Mr Ron Ng, General Manager, HK & Southern China

With a corporate vision of enhancing total wellness and quality of life of people around the world, EIG (Esthetics International Group) saw Hong Kong regional office as an entry way to the China market.

As a small company with a slow growth profile facing stiff competition from other skincare and cosmetics companies in the region, what it needed was to improve the company and expand it by bringing in someone with management skills in developing and running a large company.
“When EIG first approached me, I was with Lam Soon, which deals mainly in food products. My experiences have been in the management of food and beverage companies, I had no idea about the cosmetics industry,” says Ron Ng, now General Manager for EIG Hong Kong and Southern China. “The owners said what they were looking for in Hong Kong was a strong leader to head their growing company.”

What they got when Ron Ng joined them in 2004, was a General Manager who has been thinking big most of his life – with both Coca-Cola and Heineken.

For EIG it all started over 20 years ago, with a small beauty salon in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. As it expanded with more and bigger salons, the owners realised that there was a serious lack of good, safe beauty-care products available in this part of the world. Intensive research led to the rise of Dermalogica in 1986 which, at that time, was being developed by The International Dermal Institute in Los Angeles, USA. Based on “7 No’s” concept, all dermalogica products are non-comedogenic not containing any mineral oil, lanolin, isopropyl myristate, artificial colour, artificial fragrances, SD alcohol or formaldehyde.

Today, EIG is an established leading company in the skincare, health, cosmetics, wellness and beauty industries. It is also the market leader in the skincare and beauty industry in the Far East. Currently listed on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad, the Group has regional offices in Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand, with headquarters in Kuala Lumpur. EIG also has affiliated companies and distributors in Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Indonesia.

Ron Ng explains, “Today, EIG is wholesale distributors of Dermalogica skin care and wellness products to the professional sector - beauty salons and spas. We have also developed our own range of brand products that are distributed to the consumer goods market through pharmacies, departmental stores and nutrition shops. The expansion of our product portfolio is with the view of becoming a public listed company in Hong Kong in the very
near future.”

“Our bestsellers to date are in the value for money range with Clinelle, that is more suitable for the under 25s generation, which we have recently launched in Watson's and Mannings; and Bioxil for more mature, demanding customers. A new product called Shave from dermalogica was also launched at
the end of November.”

“We have our own chain of professional skincare and spa centres - AsterSpring Origin of Beauty. We have our own school that provides professional skin care education and training through Esthetics Wellness International (EWI). It offers diplomas in international standard skin and body care cosmetology, nutrition and professional make-up courses. The EWI Academy is affiliated with The International Dermal Institute of Los Angeles, the largest leading postgraduate esthetic training centre in the USA, Europe and Asia. Our passing rate for the City & Guilds Examination is 100 percent.”

“Students from the EWI Academy also have the opportunity to work for EIG once they graduate. At the moment, we are understaffed. Now, we have three shops and over the next 12 months we are looking to expand to five more shops with a target of operating 10 shops in the territory eventually.”

“The next core business which we have been working on is the distribution of wellness products via the multi-level marketing channel in EIG headquarter.” On the principles behind the company's success, Ron Ng says, “We are now achieving 100 percent growth every year. This can only continue to happen as we get bigger, by having the right people in the company. This is largely based on five key core values that we look for: the ability to be result-oriented; teamwork; being part of the solution; a willingness to learn; and a pay by performance scale.”

Adding, “We also organise a lot of programmes among our staff, from the junior level to senior management so that there is interaction with each other – just like a family. For example, every Friday evening, we have a Happy Hour to help build staff relations.”             

With “caring” as the key word in the corporate mission – for both customers and staff, EIG is on a sure road to achieving its goals through sustainability. 
- Thomas Lim

PHILOSOPHY
General Manager Ron Ng shares his personal philosophy on the company’s success and his expectations for the future: "No matter how good or bad the economic situation is, we need to work with our hearts by building passion within the team. This is why we emphasize caring for our customers, employees, shareholders, suppliers and the community. With our on-going successes in Hong Kong, the China market is our next goal, which we have been planning for a long time. With the present global financial crisis and the credit crunch, we still see plenty of opportunities in expanding our business by being cash sufficient

FAST FACTS

2008
• Launched skincare brand Bioxil
2007
• Opened Dermalogica Consultation Pod and professional skincare school EWI Academy in Hong Kong
2006
• Launched and became the distributor of skincare brand Clinelle
2004
• Listed on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad
2002
• Launched and became the distributor of cosmetics brand Averine
2000
• Established a subsidiary company in Hong Kong 1989
• Established a subsidiary company in Thailand 1989
• Established a subsidiary company in Singapore 1988
• Became the distributor of Eve Taylor 1987
• Became the distributor of Dermalogica
1984
• Established Head to Toe Beauty Centre