Agribusiness owner Simon Appleby has come a long way since running through the jungles of Papua New Guinea and scooting around Philippine hills on a motorbike.
Dr Appleby, who finished a Masters and internship at UQ’s Goondiwindi Pastoral Veterinary Centre in 1994, is the founding Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Yu Feng Management Limited.
The business he formed as a one-man consultancy in Australia back in 1997 is now a million-dollar operation employing 30 staff and 20 consultants in China.
Yu Feng, which means abundant harvest, sells specialised agricultural and horticultural supplies from its 12 branches in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Philippines, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
The business supplies everything from greenhouse and piggery equipment to animal reproduction technology, orchard equipment, seed, irrigation systems for golf courses, coldrooms, abattoirs and fish farm equipment.
Yu Feng sends poultry hatchery equipment to Indonesia, pigs to Northern China and has set up hydroponic greenhouses in Shanghai.
Its own branded equipment is sold to 15 countries.
“Our products are not the type of products you can sell and forget,” Dr Appleby said.
“You need to provide ongoing technical support for a year or two years after you’ve sold it.”
Dr Appleby, a trained vet, said he had always been interested in animals and the business of producing animals in Asia but wasn’t sure how to go about it.
“I’d been working in developing countries since I was 18.
“I first did veterinarian work in South East Asia in 1991 when I was between fourth and fifth year in vet school.”
He spent time in Papua New Guinea researching adventure training and community service opportunities for the Australian Defence Force.
He then worked on sheep and cattle projects around Asia and on livestock health in the Philippines in 1991 where he would travel by motorbike through Communist New People’s Army and hill tribe regions to reach customers.
The 37-year-old said his UQ study and supervisor Geoffrey Niethe gave him a good grounding in agribusiness.
“The Masters I did looked at pretty much every aspect of an animal production system and then a great deal to do with the commercial side of implementing technology and yielding a financial result.”
He said he opened his business out of a house in the West Java mountain city of Bandung using borrowed money from friends and maxing out his credit cards.
Some of his first work was supplying Australian steers to fatten up the cattle industry in Indonesia but the business soon took on agroforestry, cattlebreeding, aquaculture and dairy work.
In 2002, Dr Appleby took the plunge and decided to move the headquarters to Hong Kong.
He said he hoped to open another 15 branches in China by next year and four Japan offices in 2008.
Most of their customers are from China or Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan food companies.
“The equipment we sell into the China market tends to be fairly advanced because simple equipment is manufactured in China very cheaply.
“We design and build pig farms. We buy pigs in from the United Kingdom and set up a nucleus herd then provide the veterinarians and nutritionists from Australia.
“Our main end market is mainland China but we also have a pretty good customer base for dairy and sheep in Pakistan.
“We have a pretty good customer base both for horticulture and the pig industry in South East Asia — Thailand and Philippines for pigs and a little bit of poultry work in Indonesia.
“There’s not many days off. It’s a seven-day-a-week affair.”
Dr Appleby has learnt some valuable business lessons.
“Most of us work 14-16 hour days, 7 days a week here in order to keep up with a fast changing business environment and to stay in close contact with international suppliers and customers.
“’Work or Die’ is the Hong Kong motto.
“I am not very surprised with the development of the company, as we all have worked very hard to get ahead.
“We have been very lucky, but the harder we work, the luckier we get.”
MEDIA: Dr Appleby (852- 2559 0327, sappleby@yf-agrivet.com.hk) or Miguel Holland at UQ Communications (+61 7 3365 2619, m.holland@uq.edu.au)
.jpg)
