BamBoOs Health Files IPO Prospectus Amid 40% ROE and Strong Demand for Nursing Staffing Solutions in Hong Kong

An obvious fact is that China has become the world’s largest aging market. Relative to mainland China’s aging society, the figures for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region also appear far from optimistic.

Hong Kong’s Chief Secretary for Administration, Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, has pointed out that in half a century, the number of centenarians in Hong Kong is projected to exceed 50,000.

According to the data and projections published by the Hong Kong Government in 2016, the aging of Hong Kong’s population appears to be more severe than anticipated, primarily manifested in the following three major aspects:

1. The pace of population aging is faster than expected; it is projected that by 2041, one in every three people in Hong Kong will be aged 65 or above;

2. The labor force is insufficient; it is projected to rise to a peak of 3.71 million in 2018, after which it will plateau and decline;

3. The support burden on employed individuals has intensified, with the number of dependents per 1,000 people rising from 355 in 2012 to 712 in 2014, an increase of nearly twofold.

The accelerated pace of population aging is most evident in the health and wellness sector through the sustained rise in demand for nursing care. In Hong Kong’s “silver hair market,” there is a company providing professional healthcare staffing solutions—Best Hands Healthcare. VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) conducted an exclusive interview with Guan Zhikang, Chairman of the Board of Best Hands Healthcare.

Compared to the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong’s elderly population is significantly smaller in absolute numbers; however, due to the high proportion of elderly residents and a shortage of caregiving personnel, there remains a substantial gap in the long-term care market.

Recognizing the shortage of nursing professionals in Hong Kong and targeting the caregiving market, Kwan Chi-hong founded Best Manpower in July 2009, beginning to provide healthcare staffing solutions to individual and institutional clients in Hong Kong.

Born in 1972, Guan Zhikang boasts a robust academic background. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Economics from the University of Hong Kong, as well as an Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He was awarded a full scholarship by Harvard University in the United States, covering tuition, accommodation, and meals, to pursue advanced studies in leadership and management.

Meanwhile, he is also an outstanding entrepreneur, having received the Emerging Entrepreneur Award at the 2013 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year (China) Awards and the Young Entrepreneur Award at the 2012 DHL/South China Morning Post Hong Kong Business Awards.

In addition, Guan Zhikang serves as a director of the Hong Kong Medical and Healthcare Professionals Association and is an adjunct lecturer for the Bachelor of Science in Chinese Medicines programme at The University of Hong Kong.

Under his leadership, Baiben has partnered with over 18,000 qualified healthcare professionals to date, a significant increase from the 16,400 recorded in June 2016. Through cost-effective strategic management, Baiben is committed to providing users with comprehensive professional healthcare staffing solutions.

Guan Zhikang, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Baiben Medical and Nursing

In July 2014, Baiben listed on the Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. In March 2017, it transferred its listing to the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (Stock Code: 2293.HK). According to its 2017 annual report, as of June 30, 2017, Baiben’s annual revenue increased by 22.5% year-on-year, demonstrating a significant competitive advantage in the nursing care industry.

Furthermore, Hong Kong’s aging population and heightened public health awareness will drive strong demand for customized healthcare and elderly care staffing solutions, with sustained growth in personal care, rehabilitation, and home care solution services.

With its professional medical and nursing team, Baiben has become the healthcare service intermediary of choice for many high-income individuals in Hong Kong. Its distinguishing feature lies in delivering personalized, premium healthcare services, creating a competitive barrier that other companies find difficult to overcome.

Baiben’s business scope primarily encompasses three major categories:

1. On-Demand Healthcare Staffing Solutions: Providing immediate human resource allocation strategies for medical institutions under the Hospital Authority of Hong Kong, private hospitals, clinics, elderly care homes, and other healthcare facilities, by deploying qualified healthcare professionals to alleviate staffing shortages;

2. Private Caregiving and In-Home Nursing Services: Providing personalized care for the elderly, patients, postpartum women, young children, and newborns in hospitals or at home. Services include medication injections, intravenous infusions, urinary catheter and bag changes, wound and ostomy care, as well as physical and occupational therapy services.

3. In-Home Care Assessment Services: Registered nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, registered social workers, and other professionals conduct in-home clinical assessments of clients’ psychological, cognitive, and behavioral status; functional abilities, activities of daily living (ADLs), and home environment, to develop appropriate care and rehabilitation plans.

Baiben's Business Model

Unlike general nursing companies or models that provide in-home nursing services to consumers (B2C), Baiben has consistently maintained close collaborations with various medical institutions. In addition to offering private-duty personal care services, Baiben assists these institutions in maintaining stable healthcare teams to deliver high-quality medical services.

Its healthcare workforce solutions can even provide medical staffing solutions for hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, and other medical institutions under the Hospital Authority of Hong Kong.

Baiben generates revenue by capturing the spread between client fees and the compensation paid to healthcare professionals registered on its platform. The company employs an hourly billing model; for instance, the rate for a Hong Kong-registered nurse is approximately HKD 2,500 for a 12-hour shift. These pricing standards are established in accordance with industry norms and market prices.

In terms of recruitment, Baiben has consistently adopted a comprehensive and targeted talent strategy to attract top-tier professionals through diverse channels and media platforms. The company aims to onboard more outstanding medical and nursing specialists to deliver the highest quality services to its clients.

Amid the current shortage of healthcare professionals in Hong Kong and their growing preference for flexible work schedules, Baiben maintains close contact with medical staff through telephone recruitment and other channels.

According to Guan Zhikang, Baiben employs a highly diversified approach to recruiting medical professionals. These channels include outreach via email and telephone calls; advertising in medical publications and media platforms; leveraging healthcare-specific websites, industry referrals, and partnerships with medical institutions; and offering free health seminars. These efforts aim to provide clients with greater access to high-quality medical talent.

He emphasized that talent and service positions must be appropriately matched, requiring careful attention to every detail in the matching process. Baiben’s talent-matching strategy is professionalism-oriented, customer-needs-driven, and features a meticulous matching procedure.

The talents recruited by the "Hundred Books" initiative include registered medical practitioners, registered Chinese medicine practitioners, registered nurses, enrolled nurses, midwives, and other healthcare personnel with professional qualifications, such as health workers, health service assistants, personal care workers, and physiotherapists. Compared with mainland China, the categorization of talent is more clearly defined.

“By carefully reviewing and evaluating the qualifications of each healthcare professional, we match them with service roles they are competent to perform.” Subsequently, Baiben will recommend the most suitable healthcare talent to clients and provide relevant information about these professionals for reference.

As a nursing service company with a public listing background, Baiben maintains stringent standards in service monitoring, follow-up visits, and personnel screening.

“Risk lies in prevention, and since its establishment, Baiben has consistently served clients with a prudent work attitude and service processes. Its risk management mechanism is grounded in two ISO-certified service systems and accumulated experience.”

To guide enterprises in improving their services and properly handling customer complaints, including the essential risk mitigation issues in the service industry, establishing clear standards remains the only effective approach.

The two ISO service system certifications mentioned by Guan Zhikang refer to the ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System certification and the ISO 10002:2004 Complaints Handling Management System certification. These constitute international standards for quality management and quality assurance, as well as a standard outlining the principles, methods, and implementation procedures for the proper handling of customer complaints.

Offline, Baiben Healthcare has also established “Baiben Stores,” partnering with premium health product brands to offer registered members and medical professionals under the Baiben umbrella high-quality health products, daily work supplies, and household items at the most competitive prices.

According to statistics, the international standard nurse-to-patient ratio should be 1:4–6; however, the staffing ratios in Hong Kong’s public hospitals still fall far short of this benchmark.

“In light of the shortage of healthcare personnel, the platform provided by Baiben is, in fact, a flexible platform offering multiple job opportunities. ‘Healthcare professionals can register with us through this platform and be assigned to various positions that align with their preferences and offer flexible scheduling,’ emphasized Guan Zhikang.”

For healthcare professionals who value flexible or temporary work, seek a better work-life balance, or desire to experience diverse job roles and environments, as well as those unable to commit to full-time or permanent positions, the Baiben platform often holds greater appeal. This aligns with China’s current policy encouraging multi-site practice.

Both clients and service providers can use the Baiben platform to identify caregivers offering the best value for money and find the most suitable job opportunities. From this perspective, Baiben facilitates a win-win scenario for both clients and caregivers.

In terms of promotion, Baiben promotes its nursing services through various marketing activities, including publishing magazines and conducting ground promotions. These efforts encompass the publication of *Baiben Life* magazine, distribution of souvenirs, placement of advertisements on public transportation and outdoor billboards, and participation in major health industry expos.

Selected Past Issues of “BamBoOs!Life” Magazine

“BamBoOs! Life” / “Baiben Shenghuo” magazine is available for sale at all 223 Circle K convenience stores and 491 outlets across Hong Kong, with over 900 free distribution points including hospitals, clinics, medical institutions, educational institutions, hotels and clubs, residential and commercial buildings.

From Guan Zhikang’s perspective, the most pressing challenge in elderly care nursing is currently talent development. In Hong Kong, Best Pro has established a comprehensive talent training system—its Best Pro Talent Training Academy, located at the East Kowloon transportation hub, provides healthcare professionals and the general public with extensive medical and nursing training as well as continuing education opportunities, helping students advance their professional qualifications.

In addition to regularly offering various types of courses, the College also organizes free lectures from time to time to enhance the professional standards of the healthcare community.

Compared with the current situation in mainland China, where caregivers vary widely in quality and geographic distribution and resources are unevenly allocated, Hong Kong’s nursing staff have accumulated a higher level of professionalism from training through service delivery. Therefore, Baiben has chosen the nursing training market as its initial entry point into mainland China.

“In mainland China, relying solely on nurses and caregivers within hospitals may make it difficult to address all issues. Through the Baiben Training Academy, not only can professionals be trained, but members of the public can also be engaged to participate.”

Guan Zhikang stated in a media interview that Baiben has already co-organized similar training programs in select cities across mainland China to meet the demand for elderly care services.

Currently, Baiben Talent Training Academy has jointly operated a three-year Health Management program with Guangdong Food and Drug Vocational College since 2011, and has also launched training courses in Wuhan in collaboration with Hubei Kangben Nursing Training Center, which covers an area of 3,000 square meters.

“Given the differing current conditions and demands of the mainland and Hong Kong markets, Baiben Talent Training Academy is actively introducing Hong Kong’s high-quality nursing expertise to the mainland, striving to enhance the overall quality of mainland healthcare professionals.” Kwan Chi-hong emphasized that with the growing demand for elderly care services in the mainland, Baiben will explore a development path tailored to the specific circumstances of the region.

On Baiben’s official website, there is a distinctive section titled “Baiben Family Letters,” which has been updated regularly since August 2009. The content features messages from Baiben’s Chairman, Guan Zhikang, who affectionately addresses everyone as “dear colleagues.”

One thought-provoking story goes as follows: A merchant brought two bags of strawberries to Africa. Having never seen strawberries before, the Africans loved them dearly. In reciprocation, they gifted him two bags of gold. Another merchant followed suit, bringing two bags of cherries to Africa. The Africans found the cherries even more delicious and felt that gold was insufficient to express their gratitude, so they gave him two bags of strawberries in return.

A head start makes all the difference. Only by moving swiftly can one take the lead. For Baiben, already established on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, it is precisely this early mover that has secured its advantage.