Sunnybank, QUEENSLAND - Meet Lai Fan, the 16-year-old who dropped out of high school to sell baby formula. Now he makes $2 million AUD per month, News.con.au's Garson Mun reports.
Lai Fan was born in Brisbane to parents who migrated from Hong Kong, and grew up in the city's southside suburbs.
He may look young, but Lai is one of the co-founders of Australia's fastest-growing baby formula smuggling operations based in Sunnybank, Brisbane.
An only child, since he was 5-years-old, his father has always wished for him to become a lawyer, while his mother wanted him to be a doctor - something they would argue over many times during his childhood.
Though he tried to meet his parents' expectations, Lai's dream has always been to become a professional League of Legends player, a goal he has never revealed to his family for fear of being beaten.
"When I dropped out of school to sell baby formula, my parents did not take it well," the teenager revealed to News.con.au. "They disowned me and kicked me out of home, never wanting to see me ever again."
Homeless and with no savings to his name, Lai had to beg for money and sleep outside Sunnybank's famous Market Square plaza for nearly 2 weeks before he finally made a sale.
"A government official from China found my ad on WeChat, and got in touch with me wanting to partner up for bulk orders, and that's the day when my life began to turn around."
Within a month, Lai pulled in AU$2 million of profits and secured 3 more long-term contracts to buy Australian baby formula and resell it to Mainland China, which will make him a further AU$5 million over the Christmas period.
With his first paycheck, Lai shrewdly purchased a brand new 3-bedroom penthouse apartment in Brisbane's Kangaroo Point as a gift to his family using cash he earned from his job, and they are now back on speaking terms.
When asked where he sees himself in 5 years, Lai said: "I just want my parents to be proud of me. Can I make that happen in 5 years, who knows? Haha."
This exclusive interview has been brought to you by News.con.au - Australia's One & Only Source of #RealNews, sponsored by Humans of Sunnybank
