Jorge Learns Important, Key Business Lessons

Name of Business: Ziohms Equipos Medicos
Nature of Business: Innovation and Technology
Location: Ecuador

My name is Jorge Illanes. My wife Andrea and I have two children, Matias and Samuel. We are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Before starting our business, I had worked for a company that sold medical equipment. In 2016, I left that company with the idea of ​​starting to maintain and calibrate medical-grade scales with our knowledge of the professional nutrition and dietetics market. We started looking for suppliers who would sell us products for this market. 

We made a few mistakes in the process of starting the business: We chose to name the business Sionmed Medical Equipment. However, four years later, when we wanted to register the brand, we received a notification from a company with 25 years in the business that we could not register the name SIONME due to the phonetic similarity between the two names and both companies selling medical equipment. That required us to create a new name. We consulted a graphic designer and worked with the government to register the new name Ziohms Equipos Medicos. 

In our desire to start importing, we discovered suppliers at extremely low prices compared to those on the market, so we decided to invest in a small import as a test. We were surprised when we received the products and realized that the quality was terrible. We were unable to sell them, so we lost that merchandise. We learned that in order to hire partners, it was important for us to carry out a hiring process, helped by professionals in the field.

In our business, we started small but always thought big. Our business started in the living room of our house. Together with my wife, we ​​bought the boards and assembled the desks for our venture. Three years later, we rented the first space for our office. We were in this 54-meter office for three years. Approximately two years ago, we recognized that we needed a larger space with an auditorium to be able to give workshops to nutrition and medical students and professionals. We searched for approximately three months, almost giving up; but we found an office that had everything we had in mind. For us, this was a blessing.

In 2020, we acquired accounting software with the desire to better manage the accounts of the company as it continued to grow. This helped us in a way we didn’t imagine and gave the company a new face for our clients.

Starting in 2022, and with the new regulations that have been established in our country, we began to obtain the health records of all our equipment and contact new international suppliers.

Keeping track of everything has been something that we learned at the Academy for Creating Enterprise. Since we began to have partners, it was essential to develop internal regulations, job descriptions with the functions of each worker, and occupational health records. As for accounting records, everything is sold with an invoice. All purchases and sales are recorded.

As we worked alongside nutrition professionals, we realized what the market needed, so we began to look for equipment suppliers. Our first international supplier was Cescorf Anthropometry Equipment from Brazil, followed by NASCO, a manufacturer of food replicas. This has been an incredible expansion for our business.