Businessexcellence ACHIEVING
O N L I N E
AFRICAN MEDICAL INVESTMENTS
www.amipic.com
C O R P O R AT E B R O C H U R E
Investmen
African Medical Investments
nt in African
health African Medical Investments’ strategy focuses on providing healthcare in niche areas, particularly to the expanding African middle classes and the expatriate, non-governmental organisation, diplomatic and tourist markets.
T
he idea of building new hospitals in Africa usually brings to mind the establishment of much needed but usually very inadequate clinics that aim to provide treatment for some of the ailments that affect the continent—malaria, AIDS, dysentery and tuberculosis to name only a few on a long list. These initiatives are never seen as potentially profitable, but there is another way to bring state-of-the-art medical facilities and top clinicians to Africa. Travellers to Cape Town International Airport for the World Cup will have noticed African Medical Investments’ latest addition to its network of clinics, hospitals and medical centres in Africa. The new 350 square metre airport medical and vaccination centre follows an earlier facility at the airport’s domestic terminal, which achieved cash flow profitability in less than four months following its opening in March 2009; and CEO Dr Vivek Solanki is confident the new facility, which houses an emergency medical care and resuscitation unit, a minor operation theatre and an aftercare and recovery facility, will do the same. There are plans in place to make ambulances, response vehicles and medical flight arrangements
African Medical Investments
available in case referrals to other hospital facilities are required and to add occupational health screening for airline employees and other associated staff, travel vaccinations for visitors, physiotherapy treatment, dental services and a pharmacy. Medical services are always in demand, and the company is finding that this approach is highly exportable from its origins in South Africa—not only to affluent parts of the world but to some of the poorest nations in Africa. “The demand for first-class medical treatment in Africa is increasing exponentially,” stated Solanki. “I am confident that the model that we have developed will transfer successfully to other countries in Africa. We aim to roll out our boutique hospitals, well woman clinics and trauma centres across the continent, and believe this will both provide attractive returns for our investors whilst also directly benefiting Africa.” So African Medical Investments (AMI) has been enthusiastically investing in new facilities since it floated on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market in 2008, raising £5.1 million. “Africa has historically been neglected in terms of investment, particularly with regard to the development of modern infrastructure and community facilities,” Solanki pointed out. “However, with a plethora of large international corporations moving into the continent in recent years and the associated inflow of capital centred on developing Africa’s resources, there is considerable scope for the improvement of many essential services such as healthcare.” The new plc’s first major step was to acquire VIP Healthcare, a specialist boutique hospital and well woman centre developer and operator, together with its leader, none other than Solanki himself. VIP had five private clinics: a trauma centre and well woman clinic in Dar es Salaam, a trauma centre in Harare, a trauma centre and well woman clinic at Maputo, and airport medical and
African Medical Investments
JW Seagon JW Seagon are independent advisors who offer expert, impartial advice on all forms of insurance. Having operated in Africa for 20 years, we are ideally positioned to provide health insurance solutions tailored to the individual and corporate needs of people and organisations resident on the continent. We have expert knowledge of regional healthcare systems and are able to access the best and widest network of medical professionals operating in Africa to ensure that in your time of need, help is never far away. J W Seagon has partnered with African Medical Investments (AMI) to bring affordable insurance products and healthcare to provide treatment at first class facilities in Africa.
tourism consultants and local business delegates. The clinic gives Mozambican mothers and mothersto-be a viable alternative to travelling to South Africa for antenatal and postnatal care, which many women have opted for until now, due to the lack of suitable facilities in Mozambique. The Maputo Trauma Centre has 35 beds, a delivery room, a dialysis room, a psychiatry centre, a paediatrics department, 24-hour emergency casualty centre, an X-ray department and CT scan centre, a 3D ultrasound centre, three ICU beds, two neonatal ICU incubators and two theatres. The new private medical facility also houses Mozambique’s first well woman clinic. These clinics, the first of which was located at AMI’s Dar es Salaam hospital, have an all-female staff, offering professional services in a sensitive and dignified manner to women of all religious backgrounds. The company wants to open many well
“We aim to roll out our boutique hospitals, well woman clinics and trauma centres across the continent, and believe this will both provide attractive returns for our investors whilst also directly benefiting Africa” travel vaccination centres at O.R. Tambo International Airport and Cape Town International Airport. The company also had one further facility in development—a well woman, well man, aesthetic and dental clinic in Nairobi. The company’s growth strategy has been further advanced by $47 million from New York-based Harbinger Capital Partners LLC in 2009, which now owns 41.89 per cent of AMI. The money has been used to expand the number of clinics and to extend the existing ones as well as to attract the best African and expatriate practitioners to its facilities. “The growth and success of African Medical relies largely on the quality and experience of our staff, and we remain committed to offering additional training to all of our employees, both local and expatriate, in order to create a sustainable environment for comprehensive healthcare in the local community,” said Solanki. Its intervention adds important high status facilities, with the latest equipment, in places that used to lack these facilities and where even the better off would have to travel overseas for treatments. So when the latest hospital and trauma centre was opened in Maputo on June 9 this year, the tape was cut by President Armando Guebuza of Mozambique himself, watched by a number of ministers from other African nations, in addition to numerous NGOs, insurance company representatives,
woman centres across Africa, all offering services including mammography, bone density assessment and 3D ultrasound for diagnostic and prenatal screening. The local need for these services, as opposed to the market among tourists, was emphasised by Tanzania’s minister for Heath and Social Welfare, Professor Homeli Mwakyusa, when he opened a new renal dialysis facility at the Dar es Salaam trauma centre on 2 June. “This type of specialised medical care is not readily available to all who need it,” he said. “I challenge you to consider equity of access to your service, since renal diseases affect rich and poor, insured and non-insured patients.” Thus AMI has the opportunity to address real needs while taking advantage of growing demand from the better off, as well as emerging markets like the ‘sun, surgery and safari’ tourists who like to combine a holiday in Africa with plastic surgery. Already an established concept in South Africa, AMI would like to roll this concept out in its other African facilities. Meanwhile, it is evaluating additional sites including Kampala, Uganda, where the company recently sponsored a medical investment conference attended by the first lady of Uganda, the president of Kenya, regional health ministers and some 800 doctors. It is also taking a close look at Accra, Addis Ababa and Kigali. www.amiplc.com
AFRICAN MEDICAL INVESTMENTS
www.amipic.com