在多年向香港市民普及死亡与临终安排相关知识后，吴贵伦博士意识到：人们被告知可以选择的方式，与实际可获得的服务之间存在着差距。为弥补这一差距，他毅然放弃稳定的大学教职，转而投身创业。
After years of teaching Hongkongers about death and end-of-life arrangements, Dr Ng Kwai-lun realised there was a gap between what people were told they could do and the services actually available to them. Determined to bridge that gap, he left a stable university career to become an entrepreneur.
吴贵伦此前曾在香港中文大学医学院工作，负责遗体防腐处理，并协助运作及推广遗体捐赠计划。
Ng had worked at the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s medical school, where he managed embalming and helped run and promote its body donation initiative.
然而到了2020年，疫情又暴露出另一个问题。他发现许多老年群体及其家人在筹备葬礼时缺乏必要支持，而防疫限制措施更令他们的选择变得极为有限。他还指出，在这个传统色彩浓厚的行业里，部分人还遭遇了价格不透明、套餐僵化等问题。
But by 2020, the pandemic had exposed another problem. He encountered elderly people and families with little support when arranging funerals, while restrictions left them with fewer choices. Some, he said, also faced opaque pricing and rigid packages in a highly traditional industry.
于是吴贵伦辞去大学职务，创办了殡葬社会企业“Minimal Funeral”，旨在提供透明的价格体系、更简便的葬礼安排流程以及更多选择。
Ng subsequently left his university post and established funeral social enterprise Minimal Funeral, seeking to offer transparent prices, simpler arrangements and more choices.
“我希望将自己多年来传授的死亡与临终规划知识，转化为人们真正能够付诸实践的选项，”他说道。
“I wanted to turn what I had been teaching about death and end-of-life planning into real choices that people could actually act on,” he said.
这家企业以实现财务自给自足为目标，而非长期依赖外部资助。初创时期仅有吴贵伦与妻子两人，如今员工规模已增至约15人。
The company was designed to be financially self-sustaining instead of depending indefinitely on grants. It began with Ng and his wife and has since grown to about 15 staff members.
吴贵伦也是今年由信和集团与《南华早报》联合举办的“香港精神奖”中“创业精神奖”的入围者。
Ng is a finalist for the Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award in this year’s Spirit of Hong Kong Awards, co-organised by Sino Group and the South China Morning Post.
为家属提供更多选择仍是该企业的核心经营理念。顾客可通过屏幕查看各类殡仪场地、花艺布置及其他选项后再作决定；此外，企业也提供更为简便且环保的葬礼方案。
Giving families more choices remains an important part of the business model. Families can see funeral venues, floral arrangements and other options on screen before deciding what they want, while simpler and greener arrangements are also offered.
吴贵伦表示，他并不想摒弃传统的殡葬习俗，只是希望在人们处于悲痛之中、难以做出决定的时刻，为他们提供更多替代方案。
Ng said he did not want to discard traditional funeral customs, but to give families alternatives at a time when grief can make decisions particularly difficult.
去年11月，大埔宏福苑发生严重火灾，造成168人丧生、近5000名居民流离失所。这场灾难之后，该企业的社会使命便真正付诸实践。
That social role was put into action after the deadly Wang Fuk Court fire in Tai Po last November, which killed 168 people and displaced nearly 5,000 residents.
吴先生表示，他的团队提供免费殡葬服务、遗体修复和哀伤辅导，并为火灾后返回家园的居民提供支持。
Ng said his team provided free funeral services, body restoration and grief counselling, as well as support for residents returning to their homes after the fire.
他在本月早些时候接受采访时，从公寓中检回的个人物品修复工作仍在进行中。
Some work restoring personal belongings retrieved from the flats was still continuing at the time he was interviewed earlier this month.
吴先生表示，这次响应展示了他旗下不同服务的资源如何能够统筹调配，以应对社区紧急情况。该社会使命也延续到了公司的日常工作中。
Ng said the response showed how resources across his different services could be directed towards a community emergency. The social mission also continues in the company’s regular work.
吴先生称，每年处理的300多起殡葬案例中，约有三分之一是针对低收入家庭或缺乏家庭支持的人群。他的工作已从殡葬服务扩展到老年早期阶段的养老和临终规划。
Ng said about a third of the more than 300 funeral cases handled annually were for lower-income families or people with limited family support. His work has since expanded from funerals into earlier stages of ageing and end-of-life planning.
一项独立的死亡教育服务向不同年龄段人群提供建议，而他的另一家社会企业则帮助人们制定遗嘱、提前医疗规划和殡葬愿望等安排。
A separate death education service offers advice to different age groups, while another of his social enterprises helps people make arrangements covering wills, advance medical planning and funeral wishes.
他解释说，这一扩张部分是为了应对人口结构的变化。60岁退休、活到90岁的人可能要在退休阶段度过三十年，随着越来越多老年人独居或与子女分居，提前规划的重要性日益凸显。
The expansion responds partly to demographic change, he explained. Someone retiring at 60 and living to 90 could spend three decades in retirement, making advance planning increasingly relevant as more older people live alone or apart from their children.
吴先生将这三家社会企业描述为一个相互关联的系统，覆盖晚年生活的不同阶段——从教育和规划，到临终关怀、殡葬安排和哀伤支持。目前，一个专注于信托和护理规划的第四项业务正在开发中。
Ng describes the three social enterprises as an interconnected system dealing with different stages of later life, from education and planning to end-of-life care, funeral arrangements and grief support. A fourth venture focusing on trusts and care planning is currently in development.
吴先生表示，该服务将特别面向独居的中等收入老年人以及有残疾家属的家庭，使过去多与富裕家庭相关的规划形式惠及更多人。
Ng said the service would particularly target middle-income older people living alone and families with disabled dependants, making forms of planning traditionally associated with wealthier families available to more people.
他表示，自己最大的满足感来自于看到讲座中讨论的想法转化为人们能够受益的实际服务。
His greatest satisfaction, he said, comes from seeing ideas discussed in lectures turned into services that people can benefit from.
“以前，我可以解释诸如预先医疗规划、葬礼意愿和临终安排等事项，但人们可能仍然难以付诸行动。
“Before, I could explain things such as advance medical planning, funeral wishes and end-of-life arrangements, but people might still struggle to act on them.
“现在，我们可以帮助将这些选择转化为实际的服务和计划，”他说。
“Now, we can help turn those choices into actual services and plans,” he said.
精神香港奖于2013年启动，旨在表彰社会中默默无闻的英雄及其工作可能被公众忽视的组织。
Launched in 2013, the Spirit of Hong Kong Awards recognise society’s unsung heroes and organisations whose work might escape public attention.