Some Frequently Asked Questions  

Q   How is WTOPharma different from the traditional Brick and Mortar business?

     Where is WTOPharma.com incorporated and how is WTOPharma operated?

  
Ans. The Traditional Brick and Mortar business is restricted by time constraints and geographical boundaries, which are alleviated by WTOPharma.com   

Bereft of an exchange floor, the buyer’s ability to influence a seller’s price is limited by quality purchased and geographical locations. Now by participating in a global buying scheme, the average buyer is able to buy products at prices that are on an international level.

With no incremental investment in either having a local presence, a manufacturer and seller can access any buyer in any country. This indicates that a seller can now go from doing business in a few countries to doing business in any country. Sellers can gain access to global markets, also eliminating time constraints.   

WTOPharma.com would be incorporated at a time that would affect the operation of WTOPharma to the minimum in terms of convenience of financial operation and legal procedure.  

The location of operation would be in the form of a virtual organization that has their activities distributed to many locations around the globe. All of the activities of WTOPharma would be carried out by utilising applications on the Internet as such we are a virtual organization mapping the globe.  

Q   Am I going to incur cost when using WTOPharma to buy and sell pharma products? 

Ans. There is no registration fee. Buyers are charged no transaction fee. Suppliers are charged a transaction fee of 3-8% only on successful completion o the transaction.   

Q   Why do we need another Business- to- Business (B2B) where we already have so many organizations on the Internet, region wide as well as locally? 

 Ans. Most of the existing exchange portals are horizontal, vertical and laboratory chemicals and consulting in nature. More than 90% of the portals are avenues for sellers to publicise their company profiles by showcasing their product catalogues and stating their contact information. This is especially prevalent in China and India. Daily or weekly electronic newsletters are distributed as well.  

WTOPharma is a unique B2B trading site that provides a platform to facilitate sellers and buyers to trade on a neutral platform. With the soon to implement, reverse auction, it will create a proactive matching of sellers and buyers in real time in an anonymous, secure environment.      

Reasons why a neutral   trading  Exchange makes sense for the Pharmaceutical Industry:  Technology is changing many industries, including pharmaceutical raw materials, the industry is inherently volatile, there are many products which are now commodities,  therefore products  are  standardized,  and  distribution  is  fragmented and contained inefficiencies. Non-transparent pricing affects a product’s value and industry players are also  familiar  with   trading exchanges. As such, buyers break free and gain purchasing power and sellers increase market access  at  virtually 
no cost.

Q   Why does WTOPharma.com charge a 3 % to 7% transaction fee on the product categories?

Ans. The reason margin varies on product category basis is because some are     commodity products and have lower profit margins, others are specialized products with higher brand building and marketing costs.     

Q   Who are behind the formation of WTOPharma.com? What factors inspired and transpired Zagro Group to implement WTOPharma.com?

Ans. Zagro Group.  

The formation of WTOPharma is the result of the effort of Mr. Poh Beng Swee, Chief Executive Officer of Zagro Group.    

A devastating fire gutted and destroyed Zagro’s flagship plant and corporate Headquarters in Singapore in August 1999. Ironically, the fire disaster proved to be somewhat of a blessing for it was a “catalyst” that made Mr. Poh reviews his business and revenue model.  He realized that with deep industry knowledge and the awesome power of the Internet, he could run a big segment of his business, without having his own factory.  He has a knowledge-based business that has no physical borders.  Via the Net, he could transform, scale up, connect and compete in the global marketplace. 

Within one - year time frame, he conceived and founded three portals, which are Agroconnect. Com, Vetsquare.com and WTOPharma.com.   

Q   Who are your key management team?  

Ans. We are a team of e-pharmaceutical specialists with plans to expand globally. We have core values to make a significant contribution to mankind.    

Q   How is WTOPharma related to the Zagro Group?

Ans. The Zagro Group is WTOPharma.com’s founding member.

For more than a decade, Zagro Group carried out brick and mortar pharmaceutical raw material business.  In 1999, Zagro Group turnover was S$62 million. 

Zagro Group has excellent parentage, which can be tracked back to the 1960s when there is a joint venture between British Petroleum Nutrition and Gold Coin Limited.  Since then, we have accomplished country presence in more than 20 countries.  

Q   What is a Founding Member?

 Ans. The status of founding member would be honored to members who has conceived and spawned WTOPharma.com. Founding members essentially would mean potential Venture Capitalists and Investors, Strategic and alliances partners of WTOPharma.     

Q   Which kind of market opportunity that this portal will be addressing?

 Ans. The combined target market size of WTOPharma.com is US$337.2 Billion. 
The target market size is increasing at an exponential rate. Our combined market growth is 11% in constant local currency dollars. We believe that we can achieve a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 8.4% between the calendar year 2000 to 2004.  

Q What is the working model like? How are transactions executed?

    What is your business model like? How much of it is revenue based, transaction    based or advertisement based?

 Ans. It is a transaction fee based model. Buyers and sellers post their offers on the site and all details and specifications of products can be viewed. Only the identity of the buyer and seller is withheld. A person who would like to buy from a seller, who has posted on the site or vice versa, would click on the bid and a successful bid is executed.   

WTOPharma has a revenue-based model wherein we collect fees for successfully completed transactions and for services that we provide such as tech transfer.  

Q   What is the current manpower base?  

Ans. Currently, we are a team of 30 with plans to grow on a need basis.                                                   

Q   How many new areas will the exchange be operational in? What is the time frame?  

Ans. We are already operational globally. We are growing at an exponential rate as we work to achieve our goal of becoming the world’s leading B2B Exchange for the Pharmaceutical Raw Materials industry. We aim to achieve a membership base in 120 countries by the year-end.     

Q   What kind of WAP and SMS services does the portal offer?  

Ans. We use SMS occasionally and would include WAP when deemed necessary.  

Q   How has WTOPharma raised the funds? Is it through VC funding?  

Ans. WTOPharma is an extension of our current brick and mortar business and we are currently internally funded.  

Q   What is the company’s current equity holding structure?

 Ans.  WTOPharma would be promoted by a Consortium of Industry Players and venture capitalists with in-depth knowledge of the Pharmaceutical Raw Materials market space. The Vertical portal is managed by industry veterans with an immense understanding of global product prices and trends.

For further clarification, do get in touch with 
Management of WTOPharma.com   
management@wtopharma.com  
Phone: +65-367-4608 
Fax: +65-759-1877 
Internet: http://www.wtopharma.com  
Email: contact@wtopharma.com