In the 1950s, Mr. Yoon began his business in his 20s by opening a small pharmacy in Busan. (image:Daewoong Pharmaceutical)
SEOUL, May 29 (Korea Bizwire) – Yoon Young-Hwan, founder and chairman of Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co., decided to donate all his stock holdings worth 80 billion won to a foundation and an in-house fund for workers’ welfare.
According to the company on May 28, the chairman would establish the Seokcheon-Daewoong Foundation, recapitalize the Daewoong Foundation for educational causes, and enlarge the existing workers’mutual aid fund, with all his holdings in the company shares and other company shares. “Seokcheon” is Mr. Yoon’s pen name.
In the 1950s, Mr. Yoon began his business in his 20s by opening a small pharmacy in Busan. He was lucky enough to be given a chance to take over a drug firm called Daehan Vitamin Co. in 1966 at the age of 32. Only within one year after takeover, the company was ranked 16th within the industry from 34th in the previous year. Since then, it has made an annual average growth of 160 percent for years.
He was instrumental in launching “Ursa,” an over-the-counter fatigue-relieving drug, in 1961. Ursa is still one of the best-selling over-the-counter drugs in Korea. Daehan Vitamin changed its name to Daewoong Pharmaceutical in February 1978. Since the early days of business, Mr. Yoon has actively involved in providing scholarships to promising students.
The newly created Seokcheon-Daewoong Foundation will focus on nurturing young talents in medical and biotech areas while the Daewoong Foundation will continue its scholarship-giving activities for high school and college-level students. The Workers’ Mutual Aid Fund will also get an important boost from Mr. Yoon’s contribution.
He said, “Corporations are not private properties, but public commons for stakeholders including employees, shareholders, and community residents. Even though individuals can’t live forever, corporations can last much longer that way. I hope the employees of Daewoong Pharmaceutical could make more meaningful contributions to the community and make it a company respected and loved by all.
Not just in the area of charity, Daewoong is doing well in the area of profit-making business as well. It recently signed a deal to export a growth hormoneworth US$2.7 million. The company said on May 26 that it inked a $2.7-million deal to supply pen syringe-type Care Tropin, a human growth hormone, to Georgia, the Dominican Republic, and Hong Kong for the next five years.
Care Tropin is administered to child or adult patients with growth disorders. Within three years after launch, it has been sold to eight countries including Iran, Ukraine, and Belarus for its convenient features. Beginning with exports to Georgia and the Dominican Republic in 2015, the company will supply it to Hong Kong and Macau by 2017.
Cha Yoong-kyung, Daewoong Pharmaceutical senior manager in charge of sales, said, “Care Tropin has received keen interest from the world’s drug companies for its portability and product quality. With the recent export deal as a momentum, we will step up our effort to expand the market for Care Tropin.”
Written by Sean Chung (schung10@koreabizwire.com)
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