Accidental resident: From making Rs50,000 to UAE billionaire

The man helming the fastest-growing healthcare conglomerate in the GCC .

It's a Saturday morning, and I'm not particularly thrilled to be "working" on my "off-day" (you know what it's like in 'weekends-are-off-limits' Dubai, right?). I had to rise and shine ridiculously early, so am sulking now; it doesn't help when the lady driver of a passing car shouts out an unflattering comment to my colleague (who's at the wheel) because she thinks he's a bad driver.

Also read: Indian tycoons among first to get 10-year UAE visa

Even as we arrive at the gates of the Beverly Hills of Dubai - Emirates Hills - good cheer eludes me and I'm about to resign myself to, what I think will be, an episode of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.

Meeting Dr Azad Moopen - the man behind the Aster and Medcare groups of healthcare units, member of Forbes' 2016 Billionaires List, one of the richest Indians in the GGC, and Padma Shri recipient - turns out to be quite a revelation; and if there were ever a metaphorical Turning Turtle episode in my professional life, this could well be one of the top contenders for the spot. "Critical things in life are never planned, they happen," the good doctor will go on to tell me later; and, armed with hindsight, I will realise I never planned on enjoying myself as much as I did that day with the Moopens.

'Wealth has to be utilised'

The rules of the 'billionaire game' are soon made clear when he tells me he's recently earmarked 20 per cent of his personal wealth to be given away to charity. He says it matter-of-factly, as a subtext to his earlier comment, "Wealth has to be utilised; knowledge is how it can be utilised." His family - who are all involved with the group either directly or indirectly - beam proudly, and appear least unfazed about one-fifth of their riches going out of the fold.

Daughters Alisha and Ziham (the youngest, Zeba, is in Bangalore on an internship) chip in with how they had to do odd jobs around the house, growing up, to "earn" pocket money. "When we were kids, my parents would fly Business, we would be in Economy. That has somehow stuck. So, even these days, when we booking flights, we tend to wonder: 'Should I book an Economy-class ticket or not?'"

But let's get back to the beginning of the doctor's success story. Dr Moopen, I discover five minutes into my conversation with him, is an 'accidental' resident in the UAE. In 1987, he was a medical lecturer in India, living on a monthly salary of Rs1,200 (Dh65 in the current context, but obviously I'm not factoring in inflation); he was offered a job in Ajman, where he would be drawing approximately Rs50,000 a month.

Rs1,200 vs Rs50,000. Game on. "I thought I'd work in the UAE for a couple of years, buy a car and return home."

I interject with an inane, "But would you have been able to cart a car back to India from here?"

Yes, he says. Then, I remember one of my uncles, who worked for a few years in Dubai in the 80s, had brought back a "Toyota" to Delhi (everyone in the family was so proud of him) at a time when no 'foreign' cars were to be seen on Indian roads.

"Two years, that was the plan," he repeats, cutting into my recollections.

DOCTOR WITH DISTINCTION: (left to right) Dr Moopen receiving the Padma Shri in 2011 from (then) President of India Pratibha Patil; receiving the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman in 2010

The happy accident

It's close to 30 years, and he's still here. It was a happy 'accident' that led him to the eventual setting up of his healthcare empire: the decision to set up a primary healthcare centre in Bur Dubai soon after he touched base here. "There were hardly any private clinics in those days; all hospitals were government-owned." Why would someone come to Dr Moopen's private medical centre? "Simple," he replies. "Personalised care."

It was the tipping point. As he says, more by way of philosophy rather than justification, "You need to open the door when opportunity knocks instead of complaining about the noise."

Today, Aster DM Healthcare is the fastest-growing healthcare group in the GCC (40 centres were opened last year itself). Dr Moopen has expanded his footprints to India as well; he employs over 13,000 personnel in GCC and India. Impressive, but doesn't he miss the practice? He is, after all, a qualified doctor. "I like mentoring - that's what I try and do even as I run my business," he says.

I assume he has his own rendition of the Hippocratic Oath, and that's what makes running a conglomerate in healthcare somewhat tricky. On the one hand, there's healthcare, which he believes (as any doctor should) is everyone's right to avail of. On the other, there's the business: it has to be run and kept afloat. He has to maintain the fine balance - and in his position as doctor-entrepreneur, he probably knows the "how to" better than anybody else - and he says his conscience is clear.

I tell him about a "perceived notion" in this part of the world - that healthcare is not quite, well, up to the mark. Every time I hear of someone falling seriously ill, they are advised to "go home" for treatment. Why is that?

"We [the healthcare sector in the UAE] have some of the best facilities in the world but we're struggling with human resources," he admits candidly. "See, this market is largely expats-driven and it's tough to get in specialists from other parts of the world. like, say, India. The payback there is very competitive, plus doctors can do their own private practice - they really have no incentive to come here. So, now we are focusing on honing 'local' talent, and also roping in talent from medical colleges I have set up in India."

'My agenda for the day is set by 9am'

I ask wife Naseera how she felt about the giant leap of faith Dr Moopen took when he decided to stay back in Dubai and start his enterprise. She smiles endearingly. "I really liked it here, so I had no problems - was pretty happy, in fact." The kids - Alisha and Ziham were both very young at the time (Zeba was born here) - loved it. "This place had me at chocolates," says Alisha. "For me, what mattered the most was that there were so many varieties of them in the supermarkets."

In their school days, the daughters recount, "he [Dr Moopen] always had time for us. He would do homework with us. If he was working late, and we needed his inputs on anything, we would keep notes for him and go to bed; he would work on them after he returned home, mostly post-11pm." He was also the early-morning parent. "Mom," the girls giggle, "would love to sleep late, so dad would make us breakfast." Naseera looks elegantly unapologetic.

Dr Moopen is still an early bird. "I wake up at 5am - doesn't matter ?how late I go to sleep - and by the time she [points at Naseera affectionately] wakes up at 9am, most of my work for the day is done. or at least the agenda ?is set." Everyone bursts into spontaneous laughter.

"Oh yes," Alisha continues, "Dad would always read newspapers and then highlight portions for us to read. He would make us write edits and comments based on our understanding." "Dad" picks up the cue from there. "That comes from habit: I used to read out portions from two newspapers [Mathrubhumi and The Hindu], daily, to my father when I was growing up. I had to pass that on to my kids."

Being grandpa

Daughters Alisha and Ziham have two kids each, and it's clear both Dr Moopen and wife Naseera dote on the four (Layah, Noah, Iman and Azhar) - without making a grand show of it.

What does he think of being a grandparent? "I think it's fantastic: you have all the rights but no responsibility!" he laughs. "But seriously, I'm actually learning from them. They teach me the best life lessons."

Sometime ago, his eight-year-old granddaughter Layah asked him, "Whom do you love the most?" He says he quickly looked around to ensure none of the "others" were within earshot, and then told her, "You, of course."

"You're absolutely sure?" she wanted to know.

"Yes, why do you even doubt it?" ?he asked.

"Because I think you love your iPhone the most. You're constantly on it."

That really stunned him, he says. It was almost like a wake-up call without the alarm having been set. "I've now consciously cut down on my smartphone usage."

Terms of engagement

What else does he like doing?

He says he likes to be intellectually engaged, take a conversation forward. He goes on to talk passionately about the imposition of higher taxation in India on fast food, fizzy drinks, alcohol, and cigarettes. "Why are they not taxed many times over? Come to think of it, that would serve a dual purpose: more people would cut down on consumption; and there would be money in the kitty to farm out in the healthcare sector."

He watched the Bollywood film Neerja recently, and loved it. "I love watching football and cricket too. But my current obsession is the TV series 24. I discovered it recently, and I have the box set now." I want to ask him ?what he thought of The Flatliners, the medical thriller that looked at life after death, toplining the 24 star: Keifer Sutherland...

But we move on, instead, to discussing new-age research, the clinical possibility of extending human longevity and the Nolan-esque scenario of 'freezing' mortality. "What do you think about robots in the healthcare sector?" I ask. "You know, performing surgery and all that. Programmed perfection, no more human errors."

"Now, that's something we need to talk about at length," Dr Moopen beams. He's not about to throw away his medicine anytime soon.

sushmita@khaleejtimes.com

• WKND