Transcript: Women in Business — Linda Hua of Kien Fat Trading
[Music plays.]
[CIBC logo.
Women in Business]
[Title name: Susan Rimmer – Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head, Commercial Banking and Wealth Management.]
[Title name: Linda Hua – CEO, Kien Fat Trading.]
[Susan sits in an office setting, with a bricked wall. Green trees can be seen through the window behind her.]
>>Susan Rimmer: At CIBC, our connected approach means we work across our bank to support our clients. When it comes to business owners and professionals, we understand their challenges as they balance their roles as leaders, driving their business forward and managing personal growth. That's why our focus is on leveraging the entire platform to create end-to-end financial solutions and opportunities to accelerate growth.
My name is Susan Rimmer, Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head, Commercial Banking and Wealth Management.
Previously, in my leadership role in Global Corporate and Investment Banking, CIBC Capital Markets, I saw firsthand our approach in supporting clients across the organization.
I will be taking the opportunity to speak to some leading professional women who we have had the pleasure of partnering with across our Commercial Bank, our Private Wealth and our Investor’s Edge businesses.
These women have broken down barriers, led through challenging times and grown their businesses and driven a deep impact within their companies and communities. They have been generous to share their stories and advice with us.
[Susan and Linda sit across from each other in comfortable chairs in an office setting conversing. There are coffee cups and a plant on a table between them. There are green trees seen in a window behind them.]
>>Susan Rimmer: Linda, welcome to CIBC Square.
>>Linda Hua: Thank you for having me.
>>Susan Rimmer: Oh, gosh, it's a pleasure. So, Kien Fat Trading, CEO, tell me about your business. Tell me about your role as a leader.
[Kien Fat Trading Inc. logo.]
>>Linda Hua: Kien Fat Trading is an Asian importer of food and distributor for the Canadian market.
[Three jars filled with a red substance sit beside each other. One jar is labelled, Chili Garlic Sauce, Huy Fong Foods Inc. One jar is labelled Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce, Huy Fong Foods Inc. The third jar is labelled, Sambal Oelek, Ground Fresh Chili Sauce, Huy Fong Foods Inc. On all of the labels, there is a rooster in the center with Asian lettering underneath.]
[A bottle of Sriracha Hot Chile Sauce lies on the table beside a bowl of Asian soup with noodles and fresh herbs, which has streaks of the sauce lying on top of the noodles.]
>>Linda Hua: So, we are actually one of the largest distributor of the Huy Fong rooster Siracha. So if you get it on the Canadian shelves, good chances that it's coming through me.
>>Susan Rimmer: Oh my gosh, I love the rooster Sriracha.
[Susan and Linda converse.]
>>Susan Rimmer: And so how many years have you been operating in Canada?
>>Linda Hua: Oh, over 42 years.
>>Susan Rimmer: Oh my goodness. And how long have you been in the CEO role?
>>Linda Hua: 20 years.
>>Susan Rimmer: Okay, so lots of experience. So, Linda, a lot has changed over the last 30 years. You've been the leader for 20. Tell me about some of the challenges you faced as a CEO of your business.
>>Linda Hua: The first challenge was to grow the business and to get our products onto as many shelves, and actually to make sure that we get to introduce it to more customers and open up different channels. And that being, the mainstream Walmart, Loblaws, Sobeys, Metro, Food Basics. And that was a challenge to get in there. But, we did it.
[Beautiful green fields with different crops are evenly laid out in many, many square patches in front of mountains under a blue sky. A field of dry mud with large cracks running through it lies under a white sky with a bright sun. Hands are picking red peppers off of a pepper plant, from between green leaves.]
>>Linda Hua: And in the last few years our suppliers have had challenges with climate change, so they've had shortages, crop-related issues.
[Susan and Linda converse.]
>>Linda Hua: And working through that was building on our relationship with our suppliers and our customers to be there to support them, but then to also tell our customers it's a hiccup. We'll get through it. The products will come back.
>>Susan Rimmer: Oh my. So just as you're expanding on your distribution, you start having supply chain issues as a consequence of climate change.
>>Linda Hua: Yes.
>>Susan Rimmer: Lots to navigate.
>>Linda Hua: Yes. It was, but we did it.
>>Susan Rimmer: Absolutely. Now tell me about your customer segments, who is buying your products in the stores?
>>Linda Hua: Almost every customer segment out there, Caucasians, Asians. But the fastest growing segment that we've realized is actually the Middle Eastern segment. Yes. And they use it in their marinades, their meats.
[Several people of different cultures and ages are at an outdoor barbecue, some looking at food on an outdoor table, some by the barbecue. Five young adults of different cultures carry food to a backyard table beside a house in the evening — there are strings of lights overhead. A family of five sits at a dining room table with candles, eating and talking.]
>>Linda Hua: And this talks to how globally different ethnicities and everything with food is a commonality. And you can use it from one part of the country to another part of the country.
And it relates to many, many different, customer segments.
[Susan and Linda converse.]
>>Susan Rimmer: So Linda, we're fortunate at CIBC we serve as your commercial banker, your personal banker as well as your wealth advisor. Tell me what's working for you in the relationship with CIBC?
>>Linda Hua: It's having a seamless banking solution, wealth advisor and everything together. And it's very, very easy to pick up the phone when I talk to my commercial banker and say, hey, I need this, and they'll connect me to another part of CIBC. CIBC Forex, CIBC Investing, CIBC Wealth Advisor, estate planning, all of it.
And it's that relationship that I know that this person is looking out for me and the platforms are very good and seamless.
>>Susan Rimmer: Oh, that's great to hear. Yes. Thank you. So tell me your best advice for other business owners and entrepreneurs in Canada. What can you share with them by way of best practice? What have you learned over the years?
>>Linda Hua: My best advice is to cultivate the relationships that you have. To really understand your supplier, understand your customer, and make sure that you're there for them and when doing so, you build that trust and you build that long-term relationship, so that they know that you're there and we know that we can rely on them as well.
>>Susan Rimmer: That's great advice for bankers and wealth advisors as well. Thank you.
[Music plays.]
>>OK, great. Well, terrific to speak to you this afternoon. Wishing you all the best and every success with your business going forward.
>>Linda Hua: Thank you so much for having me. It's been a pleasure.
[CIBC logo.
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