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editor has the last word
THE DENTEPRENUERS
Recently, I was asked to speak on dental entrepreneurship in a dental meeting. Disclosure
deems necessary here that, besides actively practicing clinical dentistry for more than four
decades, I have also dabbled in other ancillary dental businesses. To my credit, I founded a Pvt.
Ltd. pharmaceutical company which is ethically marketing oral formulations for more than
three decades now. I also founded a charitable trust twenty-five years ago, which on one hand
looks after dental needs of the underprivileged and on the other, runs an extensive continuing
dental education program.
The fact that these businesses have survived challenges and test of time, bear witness to my
being a successful entrepreneur. Thus, I considered myself qualified for the assignment. Needless
to say, I was very nervous as I don’t boast of any formal business management education and the
prospect of the Invite coming from a prestigious international dental research society, where
quite a few researchers and academicians were supposed to be in the audience, didn’t do me
any favour.
The idea of being assessed and judged by the intelligentsia, who primarily survive on
Dr. SuShant umre analysing evidence and data was frightening. Thoughts of how the academicians would receive
and assimilate my stories on money management and cash flow were unsettling.
Growing up, I never wanted to be an entrepreneur. Coming from a non-business family,
The heroes of the day are the prevalent mental image of business was negative and the idea seemed ‘out of character’. It
not industrialists from involved money, transactions and loans, things that were considered perilous. It is true that
being an entrepreneur in India was excruciatingly trying. The regulatory frameworks as well
established business as the social environment were actively hostile to business, and it was no place for dreamy
houses, but young greenhorns. I feel compelled to mention here that it took me a full nine months and several
gunslingers, with their dozens of visits in 1986, to the office of drug controller to convince authorities to grant a licence
to manufacture the Sodium fluoride mouthwash.
‘start-up ideas’. Business was a fixed, insider’s game, and newbies had little real chance of breaking in.
Raising funds was exceptionally difficult and, the consequences of even temporary setbacks
could be devastating. Business was the domain of a few communities; You did not start a
business; you merely came from a lineage of people whose nature it was to do business. The
aura around new businesses was generally unwelcoming, and these were domains reserved for
the hardened insiders who understood its convoluted and often crooked ways. Business and
entrepreneurship, though apparently highly connected ideas, were actually understood as two
different concepts.
Evidently now, a fundamental change is afoot. Coming from the fact that a leading research
society wanted to hear me speak on business and entrepreneurship, speaks volumes as to how
it is impacting everyone, today.
There is a new generation that regards entrepreneurship as their most favoured destination.
Students from top-tier institutions aspire to starting something of their own. The heroes of the
day are not industrialists from established business houses, but young gunslingers, with their
‘start-up ideas’. The younger generation, in particular those that come from more financially
comfortable backgrounds do not have the memory of scarcity. The overall ability to deal with
risk has also increased.
Noticeably these days, one tends to feel that newer dental clinics go-overboard while
investing in real estate, interiors and the equipment. To me, starting a new dental practice is as
much a business as any other. You have to invest and manage money. You need to be productive,
have an ability to identify your strengths and weaknesses, hire effective people and have the
right domain and soft skills to run a successful dental practice. This sums up pretty much all the
requirements for any successful businessman. Essentially, you need to be a smart entrepreneur
to thrive as a dental practitioner.
Aspirations are changing, today the young look forward to being employers rather than
employees. And why not. What is needed is, corresponding effort to train the young and
expose them to the entrepreneurial opportunities.
Therefore, it’s become exceedingly clear to me, now is as good a time as any, to start making
business management education, a part in the under-graduate curriculum in dentistry; the
sooner, the better.
Dental Practice i March-April 2023 i Vol 19 No 2 85
