Inside Asian Gaming

IAG SEP 2020年9月 亞博匯 104 INDUSTRY PROFILE Oscar Guijarro: Thanks for meeting with us Dave. Can you tell us about your background? Dave Smith: I grew up in Scotland, UK, just outside Edinburgh in a small town called Linlithgow. I had a very normal upbringing, Mum being a teacher and Dad working in the specialist paper and board industry. Mum’s side of the family had an agricultural farm up in the Highlands near Inverness, so I spent most school holidays playing on tractors and quad bikes up there which was great fun back in the day. OG: Did you have any specific career path in mind at that time? DS: With all those fun holidays at the farm, growing up a farmer was what I wanted to be, however as I got older I realized there is not much money in farming and I get bored in the countryside, so that plan was scrapped. My Dad travelled a lot in his line of work and I was always fascinated by his work trips stories such as having armed guards while visiting factories in places like Egypt, South Africa and Nigeria, the strange meals he had at banquets in China and watching the Super Bowl in the middle of the USA. That’s why a job in sales that meant not being stuck in an office was my main priority by my late teens. OG: Can you tell us about your business and what you do? DS: Asiul is a family business. It was founded in Macau in 1993 by my grandparents, Ian and Marisa. The name “Asiul” if spelt backwards is “Luisa” which is my grandmother’s middle name. The whole concept came around as Marisa was a professional aroma therapist who trained in Paris and my grandfather was a bit of an entrepreneur in London so they came up with the concept of producing high end, pure essential oil products for 5-star hotels and spas. Marisa is Spanish born and speaks Portuguese,