22 November 2022, Shanghai, China

What can one do in 0.01 second? It is often considered as an unquantifiable amount of time.

For a foundation, this difficult-to-measure ‘0.01 second’ represent the combination of speed and quality.

Rural Doctors Dream

Recently, Yao Fang, a 46-year-old rural doctor, took two connecting flights to travel all the way from Banli Village, Lancang Lahu Autonomous County, Yunnan Province to Shanghai to attend a special concert. At this concert performed by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Yao Fang accepted Fosun Foundation 10th Anniversary Special Contribution Award on behalf of the Rural Doctors Program.

At the end of 2017, under the guidance of the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China and other departments, Fosun Foundation, China Population Welfare Foundation and China Foundation for Guangcai Program launched the Rural Doctors Health Poverty Alleviation Program (“Rural Doctors Program”). Each year, the Rural Doctors Program aims to look for 20 grassroots health workers in rural areas who are deeply trusted and loved by villagers, and grant them the honorary titles of "heart-warming rural doctor" and "heart-warming director", and provide them with more high-quality training opportunities.

In August 2020, Yao Fang was selected as one of the "Top 10 Heart-warming Rural Doctors" by the Rural Doctors Program, spreading her story to the world.

▲ The ‘First Guardian’ of rural doctors, Miserable Faith visits rural doctor Yao Fang

2018 marks the first year of the three-year campaign for poverty alleviation. Many enterprises have devoted themselves to targeted poverty alleviation work in poverty-stricken areas to promote the sustainable development of the area. After three months of preparation, Fosun Foundation further optimized the rural doctors program. In addition to purchasing insurance for rural doctors in project counties, providing training, and encouraging them to obtain assistant doctor qualification certificates, Fosun Foundation included helping rural doctors relieve their worries and improving their working conditions as one of the major tasks of the program.

Guo Guangchang said that it is only with good health, one can live a blissful life, which is also the reason that Fosun launched the Rural Doctors Program. Guo Guangchang, who was saved by a rural doctor when he was young, firmly believes that health and poverty alleviation can reduce the financial burden of medical treatment for the underprivileged in rural areas, allowing them to live a blissful life.

Achievements

Fosun and its foundation are interdependent and they empower each other.

As early as 2013, which was the second year after the establishment of the Fosun Foundation, Fosun and the Prudential Financial, Inc. of America established a joint venture company in China, Pramerica Fosun Life Insurance. Originated from the Pramerica Spirit of Community Awards, which has been running for 18 years, Fosun Foundation launched the Pramerica Fosun Spirit of Community Awards in China to encourage more young people in China to devote to the greater public good and promote the integration of Chinese youth public welfare with international standards. From the industry’s point of view, enterprise leveraging the advantages of its own industrial chain to support public welfare is a great way to promote sustainable public welfare. When Guo Guangchang founded Fosun 30 years ago, he has established the corporate values of "Self-improvement, Teamwork, Performance, and Contribution to Society". To Guo Guangchang, "Contribution to Society" is the direct way to realize corporate growth and give back to society.

Fosun, which is known for its pharmaceutical business, independently developed and manufactured Artesun^® (artesunate for injection), which is recommended by the World Health Organization as the first-line treatment for severe malaria.

▲In 2018, Fosun donated antimalarial medicines to Zambia Ministry of Health

In addition, Fosun Foundation responded actively to the "Zero Malaria Starts with Me" campaign initiated by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the "Roll Back Malaria Partnership". Slogans, “Zero Malaria Starts with Me” and “Together We Build a Malaria-free World”, were displayed on the advertising screens of Fosun’s landmark buildings, including 28 Liberty in New York, EN Hotel Kyoto and EN Hotel Hiroshima in Japan, the Bund Finance Center in Shanghai, and Atlantis Sanya.

"We must have a benevolent heart. However, doing business alone is not enough," Guo Guangchang said frankly that he and his team always believe that business is for the good. In addition to business, enterprises should bring more warmth to society. Therefore, Fosun Foundation which was registered and established 10 years ago aims to realize the original aspiration of "Contribution to Society".

In February 2018, Fosun Foundation, together with the Neurology Department of Ruijin Hospital and Sino Taiji, jointly launched the public welfare project "Tai Chi Training Delays Alzheimer's Disease” to provide patients with professional Tai Chi classes, in combination with medical experts to track the training progress so as to help patients scientifically and effectively delay the disease.

▲ Free Tai Chi class for the Wuliqiao Street Community in Shanghai

Guo Guangchang concluded that in the past ten years, the public welfare projects initiated and operated by Fosun Foundation are all based on its own resource advantages and in line with the national development strategy and social needs. Fosun Foundation carried out targeted public welfare and charity activities for different groups and countries to realize Fosun's mission of creating happier lives for families worldwide.

"We hope to address unmet needs with our businesses. For example, we hope to support rural doctors, so that they can help more children and the elderly in rural areas," he said.

▲Guo Guangchang visits the village clinic in Zizhou, Shaanxi

Respond Quicker, Even Just by 0.01 Second 

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic put the global public and the power of public welfare to the test.

At the beginning of 2020, Fosun leveraged its global network to initiate a global deployment of medical supplies to provide strong support for China to overcome the epidemic. Faced with the escalating overseas epidemic situation, Fosun urgently deployed protective materials to help many overseas countries and regions affected by the epidemic.

This year is the third year that humans have coexisted with the COVID-19 epidemic. Guo Guangchang feels deeply about this. He said that in a complex and ever-changing era, it is far from enough for an enterprise to solve problems on its own. We must unite to carry out public welfare activities.

At the beginning of the epidemic outbreak in Shanghai in March this year, Li Haifeng, Chairman of Fosun Foundation, announced to reactivate the anti-epidemic command mechanism at a regular meeting. During the meeting, Li Haifeng called on everyone to "do more and respond quicker" in order to protect Shanghai.

In subsequent work meetings, the goal of "responding quicker, even just by 0.01 second quicker" was always mentioned. From early morning to late night, from welfare homes to nursing homes, this private enterprise went deep into the frontline of the epidemic, and successively carried out projects, such as “Community Support”, “Care for Elderly” and “Care for Children”, which aim to provide targeted assistance to communities, the elderly, children, and other vulnerable groups. At the same time, Fosun Foundation continued to respond to the urgent needs of various parties, and actively donated anti-epidemic materials and daily supplies to hospitals, mobile cabin hospitals, colleges and universities, etc., helping Shanghai tide over the difficulties.

▲ "Care for Children" provides targeted assistance for the Jiading mobile cabin hospital

Guo Guangchang often mentions that Fosun must "insist on doing the right things, difficult things, and things that take time to develop", but he also admitted that in practice, it is not easy to adhere to these three standards.

He said that as an enterprise, we are competing with time. Fosun proposed to respond "0.01 second" quicker to create value for customers. From the perspective of public welfare, we insist on developing business for good, which has been the case for the past 30 years. We must do things with patience.

Guo Guangchang said that in the next ten years, Fosun Foundation will continue its public welfare undertakings with a grateful heart.

(The content of the above article is sourced from HuaShangTaoLue (華商韜略), and has been excerpted into traditional Chinese and translated into English.)