When Thumbay Moideen moved to the UAE from Mangalore, India, in 1997, he took a gamble – he branched out from his family's business interests in timber and real estate to open the UAE's first medical college, Gulf Medical University, in Ajman. Although the core interests of Mr Moideen's Thumbay Group are still in healthcare education, the 59-year-old also runs a chain of 25 coffee shops, six restaurants, six family health clubs, a bi-monthly magazine and a chain of Thumbay laboratories and pharmacies.
How do you spend your weekends?
Mainly with the family. I have two sons, aged 31 and 29, who are both active in the healthcare side of my business. I used to play sports and walk but nowadays my favourite pastime is reading magazines and novels. And if I get an excuse, I like to travel. My favourite city is Dubai, of course, but the second best city in the world is London, so go there when I can.
How did you become president of the Thumbay Group?
I’m the third generation of our family business. When I arrived in the UAE, I got in touch with the ruling family of Ajman, who asked me if I could think of a project that would have a bountiful effect on the emirate’s economy. I said “why don’t you build a medical school and a hospital? It would help with boosting employment and would also put Ajman on the world map.” They encouraged me to do it. I thought it was a good opportunity so I brought in professionals to study the concept and they agreed. I’m lucky that it happened.
What was the lowest point in your career?
I’ve been working for the past 39 years but when I set up the medical school and hospital, it was a different kind of business for me in a totally different country. There were a lot of challenges in those first few years. I had to build a 200-bed hospital in Ajman, it was part of the teaching for the medical students, but Ajman didn’t have a huge population. It wasn’t an easy decision to open and nobody believed at the time that I would succeed. But I have.
What advice would you offer others starting out in your business?
For the young leaders of today, my advice is to master your business if you want to be a good leader. You should know your business well, so you can solve the everyday problems. You need a lot of experience and training in your field, whatever it is. Healthcare education is a really good business to go into because you are also serving the community. Even during the worst economic times, healthcare education has always survived and grown in the UAE.
What’s your go-to gadget?
I use a BlackBerry phone for work and play. The initial reason I chose BlackBerry was because I travel a lot and it was easy to access my emails. I got used to it so I stuck to it.
What’s your most indulgent habit?
I work on Friday mornings sometimes at the hospital because I enjoy my work so much. So work is my indulgent habit. People ask me, is it hard work doing what I do? and I say, “No, because it doesn’t feel like work to me”. So far, 15 batches of students have graduated from our university, which is almost 1,000 doctors.
What can’t you live without?
My wife. We’ve been married for 23 years now. She’s not involved in the business but she’s around all the time. She’s a great moral support to me.
What do you have on your desk at work?
My desk is always clean, I don’t keep anything pending. I like to be very organised. I have a laptop and an iPad too.
What car do you drive?
I have a Bentley Mulsanne and a Bentley Bentayga, which is a four wheeler. I’m a big Bentley fan – because it’s British, and I like to think it has a bit of Indian spirit too. I have personalised number plates and inside one of my Bentleys, I have our family’s names printed on the seats. My sons did this for me. When I ordered this car, my sons got involved, because I’m not very technically sound.
How do you achieve a work life balance?
To relax and have balance in my life. When I can, I spend time with my family, travel, read a lot and watch movies. My office is only a 10-minute drive from my home and I drive myself there every day. I tend to start at 8.30am, my lunch break is 3pm to 4pm and then I’m usually home at 8pm.
If you could swap jobs with anyone, who would it be?
I would never change my career for anything else. I love to create and I’m creating many things right now. We have about 4,000 people working for us and will break 6,000 by the end of 2017. Our ultimate aim is to reach 20,000 in the next five years.
business@thenational.ae
Follow The National's Business section on Twitter