Suresh Madan, who is a gold medalist from Ludhiana’s agricultural university, has just sold 50 clinics of his MyHealth Centre business
By our reporter
TORONTO: Suresh Madan is a rare graduate from Ludhiana’s Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) who first made it mega-big as an investment professional who earned millions for hedge-fund billionaires. Then he turned into a healthcare entrepreneur who created a multimillion-dollar company in just eight years.
Starting MyHealth Centre in 2013, he and his partners made it the biggest independent health facilities chain in Ontario over the next eight years, got year-after-year national awards as Canada’s best managed company and finally sold it in a multimillion deal in 2021.
Suresh is a man with the golden touch.
Indeed, he has always topped in whatever he has undertaken in life. When he enrolled at Punjab Agricultural University in Ludhiana to become a soil scientist, he earned his bachelor’s degree by topping the university and winning a gold medal.
Then he cracked India’s most difficult entrance exam for the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, finishing his two-year MBA course as a topper and again winning the gold medal.
A bunch of colourful balloons with the words Happy Retirement bob up and down in a corner of his home office in North York.
“These balloons are from my farewell party given by MyHealth Centre that we sold to Vancouver-based Well Health Technologies Group in 2021. After selling it, I have been with them for the last two years, I’ve been coaching a person who will ensure that the company is successful in the future.” says Madan.
He says he is now going to Europe for holidays and will come back refreshed to restart his entrepreneurial journey.
“I have just surmounted one Mount Everest in my life and am getting ready for another. I am ready for bigger things,” he beams.
What bigger things?
“Some opportunities have come my way to set up a large-scale healthcare system in different jurisdictions. I am evaluating these,” he reveals.
Suresh says he now wants to be in a business that makes a significant impact on society.
“From now onwards, what I want to do should result in social impact 100 times bigger than what I have done so far. I want to give back to society here in Canada and in India in a very big way. I will mentor entrepreneurs and teach them how to scale up and grow their teams. I will be working concurrently with many businesses and backing them with my own money,” he says.
This little break in his non-stop busy life has also given Suresh a pause to reflect on the reality of first-generation immigrant to Canada.
“You come here as an immigrant with little money and you’re desperate to succeed. People help you and you succeed. In turn, you help others, giving them guidance and employment. I experienced both these. I feel so happy that I have achieved what I wanted.”
He says the lessons learned from creating a top-notch healthcare company in just eight years will stand him in good stead in his future ventures.
“Actually, I am an accidental entrepreneur. I was an investment manager with Excalibur Capital Management where I bought and sold what I saw fit. In January 2013, a public company called CML Health was being acquired by LifeLabs. But they decided to divest their diagnostic imaging business that LifeLabs was not interested in. My fund (Excalibur) was an investor in CML Health. When I came to know that CML Health is divesting its imaging business, I said: `We will buy their imaging clinics in Northern and Southwestern Ontario. That’s how I became a healthcare entrepreneur,” narrates Suresh.
Since he had no background in the medical profession, Suresh partnered with three radiologists and three cardiologists to buy this business. These physician partners were critical to success. Suresh realized that he needed to learn more. He registered and later earned prestigious fellowship of American College of Health Executives.
“We all came on board to run this business. I was the only one with knowledge of business and finance, and the others gave me their medical and technical support,” he says.
To scale up their operations, Suresh and his partners hired 40-50 team members.
“We hired the right team to lead operations, quality control, marketing, physician relations, systems, human resources, finance, accounting, etc. Then we created the right protocols and procedures. We also put a lot of resources into business intelligence,” he explains.
Having put everything in place in his new venture, Suresh went on an acquisition and expansion spree.
“With inputs from our teams, I went ahead and made 25 acquisitions in the next few years. We also started new clinics and introduced many new services in five areas – heart health, women’s health, bone and muscle health, cancer detection, and COVID testing and vaccination.”
Under Suresh’s watch, MyHealth Centre quickly became Canada’s best run healthcare chain, winning accolades and awards year after year.
“Deloitte and CIBC awarded us as Canada’s best managed company and we won Canada’s Best Companies Award for five consecutive years from 2018 onwards,” he gushes.
Suresh’s company also got Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Cultures Award in 2019 from Waterstone Human Capital.
“MyHealth Centre also got the prestigious Great Place to Work Award for four years in a row. The Globe and Mail also ranked us among Canada’s Top Growing Companies in 2020. Canadian Business magazine also listed us among Canada’s top run companies in 2021,” according to him.
For his skillful helmsmanship of MyHealth Centre, Suresh was a finalist with the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2021.
When it became the largest clinic chain in Ontario, there would have been no dearth of buyers eyeing the sleekly run MyHealth Centre.
“We hired Deloitte in 2020 to find us the right buyer. Finally, we sold it to Vancouver-based WELL Health Technologies Corp. which can carry it to other markets,” says Suresh.
At the time of its sale, MyHealth Centre ran 50 clinics across Ontario and employed 160 doctors and 600 other healthcare professionals.
“A lot of blood and sweat went into making MyHealth Centre a world-class company, we could have grown it even bigger, but it was time to hand it over to some bigger players that would take it to new heights,” he says.
For a middle-class boy coming from a family that was uprooted from Multan in Pakistan during the 1947 Partition and settled in Delhi, this is all dream come true.
“I was born in Delhi and like every middle-class person who wants to build a bungalow and own sleek cars, I too dreamt of these things as a young boy. I am lucky that I have realized my dreams in Canada where I landed 25 years ago via Saudi Arabia. In fact, the idea of first going to Saudi Arabia was also to better my financial prospects,” he says.
Suresh had rather ordinary origins.
His father held a modest job of imparting skills to foundry workers in Punjab’s industrial city of Ludhiana, but he instilled in his young son the value hard work, dedication and humility.
Father’s words were not lost on the young boy as he went on to blaze a golden trail in his academic life, topping universities and winning gold medals.
The brilliant boy from Ludhiana later left his mark in the halls of the prestigious Indian Institute of Management at Ahmedabad, outshining seasoned seniors and passing out with a gold medal.
“I was a brilliant student and I wanted to become a soil scientist. So I pursued my B.Sc in soil sciences from Punjab Agricultural University, topping it and winning a scholarship to do my M.Sc from Indian Agricultural Research Institute at Pusa in Delhi. I was all set to join it,” he recalls.
But destiny had something else in store for him.
Like his friends, Suresh too applied for IIM Ahmedabad, cleared its entrance exam and got elected for India’s most sought-after MBA course.
“IIM Ahmedabad was the best place to do an MBA course in India. But for me, the cherry on the cake was the gold medal that I won by topping the class of 180 students – many of whom were lawyers, chartered accountants, engineers, etc.”
He was among the first of his MBA batch to be offered a job placement.
“I was hired by the German company Hoechst for their Mumbai office. After one year, I shifted to Delhi. After two years at Hoechst, I joined S B Bilimoria & Co. Chartered Accountants (later acquired by Deloitte) as a management consultant and worked with them for five years. Then I worked for three years for Delhi’s Jubilant (life sciences and chemicals company) as their corporate planning manager.”
Then Saudi Arabia beckoned.
“In Delhi, I had a decent, middle-class life. But there was no prospect of breaking the glass ceiling. So in 1992, my wife Sarita and I moved to Saudi Arabia to improve our economic prospects.”
In Riyadh, Suresh worked for the Consulting Centre for Finance and Investment, leading their business valuation practice.
“I worked in Saudi Arabia for five years, made some money as my salary was tax-free and then decided to move to Canada in 1997,” he says. Successful immigration to Canada required a multi-year planning, during which Suresh earned the prestigious CFA designation from the US while working in Saudi Arabia.
“I landed in Toronto in the evening of August 28, 1997, and the next day I started sending applications and contacting various employers, thinking that my CFA designation and business experience will stand me in good stead.”
He says he would have sent out at least 100 applications, but only four potentials agreed to meet him.
“One of them was Paul Reichmann, a billionaire, who wanted me for his family office. When I met him, he asked me various questions. Twenty minutes later, he told me that he needed to hire someone like me but not right now. I told him that I had enough money to last me six months in Canada. If I don’t find a decent job within six months, I will go back. I told him that while I am in Canada, I would like to volunteer to work for him for free,” he recalls.
Suresh’s offer to work free did the trick.
“Suddenly, Reichmann said he would like to give me an assignment. He wanted me to evaluate a company that was looking for his investment dollars.”
Suresh went to a Toronto public library to do Internet research on the company. “Since the library allowed me only 30 minutes on the Internet, I rushed to a near-by Future Shop, bought a computer and internet connection, went home and researched on that company till 2 am.”
Next morning, Suresh reached Reichmann at 9 am and presented his research.
“Reichmann said he was reluctant to hire me because of my lack of Canadian experience. Then he said: “But the kind of work you have done gives me the confidence that you will be able to handle the job.”
Suresh was hired by the Toronto billionaire.
“I ran his family office for 10 years. When Reichmann turned 80, he decided to retire by distributing his wealth to family members and charities.”
After Reichmann, Suresh was hired by Excalibur Capital Management.
“I worked with Excalibur for six years till the opportunity to become a healthcare entrepreneur knocked on my door.”
The rest, as they say, is history.
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Q: Suresh, tell us about your family.
A: I am the son of a foundry instructor and a housewife. Our family originally comes from Multan in Pakistan. After the Partition of India, we settled in Delhi. Later, my father moved to Ludhiana because of his job.
My wife Sarita was a teacher, she also recently retired. We have two daughters; Akanksha is a freelance product designer and Abhilasha is a journalist and audio producer.
I have two sisters, Sunita, who recently retired in India and Anita, who practices law in Canada. I am looking forward to a long overdue family reunion with them next month.
Q: What is the topmost thought in your mind now?
A: I want to create an ecosystem so that others can also succeed like me.
Q: Do you think you have been lucky in life?
A: Yes, I feel I have been very lucky and blessed. All along, I had many great mentors who supported and guided me.
Q: Are you spiritual?
I am not spiritual, rather I am very pragmatic. But I believe I had the right combination of luck and blessings to help me succeed in life.
Q: Any role model in the financial world?
A: I am a disciple of Warren Buffett in managing money. Actually, I met him in Omaha in 2009 and it was great to shake hands with him. I went there for the annual general meeting.
Q: How do you relax? Any hobbies to unwind?
A: I love to travel and we have been to many countries. In fact, my wife and I just returned from Istanbul recently. I go hiking and I love long walks.
Q: Significant books that you have read?
I have read many books over the years. But recently I read Half-Time: Moving from Success to Significance, written by Bob Buford. I liked it because he explains that success is only half of our life’s mission.
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Very well written article