Wayne Chau and his social enterprise Agent of Change delivers quality food to the poor

Wayne Chau Pui-por has his own way of getting things done.

When he approached Procter & Gamble, the American multinational consumer goods giant, he didn't ask for money to help the poor. Instead, he explained how he could access a one-million-strong local market for the company if it sold him toothpaste at a reduced rate. The result? That toothpaste is now used by tens of thousands of people across public housing estates in Hong Kong.

Chau runs a social enterprise called Agent of Change that operates pop-up stalls 300 days a year at housing estates and uses spare rooms at district council premises close by to sell quality foodstuffs and household goods at low cost to those who struggle to afford them. His aim is to provide good nutrition at affordable prices to those who depend on social security. Cooking oil, rice and other goods are packaged with written messages encouraging people to grab opportunities and improve their lives.

"I lived without electricity," Chau, 30, recalls of his childhood on the mainland. He was born in Hepu in Guangxi province, and moved to Hong Kong at the age of 12 to live with his stepmother and brother. He found the change difficult as a teenager, and while he has a close relationship with his stepmother now, he didn't back then. They lived in a subdivided flat in Sham Shui Po and he attended a band five school, under the old system of grading.

Chau went on to study computer science and he ran a successful public relations company before he set up Agent of Change. He currently employs five full-time staff, 20 part-timers and around 50 volunteers. The word "dignity" is important to his mission, and he uses it a lot when talking about the poor and underprivileged.

Looking back at his teenage years, he remembers elderly women living in illegal structures on the roof of his building. He recalls how they ate mouldy food sometimes, telling him it was all they could afford. In a way, Agent of Change is for them, he says.