I believe that prevention is better than cure because the incident that happened to my parents can happen to anyone’s parents as well. Before they start having difficulties, we have to start looking at what is the best fit for our parents? What kind of things that we should do at home or modify [at] home before any serious problems occur.
olivia quah
In today’s episode, I am speaking to Olivia Quah who is the co-founder of Asian Integrated Medical Sdn Bhd in Malaysia.
Her business specialises in elderly care products and interestingly she began her business because of her own ageing parents. Her business also complements her husband’s as he is a medical doctor and a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner.
Olivia is also expanding her business although her main focus is on her ecommerce website. She has many plans in store for her elderly care products and services and she reveals in this episode how she has been successful so far in her product-driven business.
Her 20 years of working experience in business development, trade and investment promotion and operations gave her insights and a ready network when she began her own business.
I have big challenges during the sourcing of products because I always ask myself, is this product any good? Can it really help the elderly or support the elderly well? I always ask this question, is it useful for them or not?
She has worked with foreign government agencies, Australia’s Victorian Government, Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency and Invest Hong Kong. At one point in her career, Olivia was with a think tank, Asian Strategy & Leadership Institute. Her experience also covered various trade and investment councils such as the Malaysia-Indonesia Business Council and Malaysia-Turkey Business Council and Malaysia-Thailand Business Council culminating in several focused business and investment missions to these countries.
At the start of her career, she worked with an aerospace and aviation government-linked company, Composite Technology Research Malaysia, responsible for business development.
Her past business experience and business contacts enabled her to start Asian Integrated Medical Sdn Bhd. It is a licensed medical supply company specializing in elderly care products such as wheelchairs, hospital beds and oxygen concentrators. Her company distributes medical products to hospitals, clinics, pharmacies and nursing homes.
In addition, they run and manage their own retail outlet, clinic, Chinese medicine clinic and nursing home and sell their products online at their own website.
Most importantly, how do you look into the problems and identify solutions ? Always think about corrective actions and preventive actions that should be implemented immediately when problems happen.
She says that her favourite tagline is “Think Parents, Think iElder” and she is most inspired by Daisaku Ikeda, a Japanese Buddhist philosopher, educator, author, and nuclear disarmament advocate. He served as the third president and then honorary president of the Soka Gakkai, the largest of Japan’s new religious movements. Her favourite book is Tuesdays with Morrie.
She was featured in a UNCTAD article as one of the four women who built success during COVID.
It is clear that Olivia believes that running a business with a heart is a strategic decision.