Exciting week

We started on March 26. That’s 2,5 weeks ago, but it feels like months. In 2,5 weeks we wrote a business plan, borrowed €350.000,-, procured 2 machines in China (we’ll know for sure when we have them here) and formed partnerships and collaborations with fantastic parties like KLM, Phillips, Phillips Foundation and Friends for Brands.
Last week we finally received the call from the National medical equipment consortium who are commissioned by the department of healthcare and well-being, the department of economic affairs and other big companies to find protective equipment. They committed to speed up the certification process of our surgical masks and emphasized that the IIR type mask is in great demand.

Part of our plan is supplying everyone in need of surgical masks, which includes refugee camps at the borders of Europe. Unfortunately, we’re not sure if we can, because there’s a stop on the export of medical supplies in the Netherlands. Even as I’m writing this, I’m thinking ‘sounds great, but why don’t we try to set up a successful production line first?’

This week is going to be incredibly exciting. Will the money arrive on time at the factory? Triodos Bank is ready to check first thing in the morning on Tuesday. If that works out, machine 1 will loaded unto a truck and driven to Shanghai airport. We’re still waiting for confirmation from KLM. If that works out, we should have our first machine next weekend.

We decided to set up the factory in Arnhem.The municipality shows a lot of enthusiasm and proves to be a great sparring partner. We found a great location and facilities at Scalabor.