Aw Boon Par (1888–1944) was an entrepreneur and philanthropist best known for introducing Tiger Balm.
He was a son of Hakka herbalist Aw Chu-Kin.[1][2] Aw was born during the British colonial rule. His father left the business to Boon-Par and after Aw Chu-Kin's death in 1908, he called his elder brother Aw Boon-Haw to run his father's apothecary, Eng Aun Tong ("The Hall of Eternal Peace") together.
Although Aw wished to stay in Yangon, his brother who had settled in Singapore[3] in 1926 convinced him to immigrate, move the family business, and found the precursor of today's Haw Par Corporation. Boon-Haw moved to Hong Kong to manage the business from there, while Boon-Par stayed in Singapore to run the factory. Eventually, Aw closed the factory down, returned to Rangoon, and died there.
References
- Beverland, Michael (2009) Building Brand Authenticity: 7 Habits of Iconic Brands Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, Hampshire, England, page 91, ISBN 978-0-230-58031-2^
- Temporal, Paul (2006) Asia's star brands Wiley, Singapore, page 116, ISBN 0-470-82156-6^
- Go, Simon (2003) Hong Kong apothecary: a visual history of Chinese medicine packaging Princeton Architectural Press, New York, page 198, ISBN 1-56898-390-5^