Nostalgic Modernization
懷舊創新

The Lo brothers, Erik Lo and Francis Lo, had emigrated from Hong Kong to Canada with their family during their adolescence. The Lo’s, a typical middle-class Hong Kong family, chose Ontario as their new home, and was no different from other immigrant Hong Kong families: Worried about Hong Kong’s future after ’97. Their father wasted little time back to get back to commerce, and their mother worked as homemaker. Both Erik and Francis enroll local schools to study.
羅偉烈(Erik)和羅偉昌(Francis)兄弟青少年時與家人從香港移民加拿大，羅家落腳安省，典型的香港中產移民家庭：擔心97香港主權回歸中國而移民。抵加後，父親經商，母親持家，兩兄弟安穩唸書過日子。

The elder brother, Erik, had majored in food science while the younger, Francis had studied agriculture commerce.
偉烈有長子較為內斂沉穩的個性，在學校主修食品科學；弟弟偉昌的個性比較活潑好動，唸書時主修農業經濟。

While studying at Guelph University, Lo brothers join a school-wide competition, which required students to use Ontario soybeans to develop related products. Although Lo brothers did not take home any prizes, that competition awakened their business gene and it was the starting point of their future in non-dairy products.
在貴湖大學唸書期間，兩人參加一個校內比賽，以安省以大豆為主題，開發大豆相關產品， 雖然沒有得獎，卻激發了兩人血液中的營商基因，留下了兩人日後進攻非奶類產品生意的起點。

According to Canadian Digestive Health Association, more than seven million Canadians across country are diagnosed with varying degrees of lactose intolerance. This particular group is the potential customer base for the Lo brothers. YOSO provides dairy-free, gluten free, casein-free, vegan, fermented and cultured foods to consumers. Their products include yogurts and spreads.
根據加拿大消化健康協會，全加拿大有超過七百萬人患有不同程度的乳糖不耐症。在兩兄弟眼中，這個群體是潛在客戶群。YOSO的產品主要是為無法使用奶類產品的消費者，以及素食者提供選項，產品包括奶酪、抹醬等等。

Their three-year age differences and different personalities made the Lo brothers perfect business partners. Erik, modest and introverted, is the food scientist responsible for developing new products while Francis, outgoing and dynamic, is the brand ambassador responsible for marketing. “We do not always agreeing on everything, but no matter what decision we make, it is for the best interest of our company” said Francis; at the same time, Erik was nodding and smiling.
「我們不是無時無刻都意見契合，但無論做什麼決定，都是為了公司發展。」哥哥這樣說時，弟弟微笑以對。兄弟相差3歲，個性一靜一動，正是生意上好夥伴好搭擋：哥哥是食品科學家，負責開發新產品，弟弟是品牌大使，負責行銷產品。

The Lo brothers are continuing a family tradition with their business. Their grandfather Dr. K.S. Lo was one of the first to start mass producing soy milk in the 1940’s in Hong Kong and founded the multi-national corporation Vitasoy Company, and their father, Frank Lo, was one of the two sons who took over leadership of the company in 1979. To Erik and Francis, their grandfather Dr. Lo is a man who loves grandsons with a little serious personality. In their memory, Dr. Lo taught them to be a person who works hard, with devotion and dignity. Erik and Francis were also encouraged by their father to be adventurous!
他們的祖父，正正是香港維他奶創辦人羅桂祥博士；在兩兄弟印象中，爺爺疼愛孫兒，個性有點嚴肅，常常教導他們倆人，做事要全心全意，要做個有尊嚴的人。 兩兄弟的父親羅友義，是維他奶第二代接班人之一，時常告誡兩兄弟，要有冒險精神。

But anyone can be an entrepreneur by themselves, how do you differentiate yourself from others?

“Your products have to be creative and innovative” said Erik. “Our products have gone through first generation soybean products, second generation coconut products to third generation almond products. I like to walk in supermarkets to cultivate new inspirations and new products ideas.”
「產品要有創意、要創新！」哥哥說：「我們的產品已經從第一代大豆產品，開發到第二代椰子產品，及第三代杏仁產品。我最喜歡逛超市，尋找開發產品新靈感。」

“The competitiveness within Chinese soybean products market is fierce, it is really not easy to stand out in this specific market; sometimes you even need to lower prices below costs. Mainstream market might be easier to get into. Also, non-dairy market isn’t big enough for big name companies, there is always a lack of suitable products to meet particular demand” Francis also pointed out. “We choose local non-genetic-modified soybeans as our source; consumers for sure will welcome our concept.”
弟弟補充：「華人大豆產品競爭太激烈，不容易出頭，有時要壓價壓到比成本低；做主流生意，反而較有機會出頭。非奶類產品市場雖然不算太大，但一直沒有合適產品迎合市場。我們的產品原料來源選用本地非基因改造優質品種，消費者一定能接受。」

Lo brothers mention that their first investment to start YOSO was close to one million dollars. Half of the money was loans from family; another half was from the bank. The majority of this went into equipment purchasing and to upgrade quality control standards. After non-stop trials, they must pass different requirements from distributors and mainstream supermarket buyers before consumers can buy their products. Occasionally, when miscommunications occur between head office and local store managers, everything might need to start over again. Fortunately, after consistent efforts, YOSO products can now be found at different mainstream supermarkets like WholeFoods.
兩人設立公司的第一桶金約一百萬加幣，一半來自家族親友貸款，另一半來自銀行信貸。這些錢幾乎都投資在購買設備與品質檢驗上；在不斷摸索研發後，新產品還要經過主流超市、批發商層層關卡考驗，才能送到消費者面前。有時總店已經答應鋪貨上架，但分店負責人那一關不見得一定順利。目前有WholeFoods等主流超市已經可以找到YOSO的產品。

Francis also points out that YOSO participates in at least five major consumer exhibitions coast to coast annually. Setting up regular meetings with distributors to discuss marketing strategy and maintain business relationships is also required. Furthermore, interaction with consumers via social media; inviting renowned chefs to develop product-related recipes are necessary aspects of promoting YOSO products.
偉昌表示，一年至少要參加五個大型消費者食品展，每年還要與批發商定期聚會討論，維繫生意關係。同時，透過社交媒體直接與消費者互動，邀請名廚為產品開發菜譜，亦是行銷產品的必要方式。

US venture capital Database Company, CB Insights’ recent analysis of 101 start-up companies summed up 20 reasons behind their failures: short on capital, lack of competitiveness, bad products and business model, etc. This study also points out 42% of cases share the very same problem: not understanding market demand, which is the number one reason for their failure. When founder clings to their concepts without any clear ideas on how to meet market demand might lead to disasters.
美國市場研究公司CB Insights近期通過分析101間創業公司的失敗案例，總結出創業公司失敗的20大主要原因：包括融資燒完、競爭力不足、產品糟糕和商業模式不佳等等。20大主因中， 沒有摸清市場需求排名第一；42%的創業失敗公司出現過這個問題，創始人執著於執行自己的創意，卻沒有弄清楚創意是否符合市場需求。

Descendants of Vitasoy in Ontario inherited entrepreneurship spirit from their grandfather. But before devoting themselves to the business, they carefully analyzed market demand, found their own unique product foothold, and were not afraid of making mistakes. They successfully transformed traditional soybean products into a new product category and forged their own entrepreneurial path.
維他奶後人，在加拿大安省延續祖父創業精神，但在投入生意前，仔細分析市場需求，找到自己產品的特殊立足點，不怕犯錯，大膽放手去做，將傳統大豆產品帶出新面貌，走出屬於自己的生意路。