EP 152 COVID-19 with Alan Scanlan

In this video, Rico and ChinaMike enlist their good friend, Alan Scanlan of Newlands Sourcing. They discuss what it’s like to be in Hong Kong as a foreigner with tight health protocols from the government. An interesting exchange they have is how they look forward to emerging small businesses and how people get creative on business ideas.

Some important points:

  • Wearing masks in HK is a big deal to locals, Coronavirus in HK compared to other countries

  • COVID-19 symptoms and friends that they know who got sick, Tracking Bands for monitoring in HK, Contact Tracing on other countries

  • Breaking Quarantine Protocols in HK, Alan jumping in Medical Supplies business, Factories jumping into producing masks

  • Pivoting the business to address the demand, the sense of security that SFA provides to our clients

  • Health Protocols that companies are complying, Flexible work arrangements in HK, Medical Supplies situation in Ireland

  • No new standards when exporting products to Europe, Denmark inspection issues for personal shipments

  • Unrealistic Standards imposed to meet some requirements in exporting, customers that buy the Medical Supplies are not expert of the products, filtering business leads

  • Business in general in terms of sourcing, Medical Supplies business as a safety net

  • Getting creative and coming up with a business idea during a crisis, emerging businesses online starting from homes, the “New Normal” after the pandemic