed with the terminal illness, the thoughts of the infected people switched to making as much money as possible. Fire crackers became an attractive option because of the huge demand, used regularly in China festivals, and the high profit margin. As a result, they turned to making fire crackers illegally. However, without proper machineries and standard procedures, many people were severely injured, some of them lost their hands and legs, and houses got burned down. Seeing the situation, Vincent started by scouting the houses in the Henan area to help them develop another skill which they could depend for living. It was realized all of the houses had a thing in common, a sewing machine. It is common for sewing machine to be included as a wedding dowry. This became the starting point for XinGeng and Vincent to begin the process for helping the people in Henan. People were guided to produce goods that are trendy and sellable in the market. The business model adopted by XinGeng is scouting for weak group (area) and analysis which skill is most appropriate for them. Lastly, XinGeng aims to install pride and belief in the people and was taught to be independent and pursue their dreams. Corporate clients make up 70% and private sales make up 30% of the sales in XinGeng.

Experience

Throughout the entire presentation, Vincent Chu came across as a very sincere and humble man. I was touched by his commitment and selflessness to the less fortunate people in the society. After the presentation, we visited the workshop. We had first hand experience of how the products are manufactured in the workshop and the working environment in XinGeng. The workshop occupies a small area and it was simply furnished. The employees include some handicapped people and they were able to create very delicate works which impressed many of the iLEADers. It showed that being handicapped did not create any boundaries for them and most importantly, it build belief and pride in them.

Reflection

The concept of social enterprise has been much debated in the recent times. After the visit to XinGeng, I had a new impression of social enterprise. I am sure Vincent Chu and XinGeng provided much inspiration and encouragement to some of the iLEADers that had interest in venturing into social enterprise. For those that had little prior knowledge to social enterprise, I am sure it was an enriching experience. Lastly, I was very proud of the significant contributions made by a fellow Singaporean to the less fortunate in the society.

Benjamin

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 at 1:42 pm and is filed under Social Enterpreneurship, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.