About Us
About Us
Dr. Benjamin Lai
Chairman of Board of Directors,
MentalCare Connect Co Ltd
The Board of Directors is pleased to share the excitement and joy with the staff of MentalCare Connect and other stakeholders on the exceptional growth and development of the Company over the past year.
The turnover of the business of the Company has grown to a hundred and forty five million Hong Kong dollars in the year with an overall growth of around 20% over the previous year and the net profit of the Company in the year is around one million Hong Kong dollars. There has been continuous growth in turnover in sales of rehabilitation products, convenience stores, catering, service and the organization consumption products. Over the past year the Company has been able to obtain/renew licences for 21 of our stores. The Company is in a favorable position to enhance the range of our products with a reasonable price, and to provide a high quality of service to those in need of our products. The Company will be in a good position to face the rising challenges and continuing competition in the market and to pursue our goals to provide job and training opportunities for the disabled persons.
It is pleasing to learn that a number of non-government organizations and social enterprise have joined hands with us in joint projects with the shared goal of the promotion of social enterprise for the benefit of the disabled and disadvantaged persons in Hong Kong. While the Company will pursue further collaboration with NGOs and social enterprise, it will continue to look for suitable opportunities to expand its business in the community.
At the end of the fiscal year the total number of staff is 179, and around 67% of our staff belongs to the disadvantaged group. The Company has also provided training opportunities for 280 persons over the past year.
The Board will like to thank the Home Affairs Bureau, Social Welfare Department, the Hospital Authority, suppliers, honorary advisors and other stakeholders for their continual support and advice to the Company. The Board is grateful to Mr. Chung Wai Shing and his sta for their dedication and hard work for the success of the Company. I wish to thank members of the Board for their insightful advice and untiring support to the Company.
Mr. Chung Wai Shing
CEO, MentalCare Connect Co Ltd
I really fond of a motto recently shared by my disabled staff - "It is not an easy road but railings everywhere." It is not inevitable for MentalCare Connect's social enterprise development in these 16 years. Fortunately there are endless trusts and supports from its mother organization and public organizations at dierent developmental stages, as well as the grant sponsorship from government, the hardworking staff and the trust of the Board of Directors.
The 15th Anniversary Cocktails Party invited more than 200 working partners from Government Departments, public organizations, social enterprise sector, social welfare sector, suppliers of different scales and tertiary institutions, witnessed the growth and development of "MentalCare Connect" in these years. They can also see the way how our disabled staff can enjoy a dignified employment and living. The development path of "MentalCare Connect" will not be limited to just creating employment opportunities for disabled and disadvantaged groups of people. The next stage of development will be the challenge of constructing a new platform of shared value, via utilizing MentalCare Connect's operating experience, competitive advantages and sales platform to promote "Buy Social" Movement.
Financial Performance
In 2017-2018, the Company's revenue was HK$144,741,133. Among them, "Enhancing Employment of People with Disabilities through Small Enterprise" Project and the "Enhancing Self-Reliance Through District Partnership Programme" funded HK$1,584,043 as the grant sponsorship and accounted for 1.09% of total income. "MentalCare Connect" has recorded profit for six years in a row and it was the first year for the Company to pay taxes. The net operating profit after tax was HK$996,197. The increase in operating income was mainly attributable to the expansion of "Cheers Gallery" Queen Mary Hospital Rehab Links and the gradual business pick-up from our three street front shops. In addition, winning of several bids in preparing fortune bags for celebrating the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region was also one of the major reasons.
Core Mission Implementation
By the end of March 2018, a total of 30 Social Enterprise projects were being operated by "MentalCare Connect". A total of 179 sta were employed, 120 of whom were disabled. 280 on-job training were offered to trainees referred by different organizations. In order to promote the "Buy Social" Movement, "MentalCareConnect" utilized its resources and business platform to promote "SE Mall" and "Cookies Co-op". A total of 14 social enterprises joined "SE Mall". 4 social enterprises were coordinated to produce cookie gift sets. Approximately 3,000 boxes of those gift set were sold and widely received by the public.
Business Development
"MentalCare Connect" had ceased the operations of two projects which had long run at deficit, including "Cheers Gallery" The Hong Kong Anti-Cancer Society Cancer Rehabilitation Centre Rehab Shop and "Cheers Point" @ Mid-levels. All the staff working in those two shops were redeployed to other business. Operating at street front shop is the Company's long term development strategy. It is understood that the break-even period of street front shops would take longer time, with reference to our experience. The required sales and customer service know-how were more sophisticated. The Company will thus strengthen its training for elevating the customer satisfaction and loyalty. 30 participating organizations had joined the Organizational Consumption Project, with the number of members / staff exceeded 350,000. There would be significant growth in business with the increase of upcoming organizations.
Future
"MentalCare Connect" would enter into a new era of development per our slogan mentioned. The optimization of our business portfolio and even entering into a new market will bring a major challenge to me and my team. In order to synergize the online and oine sales strategies, the Company would allocate more resources to strengthen the current online platform and improve the logistic system for rendering more privileges to our customers. On the other hand, "MentalCare Connect" would seek more business opportunities for creating employment for disabled and disadvantaged people by sourcing street front shops for the retail and catering businesses and bidding for hospital retail opportunities, so as to comply with "Mission 2020". My heartfelt thanks was gone to my colleagues for their dedication in the past year and they have created an unprecedented success to the Company. At the same time, I would like to express my deep gratitude to the members of the Board of Directors for their valuable guidance.
