Startup focuses on products for elderly

Email of the writer: JeniZhang13@163.com

Zeng Jingqiang

For those who have elders in the family, it is worrisome that they sometimes forget to take their medicines on time. Zeng Jingqiang, the founder and CEO of Shenzhen People Strong Co. Ltd., has provided a clever yet considerate solution.

Zeng lived with his grandmother while he was pursuing his postgraduate studies at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. His grandmother suffers from diabetes and high blood pressure and needs to take medicines regularly every day. However, he found that she would often lose track of whether she had taken the drugs or not.

As Zeng has deep feelings for his grandmother, he came up with something to help her. When he found that the market did not have any satisfactory products for such a problem, he decided to design an intelligent medicine box that can give timely reminders and record the data in real time.

“What I am doing is actually a health-care management platform for elderly care using our self-developed equipment. Our design idea is to ensure that users can improve and maximize the accuracy of drug use when using our products,” Zeng explained.

The smart medicine dispenser called “rotmed” is composed of two parts, including the box itself and an app that connects with it. When it is time to take medicine, the box will vibrate, flash, sound alarms and send a message to family members through the app to ensure that the elder takes the medicine on time.

In case of an emergency, the elder can push the button in the middle and ask for help. Moreover, the elder can communicate with family members through the box. Through cloud data and real-time tracking, the elder’s medication condition can be inquired about immediately.

When describing why he chose Shenzhen to launch his business, Zeng said he is greatly impressed by the city’s entrepreneurial atmosphere, as the government is very supportive. “In the early stages of starting my project, I’ve gained a lot of support from those preferential policies, whether it be venues or initial funding.”

In April 2016, the medicine box received 4 million yuan (US$604,594) in financing from Shenzhen-based investment company Launcher Capital and began mass production this April after a year of R&D based on the previous model.

“At present, we have four major products. Besides rotmed, we have also designed a smart watch for the elderly, an intelligent blood pressure meter and a glucometer. We are also developing an instrument for testing balance,” said Zeng, whose company has been cooperating with communities, nursing homes and companies, like China Telecom.

“To start a business, one has to be resilient and good at regulating emotions. Second, you have to make sure what you’re heading for is the right direction. Third, it is better to have a team whose members have complementary skills,” suggested Zeng.