With the low staff ratio comes higher costs, which limits this service to the well-heeled. Hovi Care charges $3,600 for 20 full-day sessions, with no subsidies available. The company was started last year, and Kwek notes it will be challenging to make money. “But that should never be the aim of starting an elderly day care business,” he adds.
SINGAPORE (Sept 3): It is 11am at HoviClub in Bukit Timah, and Glenn Miller’s In The Mood is on the speakers. An elderly lady and a nurse are swaying together to the jazzy tune. In another corner, a few seniors are engrossed in a game of mahjong. “We are very flexible here. We let the seniors come in when they want to, and do what they enjoy most,” says Andrew Kwek, managing director of Hovi Care, which runs the one-storey facility as a day care centre for seniors.
Kwek, 62, used to work in finance, at one point as CEO of Deutsche Asset Management (Asia). But as part of his “second career”, the corporate don is now hoping to make a difference in eldercare. “Care for seniors is best when it is personalised. Here, we aim to have at most two elderly to one staff member. Otherwise, there is no point to this,” says Kwek.
