Lavender Cottage, remotely located in the hills outside Taichung, is a fragrant retreat where visitors can enjoy a relaxing stroll around the lavender farm and buy scented products ranging from soaps and bath oils to ice cream.

A group of members of the Chamber’s Women Executives Club (WEC) enjoyed their time at Lavender Cottage as part of a tour to Taichung and Taipei on 13-15 September. Led by WEC Chairman Jennifer Chan and Vice Chairman Carol Wing, members visited a number of homegrown Taiwan brands and chatted with their founders and CEOs to learn about how they launched their businesses and their strategies for sustainable growth. 

Lavender Cottage is a case in point. It was founded by two women who had tired of their city jobs and decided to pursue their dreams of creating beautiful lavender fields and cottages in the hills. 

Their ambitions were modest at first, but business grew and they expanded to four locations with nine brands. Their products are also available at more than 30 shops, including in Mainland China and Japan. 

Lin Ting-fei, one of the founders of Lavender Cottage, explained how they handled the challenges of starting a new business. 

“It depends on how much you want to achieve your goal,” she said. “If you have made up your mind, all other things are secondary.”

Next, the group visited a traditional family business with over 80 years experience in noodle making. Shih-hsin Liu, a third-generation family member, walked members through the company's history. He explained that he is more of an artist than a businessman, so he focused on making the packaging more attractive. This turned out to be a winning move and within 10 years, the revamped Noodles Origin had become an award-winning brand and a sought-after souvenir by tourists. 

Moving from Taichung to Taoyuan, the group stopped at O'right, a manufacturer of eco-friendly hair products. Steven Ko, CEO of O’right, explained that he was allergic to the ingredients in many skincare products, so he founded the company in 2002 using natural ingredients and eco-friendly packaging. 

O’right has received many awards and certificates for its green efforts, and was the first shampoo to use a 100% biodegradable bottle. Made from plant waste, the innovative design is embedded with seeds, which sprout and grow as the bottle breaks down. 

The environmental focus also extends to the company’s head office. Members were impressed by the green features including solar and wind power generating systems, and water recycling facilities. 

In Taipei, the group visited Plain-me, the first O2O (online-to-offline) fashion store in Taiwan. Beside the company’s own brands, Plain-me also sells merchandise from more than 60 brands from over 20 countries worldwide. 

During the group’s visit to the sleek and stylish fashion house, the two founders, Tim Nien and Akko Liu, gave a presentation about the company’s history and mission. They explained that success came from their “simple and easy” lifestyle ethos, which appeals to their like-minded customers.    

On the last day of the trip, the group visited 10Art, an eco-friendly skincare products manufacturer founded by Michelle Sung. Sung, who has a background in biotechnology, started by creating a safe and edible lip balm for her young daughter to use. She soon realised there was demand for similar products, so she established the company with the aim of producing non-toxic skincare with eco-friendly packaging. 

Under 10Art, three separate brands have been developed: ERH for chemical-free skincare, MasKingdom for eco-friendly masks, and Baby Sassi for babycare items, which are sold across 21 countries worldwide. 

As a final stop, the group visited Eslite Living at Songshan Cultural and Creative Park. It is one of Taipei’s largest creative arts spaces, transformed by the Taipei City government into a public park with exhibition halls, art shows and conference spaces from an area that once housed tobacco factories. Eslite’s first hotel is also located in the park, which has as its theme the love of reading, music and the arts. 

Apart from company visits, WEC members also had the opportunity to tour the site of the 2018 Taichung World Exposition ahead of its official opening in November. Taichung Tourism Bureau Director Chen Sheng-shan hosted a welcome dinner for the group and showed the visitors around the Houli Horse Ranch Area in the Expo site. 

The mission gave the Chamber visitors a fascinating insight into how the culture of Taiwan is embedded into the local companies they visited, and how this has played a part in their success. This memorable and fruitful trip took place with the support of China Airlines and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Hong Kong.