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The first crown wave was still coming, when 23-year-old Zurich entrepreneurs Luca S. and Jascha R. reacted with lightning speed. With their Emix Trading AG they bought several hundred million protective masks. The masks were made by the Egyptian army, it was said at first, but later it became clear that they could also have been fakes.
At an Egyptian webstore, where the masks were still available in November in a box of 50, the piece cost around 40 cents. Emix bought the products through China or Hong Kong, for the equivalent of 2.80 francs each. After that, they sold around 650,000 masks to the Swiss army pharmacy, at a unit price of almost ten francs.
The two people from Zurich are now a dozen millionaires. In an interview with the Sunday newspaper, the two counteract the alleged poor quality and excessive prices. It was “a matter of life and death.” Customers were “extremely grateful” that not only large quantities of protective material were offered, but also a “complete package of services, such as logistics, goods inspection, capacity planning, etc.”.
VBS has never criticized the quality
In total, they would have imported 250 to 300 million masks from more than 100 manufacturers to Europe, which corresponds to three or four aircraft per day. The quality of each type of mask was verified. The Spiez Laboratory has now confirmed the required filtering performance of the masks. The masks were probably not flawless under normal conditions, but we must return to the exceptional situation of the first wave of pandemics. There were also quality fluctuations at the major manufacturers. They would always have exchanged the claimed goods without any problem. The Swiss military authorities (VBS) never filed a complaint.
The two entrepreneurs had prepared on time and were ready when the crisis broke out. “In the last six years we have specialized in organizing coveted products in difficult conditions and in large quantities,” Jascha R. is quoted. “We learned to buy and sell large quantities of quality products flexibly and in extremely opaque markets.”
They would also have lost a lot of money to scammers. They would have financed themselves with the cash flow of ongoing businesses. A .: “Neither of us comes from a wealthy family and we don’t have rich gods.” With the onset of the virus crisis, they would have recognized a big problem: “There is no protective material, and we have always enjoyed solving problems.”
Young entrepreneurs welcome research
Different prices for different markets (in Germany the same mask was offered around 30 percent cheaper) would have resulted from different contractual conditions, for example with regard to quantity or time horizon, the two explain. All this flows into the calculation of the respective price.
The fact that the Zurich prosecutor’s office is investigating usury and that a criminal complaint has been filed in Bavaria makes business easier rather than worrying. Finally, a neutral body will closely examine the allegations: “That gives us the opportunity to show what it really was like. The prospect of clarity in a few months reassures me. “
It was “insensitive” to buy one of the more expensive Ferraris with the profits. But many accusations are unfounded. They would have invested in “above average quality” and “every day 20 new problems deciding all or nothing” had to be solved. “We took all the financial risk, and we did it. In doing so, we also had a great responsibility. We have always been aware of this. We didn’t have any dollar signs in our eyes. “(Kes)
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