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When Ovidiu Olea had problems ordering face masks for his Hong Kong staff in January, his entrepreneurial – and philanthropic – instincts kicked in.
The Romanian banker turned businessman, who is the founder and chief executive of Hong Kong-based fintech company Valoot, was told there was a supply shortage. Coincidentally, he had just read an article in medical journal The Lancet, written by doctors in the Chinese city of Wuhan – where the coronavirus outbreak was first reported – warning governments around the world to brace for a shortage of masks.
Sensing the impending emergency, Olea started looking for an overseas supplier. He placed an order for 500,000 masks from South Africa for his staff and for sale through an e-store on the Chinese social media app WeChat. To ensure their safe passage from the factory near Durban to an airport in Johannesburg, a roughly 10-hour journey, he hired six armed guards and a three-vehicle convoy.
Soon after, the Hong Kong government asked if he could source for masks and hand sanitisers for them. Olea arranged a 58-tonne delivery through a private cargo charter flight from Romania.
