Applying hands-on experience to build a technical start-up

September 2 2024

GEMBA alumnus Ewan Dowie established Dowson, a speciality manufacturer and assembler of metered dose pumps and medical devices, in 2022, after completing the Monash Global Executive MBA the previous year.

Dowson is Australia’s only metered dose pump manufacturer, supplying customers in pharmaceutical and medtech sectors.

‘I’m a proud farm boy’

Operating from his premises in the Melbourne suburb of Moorabbin, Mr Dowie now has a team of 15 technical specialists in design, engineering and quality control, and is already running multiple shifts in the facility.

“I’m a proud farm boy from central Victoria, and I have always chosen to take a hands-on experience wherever I worked,” Mr Dowie says.

“Growing up in the country and working on the farm taught me the importance of innate respect, patience, hard-work and resilience. These, I believe, are also the essentials of organisational leadership”.”

Strong academic credentials

Mr Dowie completed a degree in pharmacy at La Trobe University and was a senior clinical pharmacist when he decided to return to university to study engineering.

After gaining his chemical engineering degree at RMIT, Mr Dowie worked in various roles in industry before joining Ego Pharmaceuticals – the manufacturer of well-known brands such as the QV range of skincare and sunscreen products.

By the time he was appointed Head of Production, he was responsible for multiple departments, including manufacturing, process engineering, planning and pack and fill.

As Dowson heads into its second full year of operations, Mr Dowie can see the business growing and maturing in interesting ways.

Bright future ahead

His relatively small firm has many specialist skills in-house, including engineering, quality control and assurance, computing, legal, tooling and fabrication and design.

“We’re a really sophisticated, yet very dynamic, company in many ways”, Mr Dowie explains, adding: “The pharma and medtech sectors demand exceptional capabilities to meet exacting quality and reliability standards”.

Dowson already has a major supply contract with one of the country’s largest users of pumps, and it is set up to become a leading contract manufacturer of medical devices and other precision-based engineering products.

Surviving the start-up years

For Mr Dowie, this kind of environment reminds him constantly of the values required for success over the long term.

“Yes, of course, technical and commercial capabilities are critical to hitting commercial targets, but for me, trust is utterly fundamental. Without total integrity, there is no business”, he says.

Establishing a manufacturing startup business is exceptionally challenging for a small or a new business, Mr Dowie says, explaining the detailed processes to meet demanding operational, technical, commercial, legal and OHS regulatory standards are arduous.

“We needed the exceptional support of and commitment of our team and of our customers and suppliers. The relationships we have built are based on our shared belief in the necessity of the co-creation of value. When all parties are committed to excellence, great outcomes are possible,” he says.

How the GEMBA set him up for success

One of Mr Dowie’s enduring recollections of the Executive MBA experience at Monash was the integrated nature of the curriculum at the time, and the highly applied projects that formed the basis of the program.

“We gained outstanding insights into executive decision-making very quickly by being deeply immersed in live strategy projects,” Mr Dowie enthuses.

“I was wholly engaged in the envisioning and planning of the new business during the GEMBA course. The professional network and the relationships we established were genuinely important to my understanding and thinking at the time. That is an overlooked part of MBA studies – I gained, and continue to gain, valuable learnings from my classmates’ experiences in all sorts of other sectors and roles”.

“Although we were unable to travel overseas during the Covid era, we still had an excellent international business experience on our online courses with the terrific professors at Insead and NYU Stern.”

Gathering speed post-Covid

“As we start to establish and grow, it’s increasingly clear to me that I want to develop and maintain solid business relationships with suppliers and customers who are interested in genuine partnerships,” he says.

“Our speed of change and the kind of precision assembly that we do at Dowson is complex, but it is a fundamental differentiator for us”, Mr Dowie says.

His view on the critical issues for his business are to focus on the core competencies, to build a strong team and to get early and regular customer feedback.

Advice for new MBA students

“And if I had to give any advice or tips to new MBA students, I would definitely say two things are important - you will be learning at every stage in your career, so embrace the opportunity to work with people from very different backgrounds - and make sure you enjoy the social aspect of life with your classmates.”