Mayank Madan: A Finance Expert With Entrepreneurial Success In Healthcare Industry By Implementation Of Right Strategies
Mayank Madan
Partner and Executive Director
In an exclusive interaction with CEO Insights,Mayank talks about his professional journey and the key elements that contributed to Prognosis Laboratories' success.
What inspired you to venture into the diagnostics healthcare space and what enables you to go forward every day?
Coming from an entrepreneurial household, I always wanted to start my own business after obtaining some industry expertise. As a result, after completing my MBA, I worked in Investment Banking for a while and during my employment tenure, my mind was juggling between ideas for my venture. I was interested in knowing which industry had the best long term prospects.
Meanwhile, my uncle Dr. Deepak Sadwani, one of the country's most recognized pathologists, briefed me about the opportunities in the healthcare industry. We discussed what services we could provide in the healthcare field that would ultimately benefit people. During this time, my aunt and Dr. Deepak’s wife, Dr. Smita Sadwani, was already running a walk-in patient centric diagnostic center in Dwarka, Delhi. The three of us joined hands and established Prognosis Laboratories in 2013. The mastery of two industry experts, combined with some business acumen, worked
well for us.
How would you define Prognosis Laboratories as an organization and its position in the industry? What are the value additions offered by the company to its customers and what is its USP?
We truly believe ourselves to be a centre for excellence in medical diagnostics. We've under taken many competitive analyses, quality control, and research of how the industry operates. Since we do not always get to see the patient in person as a diagnostic firm, Prognosis Laboratories pays close attention to the details that go into delivering patient’s reports. We often get only a sample rather than seeing and analyzing the patient in his or her entirety and providing a detailed report necessitates a great deal of care, which we believe sets us apart. At Prognosis, we have all of the necessary infrastructure in place to provide comprehensive reports.
In terms of our USP, I can say that we have a unique combination of gold standard technology, one of the best-in-class IT infrastructures, and the presence of industry stalwarts which sets us apart. We aim to provide an enriching and engaging experience to not just our patients, but to all our stake holders vendors, employees, consultants and clients. Another USP is doctor led reporting we have a team of highly qualified doctors who review every patient report before it is issued. In addition, we strive to provide the fastest turnaround times possible in the industry.
What are the techniques or strategies you have acquired in your journey so far and how do you apply them in tackling complex situations in particular?
From an industry perspective, the most important strategy is the need for exercising utmost care both for the patients as well as for the employees. We have always strived to create a culture where there is no compromise for both our patients as well as our employees, for which, even saying “NO” to certain demands is important.
From a business standpoint, I believe COVID has made or continues to make the overall ecosystem more cyclical. During COVID waves, labs are required to process thousands of samples in a day, while on other days they may drop significantly, and they may continue to fall. During these times most institutions hire and fire individuals based on their needs and
How would you define Prognosis Laboratories as an organization and its position in the industry? What are the value additions offered by the company to its customers and what is its USP?
We truly believe ourselves to be a centre for excellence in medical diagnostics. We've under taken many competitive analyses, quality control, and research of how the industry operates. Since we do not always get to see the patient in person as a diagnostic firm, Prognosis Laboratories pays close attention to the details that go into delivering patient’s reports. We often get only a sample rather than seeing and analyzing the patient in his or her entirety and providing a detailed report necessitates a great deal of care, which we believe sets us apart. At Prognosis, we have all of the necessary infrastructure in place to provide comprehensive reports.
In terms of our USP, I can say that we have a unique combination of gold standard technology, one of the best-in-class IT infrastructures, and the presence of industry stalwarts which sets us apart. We aim to provide an enriching and engaging experience to not just our patients, but to all our stake holders vendors, employees, consultants and clients. Another USP is doctor led reporting we have a team of highly qualified doctors who review every patient report before it is issued. In addition, we strive to provide the fastest turnaround times possible in the industry.
What are the techniques or strategies you have acquired in your journey so far and how do you apply them in tackling complex situations in particular?
From an industry perspective, the most important strategy is the need for exercising utmost care both for the patients as well as for the employees. We have always strived to create a culture where there is no compromise for both our patients as well as our employees, for which, even saying “NO” to certain demands is important.
From a business standpoint, I believe COVID has made or continues to make the overall ecosystem more cyclical. During COVID waves, labs are required to process thousands of samples in a day, while on other days they may drop significantly, and they may continue to fall. During these times most institutions hire and fire individuals based on their needs and
this culture has the potential to erode the company's principles and environment. But at Prognosis what we have put into practice is, we want to avoid this culture of perpetual hiring and terminating, and instead believe in cross training. We believe in putting talent to work at Prognosis. For example, suppose I hired some one for a COVID related duty, but we no longer require his or her services because the pandemic has passed. Such individuals with skills and experience can be cross trained to fulfill the company's other growth requirements, as a result, cross training and utilizing existing talents and their knowledge is essential. And this was one of the most important strategies we implemented during the pandemic, and it eventually helped us develop and retain our workforce.
Another important learning that we have incorporated into our systems is strict adherence to commitments, and the old adage of “Don’t bite more than what you can chew”.
We have also leveraged automation at various levels to provide stable, repeatable, error free and scalable yet customisable offerings. I truly believe that laying down a process for any activity, and looking at how to automate it with the inclusion of manual overrides allows for a long lasting and compelling offering.
What advice would you give to the budding industry leaders of the diagnostics healthcare domain?
As previously stated, adapting to the cyclical nature of the sector is necessary, and recruiting and terminating will not get your firm very far. Instead investing in manpower will eventually propel your enterprise to greater levels. Secondly, rather than relying on a singular specialization, one should offer a wide range of services and be prepared to accommodate a variety of demands as the market expands. Last but not the least, be very flexible when it comes to offering services, and very rigid when it comes to the standard of product offerings.
Mayank Madan, Partner and Executive Director, Prognosis Laboratories
Mayank graduated with a B.E. in mechanical engineering from BITS PILANI with an MBA in Finance and Marketing from MDI Gurgaon. He worked as an Associate Analyst at HSBC before co-founding Prognosis Laboratories with Dr. Smita Sadwani and Dr.Deepak Sadwani in 2013.
Another important learning that we have incorporated into our systems is strict adherence to commitments, and the old adage of “Don’t bite more than what you can chew”.
We have also leveraged automation at various levels to provide stable, repeatable, error free and scalable yet customisable offerings. I truly believe that laying down a process for any activity, and looking at how to automate it with the inclusion of manual overrides allows for a long lasting and compelling offering.
What advice would you give to the budding industry leaders of the diagnostics healthcare domain?
As previously stated, adapting to the cyclical nature of the sector is necessary, and recruiting and terminating will not get your firm very far. Instead investing in manpower will eventually propel your enterprise to greater levels. Secondly, rather than relying on a singular specialization, one should offer a wide range of services and be prepared to accommodate a variety of demands as the market expands. Last but not the least, be very flexible when it comes to offering services, and very rigid when it comes to the standard of product offerings.
Mayank Madan, Partner and Executive Director, Prognosis Laboratories
Mayank graduated with a B.E. in mechanical engineering from BITS PILANI with an MBA in Finance and Marketing from MDI Gurgaon. He worked as an Associate Analyst at HSBC before co-founding Prognosis Laboratories with Dr. Smita Sadwani and Dr.Deepak Sadwani in 2013.