Five years since making Bowtie a household name for Hong Kong insurance, its co-founder and co-CEO Fred Ngan has no intention to rest on any laurels
In the late 2010s, the potential of digital alternatives to everyday necessities resulted in a start-up tsunami. Riding that wave in 2018 was the launch of Bowtie, Hong Kong’s first digital insurance company.
Bowtie’s promise of approachability, convenience and low-cost financial support—bolstered by ads featuring former Hong Kong financial secretary John Tsang—made the company an instant fixture of the city’s insurance marketplace. Bowtie’s co-founder and co-CEO, Fred Ngan, recognised as a maverick among established titans, was named a Gen.T honouree in 2020 before being listed among Asia’s Most Influential in 2021.
Here, Ngan explains why his company embraced the physical with a brick-and-mortar clinic, how Covid ignited consumer health consciousness and what maintaining a start-up mindset means to him.
The clinic is a way for our customers to move from online to offline for body checks and screening. Whether they’re healthy or we detect any disease in its early stages, it’s a win-win. As an insurer, we should be investing in their health.
I asked myself if we should spend money on advertising, or if we should spend money on owning a physical space. I wanted a space that would provide good service to help the customer know the brand and experience its services, so they will consider buying insurance. It’s not just service integration, it’s also branding.
People have become aware that if you don’t invest in your health, you end up spending so much money on treatment. This can be very expensive. If you look at medical inflation in Hong Kong, it’s almost double-digits every year. We all know that public hospitals are very packed and private isn’t cheap.
