Ever wondered why ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’? Dr Vincent Candrawinata knows the secret, and he’s turned his own scientific discovery into a life-changing product range relieving the pain of inflammatory conditions like arthritis for people the world over.

He joined the First Act podcast to share how leading with his heart has taken him from research scientist to successful entrepreneur.

As a young food scientist and clinical nutritionist, Renovatio founder Dr Vincent Candrawinata says the desire to help others was instilled in him from a young age.

“My parents taught me that it is important to always grow in life and help make a difference,” says Vincent. “It doesn’t matter what you do, but you need to have something to offer, be it small or big, in terms of making this world and the people around you happier. This is the reason why I went into science, because I really feel that knowledge is power.”

An apple a day keeps the doctor away

It was during research to help the ailing Australian apple farming industry that Vincent solved a mystery that scientists had been trying to crack for 80 years. He discovered a way to manipulate water molecules to extract more antioxidants out of apples – stumbling upon a solution that would change the game for chronic inflammatory pain sufferers forever.

Renovatio founder, Dr Vincent Candrawinata

“The saying ‘an apple a day keeps doctor away’ is probably the only saying that exists in both western and eastern culture,” Vincent reveals. “The generations before us knew that eating apples every day resulted in good health – they just couldn’t explain it.

“For the past 80 years, scientists working in the antioxidant field have known that phenolic antioxidants in apples are the holy grail of antioxidants. The issue is that some of them still use the same technology that has existed for 80 or a hundred years, using chemicals like methanol, ethanol and acetone to extract these antioxidants. However, when something is extracted and produced using chemical solvents, when you reintroduce it into our biological system, our body does not recognise it. That’s the reason why typical antioxidant supplement absorption rate is only three to five per cent.

“I invented a technology to activate these health-benefiting compounds from apples without the use of any chemical solvents – only using water. The technology allows us to achieve high-efficiency extraction activation, making it bioavailable – which means that our body can absorb up to 97 per cent.”

New life

Vincent says the real lightbulb moment for him was visiting his ailing grandmother in his native Indonesia. As a former dancer, arthritis had robbed her of her daily freedoms, an issue Vincent felt compelled to help her overcome. His grandmother became the first human trial of his new antioxidant formula, and the results were nothing short of astounding.

“Three months later, she visited me in Sydney and she walked from Haymarket all the way to Circular Quay. This is someone who couldn’t even climb the stairs before.”

Vincent could see that this life-changing discovery could be used to great health benefit, providing more vital anti-inflammatory ingredients to chronic pain sufferers than they’d ever had access to before. And so his brand, Renovatio, was born – the name meaning ‘new life’ in Latin, in honour of his grandmother’s miraculous recovery.

Listen to Dr Vincent on the First Act podcast:

Potent vs powerful

With the help of a smart point-of-difference marketing plan, Vincent got his products on the shelves of Woolworths, eventually expanding to other outlets such as Coles and Amazon.

“Brands can use all the buzzwords about ‘the strongest’ or ‘the most powerful’, but those are not scientific terms; they are marketing terms,” says Vincent. “So, we use a scientific term – ‘the most potent’ – because potency can be defined scientifically. I strongly believe that this is the reason why the extract is much more useful to humans than any other extract in the world.

“The mission of Renovatio is to give people a new life, so that they’re healthier and happier. Fortunately for me, this mission resonates well with our customers. They are the ones that I owe the company’s success to, because when they use the product, it is so life-changing that they tell their friends and family. To me, that’s a full-circle moment – it is something that is so organic and grassroots when it comes to the progression of our company.”

Lead with your heart

Vincent’s entrepreneurship journey has been a learn-as-you-go affair, and he shared some of the most important lessons he’s picked up along the way. Namely, that discipline and leading with goodwill will always serve you in good stead.

“I was not a born entrepreneur,” he says. “I think that is an advantage I had that a lot of entrepreneurs don’t, because I did not have that pressure or motivation to make money or to make it successful commercially when I started.

“In terms of turning myself from a scientist into an entrepreneur, I have to say that it is about discipline. Obviously, you must be disciplined in every aspect of life, including as a scientist, but being an entrepreneur requires a different style of discipline.

“When you are in the lab, there’s almost a guarantee that if you do the same thing a thousand times, you can draw a conclusion. Whereas as an entrepreneur, there is no guarantee. This is probably the profession that has the highest amount of uncertainty. So, the discipline lies within me – I have to be able to pick myself up and keep motivating myself.

“I believe in the importance and power of dreams – at the end of the day, if you don’t dream, then life is dull. Dreaming is important, but I was taught to be a doer. You have to wake up after your dream and fight for it. I think the biggest challenge as an entrepreneur is to keep your eyes on the prize, but at the same time motivate yourself when what you’re envisioning is not happening just yet.”

Vincent’s final piece of advice is to always lead with your heart. “Start with a good heart. I firmly believe in having a good heart in everything that you do. A lot of people say you need to be cutthroat, competitive and fierce in pursuing your dreams, which I agree with to a point. However, when you start something with a good heart and good intentions, I think the universe around you conspires to support you. And not only that, but at the end of the day, you go home feeling happy about what you have done.

“Having that good intention as the foundation of your journey is very important because, in my opinion, while it is good to be an important person, it is much more important to be a good person.”

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This article was first published in 2022.