He left Kenya as a boy with Sh70, now he is rich in UK

Waymade Healthcare chief executive officer Vijay Patel goes about his business in one of the medical chain’s outlets in Essex, the UK. He says passion, hunger to succeed and perseverance are key to success. PHOTO | COURTSEY |

What you need to know:

  • Dr Patel does not disparage the abject poverty of his past. Instead, he sees it as the condition that drove him to success.
  • Dr Patel and his brother, Bhikhu, run the chain as chief executive and managing director, respectively. Waymade has over 700 employees and is currently expanding to Europe, the Middle East, Australia, New Zealand and Latin America.
  • The Patels were cited in the Sunday Business 100 Adventure Capitalists in Britain in 1999, Enterprise Magazine top 100 Entrepreneurs in 1999, and PwC Profit Track 100 in 2000.

When we talk about global business personalities, names like Warren Buffet, Bill Gates and Richard Branson come to mind.

Having been born in the centres of capital, the geographical location of their origins may have played an inadvertent role in their success.

Which is why the presence of Kenyan-born billionaire Vijay Patel in the big league of entrepreneurs in the United Kingdom, is remarkable.

Consistently featured in the UK Sunday Times and Daily Telegraph among wealthiest Asians in Britain, Dr Patel’s rags-to-riches story is an example of what is possible with hopes and dreams.

The pharmacist, who left Kenya at the age of 16 with £5 (Sh70 at the then exchange rate) and a big dream, has built a £500 million (Sh72 billion) pharmaceutical company in Essex, north east London.

“I was born and brought up in Eldoret. My father died when I was five and left us living hand to mouth. By the time I left Kenya, I had known no luxury at all. I had two sets of clothes, one that I would be wearing while the other would be in the wash.”

Dr Patel does not disparage the abject poverty of his past. Instead, he sees it as the condition that drove him to success.

“Depravity, I think, is the biggest stimulant for us. You want to distance yourself from it; you don’t want to go any lower, so you want to work hard.”

Arriving in England in 1967 with big hopes and dreams, he joined the College of Pharmacy in Leicester. On graduation, he opened a pharmacy, an enterprise he moulded into a chain of 20 outlets.

It was in the early 1980s that Waymade Healthcare was born and expanded into buying and selling medicines and then diversified into supplying hospitals and wholesalers.

Dr Patel and his brother, Bhikhu, run the chain as chief executive and managing director, respectively. Waymade has over 700 employees and is currently expanding to Europe, the Middle East, Australia, New Zealand and Latin America.

The entrepreneur credits his success partly to the English economic and social ethics.

“England is a wonderful country. It is a fair place full of equal opportunities and operates on merit. If you are capable you will make it, purely on performance. You just have to be better than your competitors. It is nothing to do with colour, creed or where you come from.”
He also believes that passion is key.

“Entrepreneurs are never satisfied with what they are. You’re always halfway there, it’s almost like you will never finish it. Entrepreneurs are always in a haste; always want to get on in life, are easily bored, always want a challenge,” he says.

“Every day, I look for another opportunity. It means you always have to have an open mind.”

But with this same knack for risk-taking, Dr Patel reveals that it also comes with its lows.
FEEL ROTTEN ABOUT IT

“The hardest bit is that you have to accept that sometimes you will fail. The first failure is the hardest and you feel rotten about it but that shouldn’t kill your confidence, you have to bounce back.”

His activities in the pharmaceutical world have won awards and commendations dating back to ‘90s.

He has regularly featured in Europe’s top 500 Dynamic Entrepreneurs and been in the Deloitte and Touche Technology Fast list every year since 2001.

The Patels were cited in the Sunday Business 100 Adventure Capitalists in Britain in 1999, Enterprise Magazine top 100 Entrepreneurs in 1999, and PwC Profit Track 100 in 2000.

They also jointly won the Ernst and Young UK Entrepreneur of the Year in 2001, the Asian Business ‘Business of the Year’, award and ‘Vision and Enterprise of 2010’ by Asian Voice.

The words of the judges of the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year commendation perhaps sum up the reason for the interest that has been placed in them.

“..they have built a world-class business with consistent financial growth from humble beginnings that competes with the largest global players.”

At present, Dr Patel’s entrepreneurial standing is no longer at the level of seeking or receiving validation, but instead being the one bestowing it.

He does this by sponsoring awards and informally sharing tips and lessons on business, in colleges and universities.

Waymade Healthcare was one of the sponsors of the 2013 and 2014 Asian Business Awards in London.

The pharmacist is also actively involved in philanthropy and charity in the UK, India and Kenya.

He and his brother have set up a school at their birthplace, Eldoret.

To sum it up, what does it take? The smile in the businessman’s voice is apparent from the other end of the phone.

“The guy up there. Luck. Passion. Hunger to succeed. Perseverance.”