Derek was born in Hong Kong in 1960 and graduated from Hong Kong Polytechnic in 1984. He worked as a textile machinery sale engineer until 1991. Then he started a joint venture woollen spinning factory in Zhangjiagang city of Jiangsu Province and he successfully built up the brand Tian Yi worsted yarn in Hong Kong. Derek became an active member of the Hong Kong Institute of Marketing since 1993 and served the institute as Chairman in 1997. Derek worked with the Former Formula One and Motorcycle World champion John Surtees as a motorsport consultant for Chinese market in 2000-2009. In 2003, the outbreak of SARS in Hong Kong killed hundreds of people was caused by the malfunction of drainage system of the flushing toilet. Derek started to investigate an eco-toilet system without the use of water and chemicals. After years of R+D, he successfully launched his products and his new sanitation technology has won three international awards namely World Technology Award from US, Thomas Edison Grand Award from S. Korea and Gold Medal of Taipei Invention Show & Technomart of Taiwan and patents were granted from 29 regions including UK, China, Hong Kong, US and Japan.