President Paul chaired the meeting and welcome back PDG Uncle Peter.

Pres. Paul made the following announcements:

1. RCHKIE has invited three other Wednesday luncheon clubs (Kowloon North, Metropolitan HK, and Shatin) to join us on 27^th September, Wednesday at Excelsior Hotel.
   
   
• RC of Kowloon North plans to have about 10 Rotarians to attend.
• Pres. Frank Pak of RC Metropolitan HK had also replied positively.
• Pres. Ada Yu of RC Shatin replied that they would be happy with our proposal and would bring up this proposal to their members.
• Our speaker would be Legco member, Mr Leong Kah Kit (Alan).
  
  
2. Our club is seeking a suitable candidate to join the District Membership Committee, representing the Area 3 and would be nominated as Membership Ambassador.
   
   
• The next District Membership Committee meeting would be on 14^th September, 2006 (Thursday) at the RIC in the evening. 
• Reply by 31^st August, 2006 to AG Gary Cheung so that he can liaise with the District Membership Committee Chair, PP Ramesh Chugani.
  
  
3. Dr. Rai and the visiting Rotarians and annes (14 of tem) from our sister club, RC Penang thanked PP Stephen, PE Laurence, and PP Rudy to greet them in the airport and enjoyed the fellowship of our reception dinner in the evening. They responded positively to our proposed joint water project in the future.
   
   
4. Pres. Paul is planning on our first Club Assembly in September and would invite AG Gary of Area 3 to attend.

PDG Uncle Peter was the acting SAA, and reported the red box collection of the day to be HK$700. 

Congratulations to PP Stephen Liu! Pres. Paul announced that PP Stephen was recognized for his distinguished service in the past and awarded “RI Four Avenues of Service Citation”, being nominated by our club (during IPP Eddy’s term) in 2005-6.

PP Rudy introduced the luncheon speaker, Mr Ben Ng of Baguio Environmental Solutions, that Mr Ng was a family friend of his for more than 30 years. Mr Ng was educated in HKU, with an MBA from CUHK, qualified for CPA and called to the Bar (LLB, and PCLL) in Hong Kong, though not practicing.

Mr. Ben Ng shared the transformation experience of his family businesses with us as follows:

• Baguio Environmental Solutions was formed in 1980, now with 3,000 direct employees and a fleet of 150 cleaning and service vehicles, qualified for ISO 9001 certification.
• Ben graduated from HKU in early 1980’s and found limited job opportunity in those days, therefore decided to join the family cleaning business (originating from his parents and gradually involving his 7 brothers and sisters). The company was so named because the family just moved into Baguio Villas in Pokfulum.
• Because of competition, the company has added specialized services to their traditional office cleaning businesses such as for pest control, building stone wall treatment, and landscaping services.
• The major clients of the company were such as the HKSAR government (such as Food and Environmental Hygiene Department and Leisure and Cultural Services Department ) CLP, KCRC and Airport Authority etc.
• The business drive (from public sector) was because of HKSAR government’s outsourcing policy, and the private cleaning services companies were given tender opportunity to provided efficiency (reducing head counts and overhead, increasing response time and productivity).
• Ben pointed out that their competitive edge in early days was because of their literacy advantage among the competitors, and capable to write detailed proposal to describe the team structure (direct employment), the service quality level and their customer commitment, rather than merely offering cheap labors (through sub-contracting).
• Ben explained that their success factors could be mostly due to their man-power management capability and already reaching an economy of scale - namely their access to labour pool from existing sources as well as flexibility to mobilize their vehicle fleet. Their direct employment policy (about 95% of staff) has also ensured a fair pay scale (including MPF) and a consistent staff reward system.
• Baguio Environmental Solutions was able to venture into landscaping business because of limited suppliers in these relatively new area and low competition; the company was able to convince the customers inspite they had limited landscaping expertise (a skill set challenge that could be resolved by paying premium wages) but that could be compensated by their manpower ability to deliver (existing labour resources). As a result, the company has secured businesses from 5 out of the 19 regions in Hong Kong. The company has rented 500,000 sq. ft of holding (transfer) plant nursery in HK and another 5 acres of production nursery in Shenzhen (close to Mission Hills).

Rtn Norman Lee thanked Mr Ng for his sharing of a Hong Kong success story, demonstrating their traits for hard working, literacy, and hands-on approach.

Pres. Paul presented our speaker with a Rotary souvenir book and the speaker’s photo in action; and adjourned the luncheon meeting, with a toast to RI coupled with RC Hong Kong Island East.

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Rotary Information

T O L E R A N C E

When entering the sitting area of our President Paul Chen’s office, you will find four well framed Chinese calligraphy expressing the meaning of Tolerance. Under such influence, I would like to borrow Mr. Ed Futa, RI general secretary’s memo for all Rotarians to follow in working together in harmony.

Quote “Rotarians don’t always agree with each other, as anyone who’s served on the board of a club or of Rotary International, can surely attest. The shared values of service and fellowship that bring Rotarians together don’t always guarantee harmony. Human nature, however, does guarantee that any group of people will have its differences. It’s your job as Rotary leaders to make sure these differences don’t get in the way of your clubs’ and districts’ service efforts.

This year, you’ll probably be asked to settle disagreements among your members. It may be as simple as a difference of opinion on how to run your club fundraiser or as painful as an acrimonious split over the club’s direction.

Often, both sides have a valid point, and you will need to listen carefully and make an informed judgment that adheres to your club’s constitution and bylaws and to Rotary policy. In such cases, it’s important to ensure that everyone gets a fair hearing. Even in those relatively rare instances where one party is clearly in the right, resolving conflict requires tact, objectivity, and if I may borrow one of Paul Harris’s favourite words - Tolerance.

There is enough atomic energy in every Rotary Club to blow it into a thousand bits were it not for the spirit of tolerance. Rotary’ founder once observed. Concluding that entire agreement is too much to expect. Harris advised leaders to temper their judgment with patience and kindly forbearance. Good advice for Rotary leader in 1935 and for all of us to-day”. Unquote.

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Electronic Make-up Questions

You can submit an electronic makeup for this missed meeting by answering the following questions:

1. We welcome back one of our member, who was he?

Answer:

2. President Paul made four important announcements, name 2 of them.

Answer:

3. Who as our SAA today and what was his collection for today?

Answer:

4. President Paul announced that PP Stephen was recognized for his distinguished service what was the name of that award?

Answer:

5. Who introduced our guest speaker today? What was the guest speaker’s name?

Answer:

6. What was the topic of our Rotary Information today?

Answer:

7. Give in one sentence the essence of this topic.

Answer:

Instruction:

Please copy these questions click the following URL John Kwok and paste it to the email and answer these questions and then click send

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Jokes

Golf and Genie

A husband takes his wife to play her first game of golf. Of course, the wife promptly hacked her first shot right through the window of the biggest house adjacent to the course.

The husband cringed, "I warned you to be careful! Now we'll have to go up there, find the owner, apologize and see how much your lousy drive is going to cost us."

So the couple walked up to the house and knocked on the door.

A warm voice said, "Come on in."

When they opened the door they saw the damage that was done: glass was all over the place, and a broken antique bottle was lying on its side near the pieces of window glass.

A man reclining on the couch asked, "Are you the people that broke my window?"

"Uh...yeah, sir. We're sure sorry about that," the husband replied.

"Oh, no apology is necessary. Actually I want to thank you. You see, I'm a genie, and I've been trapped in that bottle for a thousand years. Now that you've released me, I'm allowed to grant three wishes. I'll give you each one wish, but if you don't mind, I'll keep the last one for myself."

"Wow, that's great!" the husband said. He pondered a moment and blurted out, "I'd like a million dollars a year for the rest of my life."

No problem," said the genie. "You've got it, it's the least I can do. "And I'll guarantee you a long, healthy life and now you, young lady, what do you want?" the genie asked.

"I'd like to own a gorgeous home complete with servants in every country in the world," she said.

"Consider it done," the genie said. "And your homes will always be safe from fire, burglary and natural disasters!"

"And now," the couple asked in unison, "what's your wish, genie?"

"Well, since I've been trapped in that bottle, and haven't been with a woman in more than a thousand years, my wish is to have sex with your wife."

The husband looked at his wife and said, "Gee, honey, you know we both now have a fortune, and all those houses. What do you think?"

She mulled it over for a few moments and said, "You know, you're right. Considering our good fortune, I guess I wouldn't mind, but what about you, honey?"

"You know I love you sweetheart," said the husband. "I'd do the same for you!"

So the genie and the woman went upstairs where they spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying each other. The genie was insatiable. After about three hours of non-stop sex, the genie rolled over and looked directly into her eyes and asked, "How old are you and your husband?"

"Why, we're both 35," she responded breathlessly.

"No kidding," he said. "Thirty-five years old and both of you still believe in genies?"

"In politics stupidity is not a handicap."
Napoleon
08/15/1769 - 05/05/1821
French monarch

 

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Photographs of our meeting

30^th August, 2006

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