Just had a fascinating chat with Ameera Shah, who set up a lab chain, Metropolis Healthcare in India in 2002 when she was 20. Since then, she has grown it to one of the top three in the country and expanded into (wait for it) Kenya, South Africa, UAE, Nigeria, Ghana, Sri Lanka and Mauritius!

Just how different is the developing world? Well, in India, Shah says there is no regulation at all. In other words, anyone can set up a lab. Anyone can pay any commission to anyone for referrals.  And anyone can do what are known as sink tests in the trade. That is where you take the sample, pour it down the sink and then concoct the result.  Many companies have been caught pretending to be Metropolis. None have been shut down.

The upside? A market growing at 10-15% a year, where the big three – Metropolis, Lal and SRL – manage 25% annual growth and have just 10% marketshare between them.

One of Shah’s responses to what she describes as “a market that’s a jungle” is to address consumers directly with a website which opens to the statement:

“Integrity is in our veins

Empathy is in our blood

Accuracy is in our DNA”

She reckons that maybe 20% of tests now come from consumers who have done their research and decided to use Metropolis, rather than following their doctor’s referral choice of outpatient lab.

Shah is speaking about expanding across the developing world at Healthcare Europa 2015 on April 28 in London.