Asia and ASEAN Distribution with BD Manager Appointment
Uscom advises of the appointment of Mr Ng Jih Nang as South East Asian Distribution and Business Development Manager. Mr Ng is an experienced medical distributor and business manager and will be employed through Uscom’s new Singapore Regional Head Quarters.
At the same time the Singapore Medical Device Register (SMDR) listed the USCOM 1A, BP+ and SpiroSonic devices for sale in Singapore under the supervision of the Singapore Health Sciences Authority.
Mr Ng Jih Nang comes to Uscom with over 20 years Asian medical technology sales and BD experience with GE, Leica, Philips, Teleflex, and Eckert and Ziegler. Mr Ng’s 20 years of experience includes the ASEAN territories plus Japan, South Korea, China, and the Indian subcontinent; all territories in which Uscom is now focused.
This appointment is a cornerstone development for Uscom in the fastest growing regional economies of the world and is part of Uscom’s strategic global expanded distribution as new products are developed via the recent Foxconn partnership in Beijing for international markets.
The ASEAN economy is estimated to be the 5th largest in the world with a population of ~680m and a GDP value of $3.2T USD with a growth rate for 2022 anticipated to be 6-7%. Add to this the economies of Japan, India and Pakistan and the combined population is 2.4B or nearly 25% of the world’s population. Add China and the number becomes nearly 50% of the world’s population. Uscom is increasingly focused on these markets. Not only are they the largest but they are also the fastest growing, and they are the markets closest to Australia. The choice of Singapore as our distribution and regional HQ only further embeds us in the region, and the appointment of Mr Ng provides us with over 20 years’ experience of sales, distribution and business development in the region. His contacts across the region are planned to connect Uscom products to optimal distributors and rapidly generate sales.
Uscom has already begun the process of consolidating regulatory approvals for its three main product ranges; USCOM 1A, BP+ and SpiroSonic series of devices across all countries, as the SMDR listing demonstrates.
Uscom currently divides its world markets into Asia and SE Asia, China, Europe, the US and the Rest of the World (ROW), and we are systematically targeting stand-alone profitability in each jurisdiction. While our major market is China, recent activities have been focused on boosting Europe and the US.
The regional market strategy involves applying for regulatory approvals and the establishment of local distribution partnerships. While Uscom has strong distribution in China, and improving activities in Europe and the US, SE Asia is now the focus of significant new activities out of our new Singapore regional hub.
The appointment of a sales, marketing and BD manager to lead Uscom’s SE Asian expansion is a logical response to the challenges in global markets for the previous two years as we pro-actively look to consolidate, diversify and increase sales and address geopolitical vulnerability. While global markets may be unpredictable in their recovery, more distributors and more products and tighter management will allow Uscom to build sales revenue even if some regional economies remain anaemic.
Uscom’s partnership with Foxconn is accelerating with new manufacturing and R&D facilities in Beijing having completed fit out, with NMPA regulatory requirements progressing for manufacturing and the listing of three new devices for the Chinese market in process. The new devices are specialised haemodynamic monitors developed for different clinical applications and operator skills, and at different price points to facilitate precise tendering. The devices are the USCOM Basic, USCOM Classic and the USCOM Advance and are expected to be ready for manufacture and marketing by the end of the year. This new Uscom facility will address the Made in China by 2025 Chinese Government regulation dictating that all devices purchased in China should be manufactured in China. Introduction of this regulation has significantly delayed Uscom China sales in FY22, but has created a healthy pipeline of orders pending approval of the Foxconn manufactured devices.
Executive Chairman of Uscom, Professor Rob Phillips said “SE Asia is an increasingly important medical market with a large population, rapidly growing economies and an expanding middle class with high expectations of quality medical care. Uscom has some ASEAN distribution, and as part of its growth strategy has recently established a regional HQ in Singapore, with the appointment of Mr Ng consolidating this strategy. With over 20 years sales, marketing and BD experience in the region, Mr Ng’s targets are simply to increase regional sales; he will drive results from our current distributors, identify and partner with new distributors of scale, and expand Uscom sales into regions which as yet are untouched. It will be great to have a local familiar with the culture and languages of the different SE Asian markets, and we look forward to Mr Ng rapidly growing our SE Asian revenues. The listing of USCOM, BP+ and SpiroSonic on SMDR will allow Mr Ng to begin sales in Singapore, as regional registrations continue for all products across all SE Asian jurisdictions.”