An Interview with Neville Calvert, Numedico Technologies Pty Ltd Founder and MD: ‘Our Mission is to Stop Preventable Death and the Spread of Disease by Providing Access to Truly Functional, Practical, Affordable, and Safe Medical Devices and Technology

“Our heroes, though, are not us; they are our distributors, in Europe, the USA, or Asia, who believe in and stand by us.”

Numedico Technologies Pty Ltd is the exclusive worldwide licensee, manufacturer and distributor of the ClickZip™ brand of medical products including their Needle Retractable Safety Syringes and blood collection kits. ClickZip™ is the highest quality manual retractable needle injectable delivery system available in the Asia and Western Pacific region. Numedico has now expanded to supply other medical products with a focus on safe medical devices and drug delivery systems.

Numedico was incorporated in 2016 and is headquartered in Adelaide, South Australia.

Neville Calvert, Numedico Technologies Pty Ltd Founder and Managing Director, spoke exclusively to The Silicon Review. Below is an excerpt.

Q. Explain your services in brief.

Numedico are committed to providing access to truly functional, affordable, and safe medical products. Our mission is to continually question and challenge the status quo not only within the medical community but through the manufacturing and supply process too.

Currently, we fulfil medical supply contracts in three key areas; drug delivery systems (syringes and other new technologies), infectious diseases and environmental waste management. We now also offer products manufactured by complimentary companies as demand has grown beyond the products we manufacture ourselves.

Q. What are the areas covered by your patent? And how well the patent has contributed to your success?

Patents are helpful in providing an initial advantage to selling and reducing competition however the company and the brand’s advantage will be diminished if it is not supported by excellent service and commitment to the community we create behind our products. The patent has given Numedico time to build a reputation for excellence which is underpinned by our ethos to provide functional, affordable and safe medical products. As a result, our distributors in Europe, the US and Asia believe in Numedico and stand by us. It is an honour to have their trust and is not a responsibility we take lightly.

Q. How do you manage your supply chain? And tell us about its flexibility.

We are always looking through our entire value chain, not merely the supply chain. Like so many others, we had supply issues due to COVID as lockdown in various countries reduced raw material inventories. Understanding and addressing the problems with a positive mindset helps you manage the entire value chain. We were also fortunate as we were not reliant on one supplier. Inventories rebuild, financing (suppliers and buyers) and diversity of supply sources bring a positive response.

Q. Wholesaling involves purchasing and storing a lot of inventory for sale at a given time. That means even more cash tied up in inventory, as well as storage costs. How do you control cost?

We are not a wholesaler in the real sense. We sell predominately in large quantity custom orders and have a finite resource in some products. These two attributes reduce our need to have capital tied up in inventory. We do have small inventories in certain countries however this is the exception rather than the rule.

Q. With wholesale, you have less control of your brand, price, quality, and quantity. How do you build your own brand?

You lose control of something when you abrogate your responsibility to it. We personally work with our distributors to make sure the Numedico brand is never compromised. Marketing, sales and application are all done in partnership to ensure everyone is on the same page and that standards are adhered to. Our greatest strength in building Numedico is patience. There is an old African saying, “it is not the journey down the wrong path that is tedious, it is the long journey back.” Choose your track and those you plan to walk with as carefully as you can. Mistakes can still be made but it’s how you learn and recover from them that will determine whether you move on and grow.

Q. What is your distribution strategy? How do you create new strategies?

We are a start-up. As such, we need to utilize a multi-channel strategy. The online distribution platforms like Amazon, eBay, Shopify, etc., are a growing force in the B2B sector—COVID has undoubtedly accelerated the process, power, and potential of these channels. Online channels will significantly reduce costs throughout our entire value chain. This is where our focus is. However, it may take longer for the change to be global. Therefore, we have established more traditional distribution in regions where these sales modes apply. This takes enormous effort—read human resources.

To ensure we give our brand the best chance for succeeding in a specific market, we need to carefully identify our target candidates and then work hard to secure the people we need to represent us and our products in those target markets. I have tried to apply the theories from Moneyball—the movie—in approaching this team-building exercise. We spent three to four years before we sold a thing, identifying people we can work with those that firstly have a similar philosophy to us. Then we spend time talking and understanding the culture. Once we are all comfortable, we can progress the relationship. Like any relationship, it takes work—daily. This applies equally to online channels as well.

Q. How do you market your services?

We are focused on building communities around our products. As I said earlier, if we are successful in communicating with and empowering our communities, they will, in turn, become our greatest advocates. Hence social media, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and whatever comes next is the medium through which we will market.

Q. What are your trajectories for the next five years?

We seek to remain nimble in our approach to servicing and providing solutions to the health industry and proactive to its changing demands. This includes safety medical technology, home health care technologies, and sustainable solutions to manage regulated medical waste.

Too much time spent planning for the future does not allow one to focus on what needs to be done today, which is where our focus is. Let us say we will still be here making a difference because our communities have empowered us.

The Leader at the Helm of Numedico Technologies Pty Ltd

As head coach, Founder, and Managing Director of Numedico Technologies, Neville Calvert has oversight of the company’s daily operations, product development, procurement, and strategic positioning. For more than three decades now, he has devoted his business life to creating solutions for senior management and boards to achieve their growth ambitions and ultimate success.

Mr. Calvert’s experience ranges from investment banking through alternative energy, agriculture (wine), and now to the health industry. He believes the success of a project depends on the people and service behind the company and is committed to developing high performing teams and pairing this with products technology that genuinely makes a difference to the health industry environment.

“I am inspired every day to help others achieve what inspires them. Empowering people helps them be and do the extraordinary. I love that! Bestow trust. You cannot be everywhere, and people on the front line need to know they can decide without fear. This goes for everyone we team up with.”