Room For All - S2 E17 - Live at the 2025 Social Enterprise Festival - Weh Yeoh

Weh Chats About Umbo's Impact in Regional Australia

In this episode of Room for All, the managing director and co-founder of Umbo, Wei, shares the story behind their social enterprise which focuses on providing essential Allied health services to people in regional Australia through telehealth. Weh discusses the origins of Umbo, its unique business model, and the challenges faced in a sector where long wait times and high costs are common. With 50% of their profit dedicated to subsidizing therapy costs, Umbo has made a significant impact by offering affordable services to those in need. Wei also touches on the differences between social enterprises and traditional charities, emphasizing the importance of sustainable growth and mission alignment. Tune in to learn more about Umbo's journey, successes, and plans for the future.

00:00 Welcome and Introduction
01:55 What is Umbo?
03:06 The Origin of the Name 'Umbo'
03:43 Challenges and Philosophy of Charities
04:58 Umbo's Business Model and Impact
10:35 Future Plans and Expansion
12:15 Unique Aspects and Final Thoughts
14:48 Conclusion and Contact Information

Umbo is a social enterprise making allied health accessible for people who wait too long or travel too far for care. We provide online speech pathology and occupational therapy for children and adults across Australia, with fast intake and evidence-based, family-centred support. By matching clients to experienced clinicians via telehealth, Umbo cuts wait times, removes travel burdens, and brings therapy into everyday life—at home, school, or community. As a registered NDIS provider, Umbo prioritises rural and remote communities and reinvests profits to expand impact. The result: timely, inclusive therapy that helps people grow, communicate, and participate fully in society.

Transcript

Ambitious Ambo: Social Enterprise Dialogue

​[00:00:00]

Speaker: [00:01:00] Weh welcome to Room for All. Um, it's a pleasure to have you here, managing director and co-founder of Humble. Tell us in a few words who is Wei and what is Umbo. Thank you, 

Speaker 3: Andrea, and thank you. Nice conversation. 

Speaker 2: Yes, you rolled there. Nailed 

Speaker 3: it. Excellent. 

Speaker 2: Nailed it.

Speaker 3: I can go home now. Can I?

Yeah. Everything I've needed to do, take the box. Your work 

Speaker 2: here is done. 

Speaker 3: Umbo. Umbo is a social enterprise. We focus on people in regional [00:02:00] Australia. Um, many people in regional Australia have to wait a long time to get, uh, basic Allied health services. Oh my 

Speaker 2: God, yes. 

Speaker 3: And so we're talking 18 months is pretty standard.

And by the way, that hasn't gotten better in the last eight years since we've been working on this issue. So we do all of our therapy online. Our therapists are all over Australia, some overseas as well, traveling, moving in different parts of the world with their partner. And as a social enterprise, we also put 50% of our profit aside, and we use that when people can't afford to pay.

So we'll subsidize the cost of their therapy up to a hundred percent. Wow. 

Speaker 2: That's wow. Um, very interesting. So I worked for, um, a therapy provider that focused on telehealth. I, I'm gonna say another lifetime ago. 'cause it feels like Hotel Etico is my life. Um, but yeah, so I'm, I'm very, very interested in this conversation 'cause you're right about.

People that can't afford it. Um, and it happens a lot. 

Speaker: So tell us why, first of all, you do this [00:03:00] yourself. Why, why are you doing what you're doing and why Umbo? What does, where does it come from? The name? 

Speaker 3: I'll start with the second one. That's easy. So, uh, the way we come about this, and if anyone is interested in starting something, I do actually recommend our method of working out a name.

So it was very, very scientific. We opened up a website called Random Word Generator, and we clicked, submit, submit, submit, submit, until we found a short word where the URL wasn't taken. And that was pretty much it. And then we kind of like, that's so cool. 

Speaker 2: You might be my face. Oh, this is great. 

Speaker 3: And then we kind of like back justified the meaning of the word.

Oh yeah. So it is the tip of the shield or an inner part of the ear. And both are kind of relevant to what we do in various ways, but honestly. Not that important. It there was. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And in terms of why my background's, physiotherapy, and then I've worked mostly in charities. And then having worked overseas in charities.

And then since then, read, read, wrote this book, redundant Charities, which dropped two present. Oh, fantastic. I don't have a pen, but I'll sign them for you later. I have, I do. [00:04:00] I come off after. That's 

Speaker: it. We'll 

Speaker 3: do it 

Speaker: afterwards. It's keeping the cycle of dependence. Yeah, so it's, it looks 

Speaker 3: into why charities often don't actually end issues.

They tend to keep issues at bay. And, and also just before this, um, podcast recording, I was talking to Kylie and she said she was in a room. In a strategy meeting with this charity and someone put on the on the whiteboard, how do we make sure that we exist in 10 years? This is the charity. That kind of signifies everything, you know, all the energy that goes into maintaining the structure as opposed to eliminating the problem.

Yeah. 

Speaker 2: If, if, if our, um, if we cease to exist, we've done our job. 

Speaker: Exactly. Yeah. If, 

Speaker 2: yeah. 

Speaker: Well, it depends on the way we cease to exist. That's depends. That's true. That's true. Because if you ask me six months ago, we were a couple of steps away from seizing to exist as most organizations. It's a hard time and that wouldn't have been the way I would've liked to go.

Speaker 2: Saying is, I think that, but I 

Speaker: know 

Speaker 3: what you mean, 

Speaker 2: you know? Yeah. You know what I mean? I 

Speaker 3: know what you mean. I think social enterprises though, I [00:05:00] mean, and Umbo, I'll speak about Umbo I won't speak about Hotel Etico. It's not my, it's my place to speak about your business. But with Umbo, it's a for-profit business where as we grow, we actually do more.

Good. 

Speaker 2: Yes. And I

Speaker 3: think that is completely different to charities. In my opinion. Charities shouldn't grow. They should shrink and they should end. But the beauty of our model is that we help more people in the day-to-day running of our business. And then that 50% profit gets larger and larger. So in the last four years, we've given away over 300 grand of free or subsidized services.

Speaker 2: Amazing. Which 

Speaker 3: is huge impact. Let alone in a day, everybody walking fast. 

Speaker 2: That's interesting. Yeah. That's great. 

Speaker: I, I, I, I'll, I mean, this is probably for a longer conversation, but I don't think the differentiating is between charity or not charities to, to sort of, uh, grow or not grow. I think it's about the business model.

'cause if we are a charity, we're not for profit. But we operate as a social enterprise, which is obviously balances the profit and the purpose. Yeah. And so I think it's about what the motivation is about us put in the business [00:06:00] model. But I agree, and I think this is a very current conversation in the sector, that growth is not always the answer.

Growth often can be actually the reason why you end up closing because you've gone too far. Right. Uh, but sometimes, or in our, in our opinion. Growth of our organization means reaching more people. More 

Speaker 2: people for us, but 

Speaker: we need to grow in a sustainable way. So it has to be sustainable. You can, yeah. It's a very interesting conversation.

Speaker 2: What I meant by. If we didn't exist, it means that there's inclusion everywhere. Yeah. That's our old Yeah, of 

Speaker: course, of course, of course. I'll fight, I'll fight for it. But I'm sure we'll be needed for, for, for a very long time if we, if we get it right. 

Speaker 3: I think we're, I think, um, by that stage, uh, baristas are more likely to be able to pronounce your names correctly.

Speaker 2: Let's just be more realistic about 

Speaker 3: what's gonna happen. We can 

Speaker 2: only hope.

Speaker: Um, so what's. Tell us about the success of Umbo. Like what, what makes you happy about what you do? What have you been doing? Right. Well, 

Speaker 3: [00:07:00] firstly, survival. You know, as you know, it's, it is hard enough to run a business. Mm-hmm. Let alone a social enterprise with all the challenges you face.

So I think surviving is one thing, but also we have become and been profitable and maintained that profitability for a number of years. That's amazing. 

Speaker 2: Great. 

Speaker 3: You know, and we've ticked off a lot of the other markers, you know, paying dividends and now paying our non-executive directors and you know, all the things that we sort of want to do to show that we can sustain our good.

Speaker 2: Yeah. 

Speaker 3: Has happened. We've grown. You know, and again, you talk about growth, we've grown to 65 people now that are working with us, so these are all really good markers. And then I think at the same time we've stayed true. Yeah. To our mission. You know, the, the three founders are still heavily involved in the business day to day, and our mission is constitutionally locked.

It's in our constitution. It can't be wiped away. 

Speaker 4: Good. 

Speaker 3: Um, and I think that's really important because we don't want to sacrifice on our original intentions 

Speaker: and what's in very simple term, without going too deep into it, but what's the business model? Where does the money come from? Who pays for the services?

Who, yeah. So [00:08:00]

Speaker 3: a lot of our funding comes. Through the clients. So not directly to us, but the clients are funded by the NDIS. Okay. Yeah. Which has its own challenges. We're an NDIS registered provider. We we're 40, 

Speaker: 40% of our revenue is NDIS. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So speaking of converted, and 

Speaker 2: you just had a, a pretty interesting price upgrade.

Speaker 3: Well, on the first of or down graders, 

Speaker 2: I didn't wanna say downgrade. Yeah. So it's very controversial that unfortunately didn't. 

Speaker 3: Affect us this time around, but it's worrying that at the stroke of a pen, it can change your whole business. I 

Speaker 4: know it is. Yeah. 

Speaker 3: So I think, however, if we want to work with vulnerable people, we have to accept that we are working with NDIS.

There's no real way around that. 

Speaker: Of course. So you've gotta work within the system. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But 

Speaker 3: then that 50% profit that I talked about, so there's a very specific gap that we cover, which is people in order to get access to NDIS often need to have an occupational therapist do a report. Oh yes, I know.

Yes. You know? Yeah. Yeah. 

Speaker 2: Functional capacity assessment. Right. It's, there's a lot. Uh, we just, one of our graduates who just graduated wasn't on the [00:09:00] NDIS, um, and. It's, it's very expensive to get those reports to apply for the NDIS. It's very, very 

Speaker: So do you offer that service yourself as well? That's the subsidized 

Speaker 3: model.

Yeah. So we subsidize a lot of these assessments. It's in some ways the more complex your you are and the more vulnerable you are, the more you have to pay. 

Speaker 2: It is, yes. So people who 

Speaker 3: have complex mental health conditions somehow need to fork out four to five grand. To get this done. And that to, to me, is a huge, they don't have that much market failure that we can address through our model.

So that's where a lot of that 300 grand that I've mentioned, um, has gone towards subsidizing those. 

Speaker: Which is absurd if you think about it. 'cause you're subsidizing the government. Yeah. And that shouldn't be the case. Agreed. I mean, we are motivated by, by a higher purpose. That's what we are. Right. In this sector, that's, but if 

Speaker 3: you know of people who you know, would be.

Suitable for that program are looking to get onto NDIS and have FCAs that need done. Um, you know, please send them our way. Yeah, absolutely. Um, and we're one of probably very few [00:10:00]people who would do it at a subsidized cost. Okay. Fantastic. Great. And so, 

Speaker: and 

Speaker 3: where are you geographically? All over? So, you know, I'm, I'm based in Sydney obviously at the moment, and all of our therapists are all over the country.

Then there's about 20% who, for example, I'll use a specific example, started in Melbourne. Um, husband got a job in Barcelona. Our therapist thought, well, I can live in Barcelona and still do my work. Yeah. Because 

Speaker 2: yeah, telehealth great. 

Speaker 3: So, you know, now there lives overseas in Barcelona. 

Speaker 2: I wanna go to Barcelona.

Speaker 3: Fantastic. That sounds I'm jealous. Great. 

Speaker 2: I can't do my work in, I was there last year in 

Speaker 3: June. It's amazing. 

Speaker: Yeah. Love. What's next for Umbo? What's, yeah, next few years, what's gonna happen? 

Speaker 3: Well, one of the things we've done really specifically is just double down on what we do well, which is occupational therapy and speech.

But we are replicating quite well now. So we're now looking at the next allied health professions to add to the list. To see if we can help more people with things that are really needed. And mental health is an obvious one. Yes, I think so. It goes without saying that that's one we're really interested in.

Mm. And that would help us to [00:11:00] get more and more support out there. Mm. And then to continue to grow. Mm. Can I 

Speaker 2: throw a question at you? 

Speaker 3: Mm-hmm. 

Speaker 2: Because, um, when I worked for, for a therapy company, um, speech therapists are a diamond dozen. Like they're very hard to find. What does Is that a state, it's hard to find, like, wait lists are huge.

Um, there aren't, I feel like there aren't many coming out of university is like, do you think that, uh, we should start educating in schools for people to become therapists? Like there's just random conversation, but Yeah, like, 

Speaker 3: yeah. I, I think there's, I think there are opening up university courses, you know, they're working on the supply side of things.

Yeah. There's also, you know, retention because I'm not sure about speech, but for physio, which is my background. I think the average career span only lasts about seven years. 

Speaker 4: Yeah. 

Speaker 3: You know, and I'm a good example. Didn't stick around. So there's a whole bunch of people that are working on that at that level.

Yeah. And then we also need the people like us that are opening up the markets. Yes. So that they can engage [00:12:00] because speech therapists in Barcelona can now do therapists therapy. Sorry for someone in Broken Hill. Yeah. Um, why not? You know, we have the technology, we have the system. Yeah. We should make it work.

Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. I agree. Yeah. So that's very good. We're just gonna go worldwide. 

Speaker 3: That would be nice. 

Speaker: Before we go on to the last question that we always ask everyone, I'm gonna ask you a question that we've asked a few of our guests. Not everyone, but let's see what you come up with. If your enterprise was a dish on a menu, what would it be?

You probably had Yeah. Sitting into the previous heard you time heard. Absolutely not. I'm very spontaneous. 

Speaker 3: Um, I went with eggplant parmigiana. I don't know. That was one of the first thoughts against, okay. And then now similar to that name generator. I'm gonna justify it backwards. Yeah. Why? But basically it's a very.

Hearty, nutritious, substantial dish. It's not necessarily the sexiest, I feel like pizza 

Speaker 2: probably could make, it could make. Okay. Might. It's, it's, it's put some rocket on top. It's more 

Speaker 3: homey, right? Yeah, exactly. It's homely. It's not like a donut, which is, you know, sexy. Yeah, maybe. Um, [00:13:00]

Speaker 2: so, 

Speaker 3: so that's kind of why I went with it, you know, it's fulfilling, it's nutritious, it does its job.

And 

Speaker 2: eggplants are very good for you, aren't they? Yeah. I don't, I don't need egg, 

Speaker: but it's, you know, it's very, uh, well, yeah, but I mean, they're fried and everything. It's not necessarily the healthiest. That's true. 'cause it's still quite loaded. But it's nonna's food. Right, right. It's, it makes you feel good in the home's.

Right. Great. Very, I love that. Great answer. Great answer. Love, love. So what's one thing before, as we wrap, wrap, wrap up, what's one thing that we haven't spoken about that you really would like people to hear from you today? 

Speaker 3: I think the main thing for me is that the structure supports what you're trying to do.

Yeah. Which is what we sort of discussed already. And you know, be it a charity. And I'm, by the way, I'm not someone who says that charities shouldn't exist. Yeah. I think they absolutely should. I know it because there are some business models, sorry. There are some issues that businesses cannot fix. Hmm. I'm glad we have social enterprise as another option, but I think it's just making sure that the structure suits what we're trying to achieve and is aligned to our mission.

Speaker 4: Mm-hmm. 

Speaker 3: And that we really focus on that. How. So I, I mentioned [00:14:00] previously in workshop that we often talk about, you know, because of Simon Sinek. Sinek, sorry. Why? How and what. The Why. Yes, yes. We talk about the why a lot, you know, what's the background, what's the story? Of course we talk about what, because it's what we do how is really, really hard.

Speaker: I 

Speaker 3: love 

Speaker: that. I love that workout. Yeah. Just spoke his 

Speaker 2: language. 

Speaker: No, I love that. I love that because I, I often use myself if I was starting with Y 

Speaker 2: Yeah. 

Speaker: But to me, the how is so fundamental and we always, always, when we communicate how, how hotel operates. Our how is so unique and so different. It's very hard to explain sometimes and so specific that it's the secret recipe to our solution, right?

To the solution. We find that the impact that we have, so the how is fundamental, I agree. Yeah, that'll 

Speaker 3: be for our next, uh, four hour podcast, that'ss, right? Well, yes, that's 

Speaker 2: right. Let's do it. You'll have to come up to hotel. You are Sydney based. I can think of 

Speaker: worse. And for people that are listening, uh, where can they find you?

How is, what's the best way of finding out about you? 

Speaker 3: So, um, UMBO is U M B O dot com dot au. Very good name. Um, I am, oh yeah, my name is very [00:15:00] unique as well, so I'm easy to find on LinkedIn. Um, as well. And then the book is Redundant Charities. 

Speaker 2: Yeah. I'm gonna hold it up to this camera. Yes. To 

Speaker 3: this 

Speaker: camera 

Speaker 3: as well.

Redundant charities.com. Very easy to find. 

Speaker: Very, very good. And we'll definitely get you to sign it. Yeah. As we hang up the microphone. I'm 

Speaker 2: just completely thank you, wave. Um, 

Speaker: really appreciate your coming onto the podcast. Thanks. I really enjoyed it all and talk to you later. Thank 

Speaker 3: you Andrea and Saraya.

Speaker: Thank you.