The story of building a global pioneer in both gender equality and biotechnology

Bloomage is one of the most important companies that you’ve probably never heard of. Founded in China over two decades ago, the company is now a global leader in developing and producing a range of bioactive materials that you have probably also never heard of including mucopolysaccharides, proteins, polypeptides, amino acids, nucleotides, and natural active compounds. But these materials are used in a range of common health and cosmetic products used around the world.

Much of Bloomage’s success and unlikely story stems from its leadership under Chairperson and CEO Zhao Yan who brings an investment background with business acumen and a dedication to equality and transparency throughout the company.

For Women’s History Month in March, CEOWORLD magazine had the privilege of speaking with Zhao Yan to gain her insights into a fascinating industry and how the company has benefited from putting such focus on ensuring gender equality.

Although Bloomage has had a growing presence in the US for several years, the story of how they got here is far from inevitable, and according to Zhao, is in large part to the company’s strong focus on fairness and gender equality.

How it started

After a decade of entrepreneurship, Zhao had been searching for a more meaningful and impactful career tract. While in an EMBA program at Peking University in 2000, she met who became her predecessor at Bloomage who, at the time, was trying to sell the company.

Bloomage was founded by a group of scientists, focused on using microbial fermentation to produce hyaluronic acid, replacing the traditional animal extraction method. By 2000 the company was facing two consecutive years of losses. “I had a background in biology and was looking for something new, so I decided to check out the company,” recalls Zhao. “During my visit, our current Chief Scientist, Dr. Guo Xueping, explained that hyaluronic acid primarily serves as a moisturizer in the human body, capable of locking in 1000 water molecules with a tiny drop.”

Zhao instantly saw the market potential for this product in the field of cosmetics. One week later she invested in Bloomage, and now has led the company through major global expansion through establishing new quality control and management systems, the expansion of the company’s production scale and supply chain, and major advancements in fairness and equality that have today led to a workforce that is over half female.

“When I took over Bloomage it did not have its own quality control system,” she recalled. “My first move was to hire a general manager in Beijing, whose initial task was not to explore the market but to gradually improve the company’s governance structure and quality control. We spent a year building systems according to ISO9000 standards and established modern corporate management practices. We achieved profitability in the first year!”

Factors for Success

Once Bloomage got its house in order it was able to improve the production process of its range of biosynthesized materials. The story gets technical here, but these are the products that have made Bloomage so successful.

Bloomage specializes in hyaluraonic acid, a key ingredient in many health care products and cosmetics. Through optimizing its production processes, Bloomage’s hyaluronic acid fermentation yield far exceeds the industry average, with over 200 related products and pharmaceutical ratings that exceed drug quality standards in many of the world’s major markets. Key quality parameters such as nucleic acid and endotoxin levels are 1/50 and 1/20 of the values specified in the European Pharmacopoeia. Bloomage pharmaceutical-grade raw material production complies with the requirements of the U.S. cGMP, Chinese GMP, and ICHQ7, passing on-site inspections by the U.S. FDA, Korean MFDS, and China GMP. They have also obtained global registration and filing qualifications, including in the EU, U.S., Korea, Canada, and Japan.

In the early 2000s Bloomage went from only one small factory and no research and development center to quickly setting the goal of building factories to become the world’s largest, highest-quality, and most comprehensive hyaluronic acid raw material producer. By 2005, Bloomage built its first major production facility in China and two years later became the world’s largest producer of hyaluronic acid which it has maintained to this day.

From this position of market dominance, its product line has also expanded from a single focus on hyaluronic acid to a broader range of bioactive substances. Although hyaluronic acid and its derivatives remain popular in overseas markets, Bloomage is also developing recombinant collagen, maceothiophene, ictodeoxin, and PDRN.

Bloomage now operates production facilities across China, a global supply chain, and subsidiaries across North America, Europe, and Asia to serve its business in over 70 countries. “Expanding internationally has broadened our perspective,” Zhao explains, “it enables us to keenly perceive future trends, prepare in advance, and ensure that we stay at the forefront of the industry.”

Advancing Gender Equality

Zhao recalls how in her early years of doing business almost all the entrepreneurs she worked with were men. But she has seen an increasing number of women over the years, and is proud that the trends in her company are also reflective of those across broader society.

Bloomage has initiated a range of gender equality policies and principles throughout its operations. Ensuring fairness and gender equality are key features of the company’s recruitment, salary, performance evaluation, promotion, and trainings. And these efforts have delivered tangible results seen easily through the company’s employee demographics.

The proportion of female employees, executives, and research personnel at Bloomage exceeds global averages. In 2022, the proportion of female employees reached 51%, with female executives accounting for 45%. In 2023, the proportion of female research personnel exceeded 60%.

Zhao notes that this kind of gender ratio offers women a chance to “fully utilize their abilities and advantages in creativity, innovation, endurance, resilience, and stress resistance while providing opportunities for them to demonstrate their leadership abilities.”

Corporations around the world are experimenting in ways to incorporate more diversity and inclusion in their operations, often with mixed results. In China, where ethnic and racial diversity in the workplace are not as pressing as in many other more multi-cultural societies, gender equality takes more precedent. Zhao sees gender diversity as essential for the health of society and plays a crucial role in shaping corporate culture and a company’s long-term success.  “Women possess characteristics and advantages such as delicacy, sensibility, and strong resilience. The different ways of thinking and innovative perspectives that women bring to the workplace enable them to better demonstrate their unique strengths, helping companies better respond to market changes and challenges and enhancing the competitiveness of the company.”

Bloomage is a company well worth paying attention to not just for its successful global business model, but also its consistent focus on gender equality and the benefits it brings to business. This combination of business foresight, carefully planned global expansion, and fostering talent equally from men and women in the workplace have helped Bloomage reach its place atop the industry today.

Zhao Yan has much to be proud of with two decades of upward achievements. But what she sees as her most proud achievement has simply been “contributing to the health, beauty, and happiness of as many people as possible.”

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