Feature Article: Ameera Shah

Feature

Ameera Shah

Managing Director of Metropolis Healthcare

Ameera is the Promoter & Managing Director of Metropolis Healthcare Ltd., a leading chain of pathology labs with a large network in India and Africa. For the last two decades, she has built Metropolis into a leading and reputed chain of laboratories with a wide network of over 125 laboratories and 2500+ patient service centers. An eminent industry spokesperson, she has played an instrumental role in changing the pathology industry landscape in the country, from being a doctor-led-practice to a professionallyled industry in an extremely unregulated, competitive, and fragmented market.

Learning Leadership from Ameera Shah

Who has been your inspiration to start and build Metropolis to where it is today?

My father has always been my biggest inspiration. He taught me that we have to give our utmost effort to every venture and make sure it positively contributes to society. I am one of the privileged few in India to get a really good education and grow up in a stable family. I have always felt the importance of giving back to the country. That was the motivation to build Metropolis into a firm that offered high-quality affordable healthcare services because Indians deserve it.

Can you share with us your entrepreneurial journey? You started young at 21; how did you overcome the challenges of the business world?

Every journey has its own unique challenges. It is important to segregate these challenges into external and internal, rather than put them all into one bucket. Otherwise, your challenges will limit you and it may become too overwhelming to tackle. We have full control and influence on our internal challenges and by conquering these challenges, we will be able to thrive better.

How do you ensure that you keep replicating the success every year?

To begin with, defining what success means to you is very important. For me, the meaning of success is building something of respect. This means that we are earning and bettering our reputation every year. I never stopped being a student. I feel I have to keep learning and increasing my exposure. Whether that means bringing back insights from other companies about how they work to my company, or joining a school and doing a program in the middle of my career, where I can learn amongst other budding entrepreneurs. The key is to learn from people all around you and to keep expanding your horizon and knowledge.

How do you deal with challenges in terms of risk and uncertainty in the healthcare industry?

My team and I have been very clear about this from the beginning, this is an industry that is about life and death and we have to recognize the severity of that. For instance, if I come to work after having a bad day at home, I have to recognize that I cannot let my emotions influence my decisions, as it can affect millions of patients. That understanding is a very critical part of moving forward. In healthcare it is essential to have that knowledge and also be able to think big, and simultaneously micromanage; to stay humane, and not to treat it like any other industry.

You operate in an industry with a high demand for keeping in touch with medical field changes; how do you keep the innovation process ongoing at Metropolis?

Working on something new is always very exciting for everyone and I think that is why people have a natural inclination towards innovation. But, understanding where to innovate and where not to innovate is just as important. I have seen people getting very intoxicated by the idea that they are innovating every day, but innovation is not about small changes. It is where you are thinking out of the box and then following it up with execution. Just having a great idea has no meaning, until it impacts people. Best innovation happens when you are not involved in everyday operations and you sit back and think about how things could potentially be.

We see clean, hygienic, warm, and at the same time, a fast environment at the labs. How have you been able to set up a unique process at Metropolis? The crucial part of this is The Metropolis culture to decide what you stand brings on board good for. As an organization, people and then gives we stand for empathy. them space and freedom We want to make sure we to be positively productive. have accurate results and I like people to be actionthe customer experience oriented. The values are that people get with us. very clear that we must Hence at every point be transparent. If there is where you engage with a problem, I would much a patient, you have to rather hear it from my demonstrate the same team than find out later values. It is about the on. The three core values amount of time you are at Metropolis are empathy, making someone wait integrity, and accuracy. We when they reach out to foster growth and support you at your call center, a culture that is open, considering you know how anxious somebody is when they are calling “Best innovation healthcare. It is also about the cleanliness of happens when you your bathroom as you are not involved in know that your patient will probably have to go there and give you a urine everyday operations and you sit back and sample. Consumers are think about how things always very discerning and they understand could potentially be.” and observe exactly whether you do what you are claiming to, or not. The minute you make a commitment you cannot synergistic, progressive, and scientific. keep to customers, you have broken trust, and when you break trust it is very hard to build it again. Can you share with us one of the unique customer stories at Metropolis that you remember? It can How do you inspire your team, and can you share the Metropolis culture with us? be related to a customer while building the team or interaction with any stakeholder.

institution where we make sure we are keeping An aspiring entrepreneur

“I would suggest entrepreneurs to not is someone who keeps dreaming but never actually does anything. get too attached to the To be an entrepreneur outcome of what they one should actually start acting and get things believe they will get moving. My message to once they reach this entrepreneurs would be pinnacle of success that entrepreneurship is a beautiful journey. because that pinnacle The real inspiration for of success will keep moving.” entrepreneurs, including myself, is that if you build a company that survives and thrives, Over the years, I have more interesting than frequently been asked the destination because about how it feels to have it teaches you so much won so many awards. I can about yourself. I would genuinely say, from the suggest entrepreneurs to bottom of my heart, that not get too attached to nothing beats the joy a the outcome of what they customer who appreciates believe they will get once us brings, even if it is in a they reach this pinnacle small way. It signifies that of success because that we have done something pinnacle of success will right, we have built an keep moving. have communicated How can someone be values of empathy. They Ameera Shah? If one of mean much more than our readers aspires to be any award from any like you, what should they organization. Working to do? then the journey is far customers happy, is the I think everyone should be best karma one can do. their own authentic self because everybody has What are some of your their individual strengths suggestions to aspiring and weaknesses. I was entrepreneurs? never afraid to take risks, be it while trekking when I was a very young child or in life. My motto was always, to never stop, complain, or give up, and in the process take risks and be bold. Secondly, I have learned that irrespective of your gender, the biggest asset of your life is your own confidence in yourself because that is the thing that nobody can give or take away from you. And lastly, it is crucial to face your fears and keep finding ways to come out on the other side.

Written by Jigyasa Dixit

“I have learned that irrespective of your gender, the biggest asset of your life is your own confidence in yourself because that is the thing that nobody can give or take away from you.”