LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT SERIES - MR. VIKRAM VORA, MYDENTIST (MUMBAI)

On 5th April 2016, the students of MBA – HHM 2015-17 Batch had the privilege of listening to one of the most successful healthcare entrepreneurs in India. Mr. Vikram Vora, CEO, mydentist which is India’s largest chain of dental clinics. Mr. Vora was accompanied by two of his team members, Mr. Saransh, Head of Operations and Dr. Anisha Mehta, who is an alumnus of SIHS.
The session started off with Mr. Vora addressing the most common argument in the healthcare industry- ‘Healthcare can or cannot be treated as a business.’ He said that the general public notion holds the business aspect in healthcare responsible for infringing upon the noble purpose of solely serving the mankind. He opposed this perception and affirmed that he did look at healthcare as a business. Healthcare can create value and earn profits and these profits are necessary for the sustenance of any healthcare organization.

Mr. Vora then walked everyone through his journey from the inception of the idea of mydentist to its success. He started off as a sales representative for dental materials. During those 6 years, while sitting in the waiting area alongside the patients, he observed various issues that they faced while gaining access to affordable dental care. He analyzed various problem areas like Patients’ assumptions that the dentists overcharge them , the patients being reluctant to pay for treatment costs hence avoiding regular checkups, the practitioners not treating the patients as customers resulting in inability to generate profits. Keeping in mind these points, Mr. Vora started the mydentist chain of dental clinics wherein their USP is Free first consultation and x-ray. This he emphasizes is their Customer acquisition tactics. He discussed that one must recognize the customer acquisition barriers and work to remove them. The funds involved in the same would be treated as ‘Customer acquisition cost’. Even if one in ten walk-in patients gets converted into a regular patient then we can say that the customer acquisition cost has been recovered.

He discussed the major drivers for any business and the reasons for people not willing to take up entrepreneurship. First being the fear of failure, second being the shortage of financial resources to startup a new venture, third being the problems of regulatory affairs and last but not the least being the fear arising from lack of experience.
Mr. Vora concluded by saying that, “In any business, big or small, the management of growth is the most important concern and should be handled efficiently.”