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60% growth (2023)
REVENUE
Resilience Profile
Benns Ethicoa
Malaysian cacao crashed 99.9%. This company pays farmers 3x market rates and won the country's first international chocolate awards.
Kuala Lumpur 🇲🇾
Crisis-Tested
Brands that survived and adapted through major economic downturns, political transitions, or market disruptions, demonstrating proven resilience.
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Proven Resilience
Crisis survival proves operational resilience and founder adaptability that fair-weather brands lack. These stress-tested businesses demonstrate downside protection and strategic flexibility—lowering investment risk through proven ability to navigate uncertainty and emerge stronger.
Explore Brands by Location
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Resilient Brands
S$297 million
REVENUE
Resilience Profile
Eu Yan Sang
Uncles sold this 111-year-old TCM company to developers. Heirs bought it back for S$21 million—then sold it for S$808 million.
Singapore 🇸🇬
$4.69M funded
REVENUE
Resilience Profile
Applecrumby
Nine years between funding rounds—surviving on margins while competitors burned cash. Now holds the world's first TCF diaper patent.
Petaling Jaya 🇲🇾
Undisclosed
REVENUE
Resilience Profile
Ghee Hiang
168 years old, seven years in court. Four families at war nearly destroyed Malaysia's oldest confectionery. Sesame oil—not pastries—now generates 70% of revenue.
George Town, Penang 🇲🇾
~USD 1-10M
REVENUE
Resilience Profile
Pomhyanggi
Five crises in 25 years: famine, demolition, sanctions, pandemic, flooding. Still won a WIPO Gold Medal and produces 12 million units annually.
Sinuiju 🇰🇵
<$10M
REVENUE
Resilience Profile
Unhasu
UN sanctions banned chemical imports. Unhasu pivoted to indigenous ingredients in weeks—6x production growth, 13x export surge by 2023.
Pyongyang 🇰🇵
$40-50M
REVENUE
Resilience Profile
Dezan Shira & Associates
A misspelled surname, $500, and Deng's Southern Tour. Thirty-two years later: 40+ offices, $50M revenue, six crises survived by staying put.
Hong Kong 🇨🇳
$5-10M
REVENUE
Resilience Profile
Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreat
Launched during SARS into Shanghai's missing middle. Academy-trained consistency made quality exportable—China's first service brand abroad.
Shanghai 🇨🇳
~USD 200M
REVENUE
Resilience Profile
Sela
Hebrew name. Israeli design. Chinese production. Russian stores. Boris Ostrobrod disguised "Russian" as "foreign" when domestic meant cheap.
Saint Petersburg 🇷🇺
$1.8M
REVENUE
Resilience Profile
ESSE
Igor Samsonov died at 46. Eleven months later, Forbes crowned ESSE Winery of the Year. His quality systems outlived him—Crimea's boldest bet.
Dolinnoe, Crimea 🇷🇺
$1-9M
REVENUE
Resilience Profile
Lhamour
Mongolia's first refill station—seven years before Western clean beauty. When consumers can't afford packaging, necessity becomes moat.
Ulaanbaatar 🇲🇳
$5-15M
REVENUE
Resilience Profile
Walk of Shame
Provincial Ufa to Paris Fashion Week. Zero ad budget, Instagram-first. 150 stockists at peak—yet founder admits "endless doubts" despite success.
Moscow 🇷🇺
$916M
REVENUE
Resilience Profile
Perfect Diary
Zero TV ads. Zero magazine spreads. 15,000 KOL partnerships. Perfect Diary proved trust networks beat ad budgets—#1 on Tmall.
Guangzhou, Guangdong 🇨🇳
$60-80M
REVENUE
Resilience Profile
Abrau-Durso
When 2022 sanctions shut Western markets, Abrau-Durso tripled China sales in 90 days—152 years of heritage opening doors startups can't.
Novorossiysk, Krasnodar 🇷🇺
Profiled Brands
Not disclosed
REVENUE
Bottega Mediterranea
One location for eleven years. Then three in two years. When pandemic shuttered competitors, its grocery model kept revenue flowing.
Kuala Lumpur 🇲🇾
Massandra
Prince Lev Golitsyn founded Massandra in 1894 to serve the tsars. Seven tunnels now preserve over a million bottles dating to the 18th century.
Yalta, Crimea 🇷🇺
Related Insights
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10 min
Father and Son at 150 Restaurants
Vadim Lapin demanded his son be a partner, not heir. Mark won "Best Restaurant" independently. Three days after Vadim's death, the test begins.
Scaling Up
🇲🇾
14 min read
When the Platform Becomes the Product
They had 9,000 products from other brands. Then they looked at Amazon's plans and realized they needed something no one else could sell.
Scaling Up
🇲🇾
13 min read
The 70% Revenue Engine Nobody Saw Coming
A Hong Kong chef bought a bottle as a tourist, then declared it 'the best in the world' on TV. That made sesame oil 70% of revenue.
Malaysia
Gourmet Foods
Export Journeys
🇨🇳
8 min read
The China+1 Moment: Betting on Diversification Before the Crowd
When Dezan Shira expanded to India and Vietnam in 2008, skeptics called it crazy. A decade later, US-China tensions proved the bet prescient.
China
Professional Services
🇲🇾
7 min
The Son Who Nearly Died Now Runs the Business
Marcus Teo's kidneys failed at two. His mother almost quit to save him. 34 years later, he runs the business—crisis forged both generations.
🇷🇺
18 min
67 Days: A Founder's Final Succession
67-day knowledge transfer. 'Winery of the Year' 12 months later. How Samsonov defied the 60-70% failure rate of founder transitions.
Scaling Up
🇷🇺
12 min
The Rock That Survived Every Storm
Ruble collapsed 70%. Competitors raised prices 200%. Ostrobrod froze them—one month of destroyed margins built 30 years of customer loyalty.