"Planning ahead: a roadmap to where purpose meets impact."
Jill Robinson MBE, Dr.med.vet. h.c. is the founder of Animals Asia, a charity devoted to ending bear bile farming and improving the welfare of animals across Asia.
Described by Jane Goodall as the “future of animal welfare in Asia”, she is the world’s leading expert on the cruel bear bile industry, having campaigned against it since 1993.
She founded Animals Asia in 1998 an organisation that is devoted to ending the painful practice of bear bile farming and improving the welfare of animals in China and Vietnam by promoting compassion and respect for all animals and working to bring about long-term change.
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We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Jill Robinson MBE: I’m the founder and CEO of Animals Asia, a charity dedicated to ending bear bile farming and improving the welfare of animals throughout Asia.
Since our establishment in 1998, Animals Asia has been rescuing farmed and caged bears and operating award-winning bear rescue sanctuaries in both China and Vietnam. We are the sole organization with a bear sanctuary in China and have the only government approved agreement to end bear bile farming in Vietnam by 2026.
In the past year, what is the greatest business achievement you’d like to celebrate with your team? Please share the details of that success.
Jill Robinson MBE: Since we were founded in 1998, our core programs of ending bear bile extraction and the suffering of wild animals in captivity along with ensuring the humane treatment of dogs and cats in Asia have seen thousands upon thousands of animals benefit from this work.
But this year is probably our most important yet, since our press conference with the government of Vietnam last November and a public joint promise to bring the cruel industry of bear bile farming to an end by 2026 and rescue the remaining bears to our second sanctuary in the country.
The first phase of this sanctuary in the beautiful Bach Ma National Park in central Vietnam is the most remarkable achievement in a challenging financial year, and already has six newly rescued bears recovering from their physical and psychological trauma after 20 years caged and painfully extracted of their bile for use in traditional medicine.
However, we are in the midst of a race against time in completing construction to house the last caged 250 bears countrywide and see bear bile farming finally outlawed once and for all.
What advice do you wish you had received when you started your business journey and what do you intend on improving in the next quarter?
Jill Robinson MBE: I wish I’d been advised to start a strategic planning process from the outset! It wasn’t until nine years after we founded that I felt the time had come.
Through this journey, we discovered bottlenecks in the organisation as a result of not empowering our good people to become better and make their own mistakes to the point where they could confidently lead in their areas of expertise.
As managers, we must embrace uncomfortable truths because it’s how we learn and also earn the trust of our colleagues and friends. Transparency, and honesty, are paramount – and not forgetting enjoying the confidence of everyone we hire. As Steve Jobs said; “it doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.”
Plans for the future include ongoing reviews of our project areas with some challenging, exciting conversations, such as program and succession planning to ensure that Animals Asia is as strong and successful as it can be for the animals in our next 25 years!
Here is a two-fold question: What is the book that influenced you the most and how? Please share some life lessons you learned. Now what book have you gifted the most and why?
Jill Robinson MBE: The book that influenced me the most has to be ‘Born Free’ by Joy Adamson. It tells the story of Joy and her husband George who lived in Africa and hand-raised a lion cub named Elsa, before setting her free in the bush.
It moved me immensely but perhaps not as deeply as the film of the book, starring Virginia McKenna and her husband Bill Travers, which saw a six-year-old child knowing that she had found her heroine and purpose in life.
Years later I was to meet Virginia – and we became great friends. She was the one, when I later asked her about starting my own organisation to help captive bears in China and Vietnam, who said three words…. ‘just do it’… the greatest life lesson of all.
Since then, the book I have gifted the most is our own, ‘Freedom Moon’, a coffee table book that celebrates the rescue of nearly 700 beautiful, forgiving bears, from farms to freedom in our three award-winning sanctuaries in China and Vietnam.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as THE real challenge right now?
Jill Robinson MBE: Writing is my joy – but I wish I had more time to do it! Several years ago I wrote a children’s book with my great friend, animal ethologist, Professor Marc Bekoff – ‘Jasper’s Story: Saving Moon Bears’ – about one of my ‘not allowed to have favourites, favourite bear’.
Jasper was confined in a crush cage on a bear bile farm for over 15 years and then spent another 15 years with us after we rescued him. The joy that bear gave us all was indescribable and if ever I was having a bad day I’d go on the walkie-talkie and tell our staff ‘I’m closing off for an hour for a meeting with Jasper’.
I’m now in the final stages of writing a book – a life story really that describes a challenging journey through animal welfare, conservation, cultural collaboration and kindness in action in China and Vietnam.
Not many non-government organisations can boast about achieving two of their founding goals, but Animals Asia can, and this book is about the story of the nearly four decades it took to get there.
In your experience, what tends to be the most underestimated part of running a company? Can you share an example?
Jill Robinson MBE: Sweating the small stuff without a doubt. Millionaire Entrepreneur Stephen Bartlett says ‘if you don’t care about tiny details you’ll produce bad work because good work is the culmination of hundreds of tiny details.
The world’s most successful people all sweat the small stuff.’ And he’s right. For me, the small stuff is actually big stuff – like saying thank you, with genuine sincerity to our staff and supporters, being kind to both people and animals, and creating an organisation that offers opportunities, ambition and safe spaces for all who have the kindness to join us.
What does “success” in 2024 mean to you? It could be on a personal or business level, please share your vision.
Jill Robinson MBE: Celebrating more animals who leave suffering behind and enjoy true sanctuary – whether with us, in the wild, or in loving homes.
Success in the midst of a challenging financial year also means that hopefully our income will grow, and everyone in the organisation can worry less about money and more about achieving more goals, completing that second bear sanctuary in Vietnam, and creating a safer, kinder world for animals and people to enjoy.
Brooke Young, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Jill Robinson MBE for taking the time to do this interview and share her knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Jill Robinson MBE or her company, you can do it through her – Linkedin Page
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