Mr Loh and his business partner, Lorealle Lam, have ventured out on their own with their six pharmacies in the city, launching their own Antidote brand.
It was an ambitious move for the pair, who have also launched into hospitality this year with the purchase of Marbecks, in the Wall Street Mall. But it was a move Mr Loh says ‘‘makes a lot of sense''.
Personable and driven, he is passionate about both his business and the province, and has a swift retort for anyone who might question whether there were business opportunities in the city.
‘‘Bull ... It doesn't matter where you are. It could be Kaitaia or Bluff. Sorry, Bluff,'' he quips.
‘‘If you look hard enough, you will find opportunities,'' he says.
‘‘People say, ‘what's the secret? There's no secret. We are all born even. I think we are relentless. We are unrelenting in what we want to do and achieve, I will not give up.
‘‘Anybody can do that. The down side of that is it will involve a lot of hard work and a lot of sacrifices.''
Mr Loh (42), who grew up in Malaysia, came to Dunedin to study pharmacy after a few years studying in Wellington, and graduated in 1996.
He worked at Knox Pharmacy for a few years before heading to Australia in 2001 but he missed Dunedin's cooler climate and Central Otago. The sight of a Grahame Sydney painting made him realise how much he missed New Zealand.
So it was back to Dunedin, which was also a good place to raise a family, and he embarked on pharmacy ownership.
First up, he bought Galliens Pharmacy and Alpha Pharmacy in 2001, and then merged the two.
At that time, it was one of the first consolidations in the market, although they had since become more common, Mr Loh said.
In the mid-2000s, he contemplated returning to Australia.
He had been encouraging his parents to move to New Zealand but they did not meet immigration requirements - although they would have been allowed to move to Australia.
Eventually, his sister decided to move to New Zealand, which meant his parents then met the requirements, so they moved as well and Mr Loh stayed.
He had the choice to either go elsewhere to find opportunities, or get bigger in Dunedin and he chose the latter. But to get bigger, he needed to be strategic about his investments.
About 2008, Mr Loh went into a business partnership with Miss Lam and they now own six pharmacies, along with the recently acquired Marbecks.
Miss Lam, also from Malaysia, has been in Dunedin since year 12 when she was studying at Logan Park High School, followed by her own pharmacy studies. At that stage, she did not realise the city was ‘‘going to be home - but it is''.
She did want to ‘‘explore the world'' and had spent time on the Gold Coast of Australia.
The pair employ between about 60 and 70 full-time and part-time staff. As employers, Mr Loh said they had standards and high expectations.
But there was also one key thing about coming to work and that was the need to have fun. While they have explored the possibility of expanding outside of Dunedin, Mr Loh joked that they were ‘‘control freaks''.
Both were hands-on in the business and, as owners, they knew what was going on. The pair complemented each other well, having different skill sets. Miss Lam tended to be more operational, while Mr Loh was more strategic.
‘‘Having a partner agree with you on everything is pointless,'' Mr Loh said, while adding that the pair did share the same culture when it came to the business.
While some Dunedin residents were confused about Antidote, thinking it was a ‘‘brand from up north'', it was all about Dunedin.
What they aimed to deliver was premium products and advice at non-premium prices, Miss Lam said.
It was not all about profit - ‘‘if you go in to make money, you never find happiness'' - rather, it was about a passion, Mr Loh said.
Dispensing more prescriptions was not the solution to growing their business. It was about dispensing the right prescriptions.
That might seem counter-intuitive - ‘‘if the customer gets better, they won't come back'' - but they wanted to medicate appropriately and effectively. If people did not need repeat prescriptions, they should not pick them up, he said.
While dispensing pharmaceutical treatments, there was also a focus on natural remedies and they were able to marry the two and deliver the best outcomes to customers.
When Mr Loh first started in pharmacy, complementary medicine, as it was known then, was an
diverging trend he said, but he always felt it should be a converging trend.
As the Antidote brand was developed over the next few months, with the subsequent changes, Mr Loh said he fully expected to lose some customers.
But, after a dip, he was confident it was the model people would follow in the future and feel most affiliated with.
They took over Marbecks in September and Mr Loh said it was like a test site, as they were learning how the industry worked.
There were many similarities with the healthcare industry - product was still product and customer service was still customer service.
He encouraged staff to take ownership not just of their job, but of customer satisfaction. He had no time for staff who turned up each day solely for the money.
Attitude was a key requirement; an attitude to learn and develop. ‘‘I can train for skills but I can't train for attitude,'' he said.
As to his own job, he did not work in any particular pharmacy. He tended to float - going into pharmacies ‘‘and make staff feel uncomfortable'', he said, laughing.
With the acquisition of Marbecks, he has been working seven days a week continuously for the last few months.
‘‘People say you'll burn out. [But] If you enjoy what you're doing, there's no reason why you'll burn out,'' he said.
Ask Mr Loh if he ever has any spare time and he smiles.
‘‘I have a saying, work is leisure, leisure is work.''He loved reading but admitted he was not particularly good with holidays.
‘‘I don't do holidays well, really. My holiday is more like a field trip or a research project.''
He was unable to walk past a pharmacy without going inside for a look at how it operated, he said.
Antidote itself was ‘‘not just another pharmacy'' and he and Miss Lam were not going to ‘‘pigeonhole themselves''.
The brand was bigger than that and that was what excited them.
As for further business expansion?
‘‘Never say never,'' Miss Lam said.
