INTHEBLACK October 2021 - Magazine - Page 74
MEMBER PROFILE
// G I V I N G B A C K
STORY KATIE LANGMORE
PATHS
UNKNOWN
Below: Lawrence
Lau FCPA with
members of the
Guizhou school
community in the
upgraded library.
LAWRENCE LAU FCPA HAS SET UP A SOCIAL
ENTERPRISE THAT DRIVES ECO-TOURISM
WHILE PROVIDING MUCH-NEEDED BUSINESS
SUPPORT TO REMOTE RURAL COMMUNITIES.
S
ince the pandemic-induced rise in videoconferencing,
most of us have spent countless hours looking into
other people’s studies, makeshift offices or, at best,
images of exotic but unmoving virtual backgrounds. For
Lawrence Lau FCPA, however, his meeting backdrops
are truly breathtaking.
Lau’s current “office” is a small wooden hut that looks
out onto the high mountains of north-west Yunnan
province in Mainland China, shrouded in low-lying cloud
and covered in dense, lush foliage.
“We’re sitting at close to 3000 metres high, near the
border of Myanmar and Tibet,” says Lau.
Dressed in activewear, which Lau jokingly calls
his “business attire”, the former finance head of
multinational companies such as Owens Corning, L’Oréal
China and General Motors looks in his element – far
happier than he might be in his study or an office.
“I stepped down from my corporate role as a CFO a
few years ago. Since then, I’ve been gradually increasing
my time building my companies,” he explains.
Lau’s social enterprise, which he set up when living
in Australia prior to the pandemic, is called Pathfinder,
with Pathfinder Travel+ as a division that specialises
in offering immersive travel experiences alongside
community service. His vision is to provide financial and
practical support to remote rural communities, and then
draw eco-tourists to their villages.
At the moment, Lau is helping some Tibetan villagers
carry out a feasibility study into expanding a small trout
fish farm with a tiny eatery into a nine-room bed and
breakfast, offering unique travel experiences in the region.
“These communities need business support,” he
explains. “What I’m doing is what CPAs do best – I’m
helping people to use simple tools like spreadsheets
to capture income, expenses, risks and long-term
projections. I’m encouraging them to consider best and
worst-case scenarios, build solid business plans with
contingencies, and I’m also talking about ethical and
transparent business models.”
Lau supports the villagers free of charge, and most of his
work so far has been self-funded. He plans to grow the eco74 ITB October 2021
Lawrence Lau’s Pathfinder
Travel+ is a social
enterprise that aims to
support rural communities
in Mainland China and
other Asian countries
through sustainable
business support and
education in financial
literacy, while giving
eco-travellers an
unforgettable, immersive
cultural experience.
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CPA Australia’s
resources for
voluntary or pro
bono accounting
services
tourism side of the business and has already led some small
groups of friends and tourists into rural regions.
One group helped refurbish an old library at a school
located in a remote part of Guizhou. “With the help of
the school community, we created a beautiful, open-plan,
interactive space with computers and books. The students
and teachers were so happy.”
Lau gives back to the community in other ways besides
eco tourism. In 2018, before leaving the corporate world,
he became a Justice of the Peace (JP). “Being a JP gives
me the chance to serve the community and also gives me
fantastic exposure to people from all walks of life,” he says.
He joined the voluntary program JPs in the Community,
and spends half a day each week and some weekends
sitting at a shopping centre helping members of the
public certify their documents. “I even used the service
when I was younger,” he laughs.
Lau is also a member of the Lions Club, has actively
supported rural school education programs and has
arranged medical outreach in Mainland China and SouthEast Asia. He also served for two years as president of
CPA Australia’s Shanghai Committee, having helped to
establish the regional office in 2006.
“I’ve known in my heart for a long time that I want
to serve people in need,” says Lau. “I come from a very
humble background, and I feel so blessed that I got to
study in Australia under a program sponsored by the
Australian Government.
“Now that my family is well cared for, I am so
happy to be able to do this meaningful work, travel to
untouched paradises, to meet all these amazing people
and do my best for these communities.”