The Silicon Review - Best Business Review Magazine 50 Most Trustworthy Companies 2019 | Page 12

An Interview with Viv Allanson, Maroba CEO: ‘We Continue to
Evolve from a Cottage Industry to a Robust Contemporary Innovative
Organisation that has Influenced not Just Locally but Globally’
“Maroba has been able to grow off the back of our reputation and continued focus on personalized services.”
O
ld-age is a very difficult phase
in one’s life.
On one hand, advances in medical
technology have led to increased
life expectancy, at the other end of
the spectrum, with families largely
becoming nuclear and children
moving all over the world, many
seniors who may not be very active
or mobile, face loneliness and
caregiving issues.
In light of the foregoing, we’re
thrilled to present Maroba.
Maroba is committed to providing
a safe, relaxed and welcoming
environment for residents, clients,
community, staff, volunteers, and
students. Its team of dedicated
professionals are focused around
creating beautiful communities
and strive to help residents stay
healthy and happy. The company
is dedicated to enhancing lifestyles
while creating meaningful
“Maroba will continue
to grow its services and
innovate to meet the
aspirations of future
cohorts of older people
and their families in
the midst of poor govt
funding and increasing
compliance and
expectations.”
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experiences every day for its
residents and clients. Maroba’s
vision is to deliver experiences like
no other.
While its traditional services such as
residential aged care and retirement
accommodation remain in focus,
Maroba has introduced a new range
of wellness and support services
that are structured to support the
older person. Known as Community
Services, these programs are also
open to the community and include
Tai Chi, Cafe Days, and luncheons.
The programs offer a healthy
approach to ageing by aiming to
improve the participant’s quality of
life, and by supporting them to be
more independent.
Maroba was incorporated in 1954
and is headquartered in Waratah,
NSW Australia.
Viv Allanson, Maroba
CEO, spoke exclusively
to The Silicon Review.
Below is an excerpt.
Why was the company set
up? And how did you expand
your company and its
offerings over the years?
Maroba was established by a local
Baptist church that saw the need
to provide care with dignity to the
elderly women in that local church.
Viv Cork (a local resident) identified
the need and dared to dream of the
possibilities. Three people including
Mr. Cork mortgaged their homes to
purchase a 10 room old maternity
cottage to start Maroba Rest Home
for Elderly Ladies. After receiving
a grant of land from the govt, the
management committee set about
growing the organisation to serve
older people in our local community.
The building kept growing and then
more services were established
on the Waratah site to encompass
a tri-level care facility. Today,
Maroba offers an extensive range
of boutique customized services
and is about to expand into
spectacular Lake Macquarie with a
new small scale vertical village for
Independent living for the young at
heart over 65.
What kind of responses
have you received from your
consumers over the years?
How have they motivated
you to shape your offerings/
grow the company?
Maroba is well established and
enjoys a very positive reputation
in our region and the wider aged
care sector. We receive generational
referrals from families who have
experienced our services in the past.
They keep sharing their stories.
The experience our consumers
have day in day out shapes our
delivery…we rely on live feedback
to keep adjusting our interventions
and offering to better suit the
individuals needs and aspirations
for their lives. Being a smaller
organisation allows us to be more
nimble and thus more responsive
to our consumers. It’s all about
relationship and transparency.