KAREX

1 in 5 condoms you've ever used came from a Malaysian factory.

And the company behind it? Started by a family who lost everything.

Here's the story nobody talks about.

In the 1980s, the Goh family ran a rubber processing business in Johor. Successful. Comfortable. Generational wealth in the making.

Then the global commodities crash hit.

They lost everything.

I mean EVERYTHING.

They sold their home. Moved INTO the factory. Aunties worked 3 jobs and took personal loans just to keep the lights on.

And here's where it gets wild.

While other rubber families pivoted to gloves (the obvious choice), the Gohs made a different bet.

Condoms.

In the middle of the HIV/AIDS crisis, they built condom-making machines from scratch. No blueprint. No experience. Just desperation and engineering degrees.

The current CEO, Goh Miah Kiat, was 10 years old at the time.

His job? Pack condoms while watching TV.

"I was a child labourer in Karex!" he jokes now.

Fast forward to today:

→ 5 billion condoms per year → 1 in 5 condoms globally → RM400 million+ revenue → Supplies Durex, ONE Condoms, WHO, United Nations → Listed on Bursa Malaysia

And I know what you're thinking.

"They got lucky with timing."

Maybe. But here's what most people miss:

When everyone else saw rubber and thought "gloves" — safe, predictable, crowded — the Gohs saw rubber and thought "what does the world desperately need right now?"

That's not luck. That's seeing opportunity where others see awkwardness.

They literally built a billion-ringgit business on a product most people are too embarrassed to buy.

Three lessons:

1. Crisis reveals clarity. When you lose everything, you stop optimizing for comfort and start optimizing for survival. That's when real insight happens.

2. Zig when everyone zags. Every other rubber family went to gloves. The Gohs went where no one wanted to go. Less competition. Higher margins.

3. Shameless beats prestigious. They could've built "respectable" industrial products. Instead they became the world's largest manufacturer of something people giggle about. RM400 million doesn't care about your embarrassment.

The Goh family moved into their factory at rock bottom.

Now 1 in 5 of the world's most intimate moments involve their product.

What's the "awkward" opportunity in your industry that everyone's too proud to touch?