The importance of diasporas
Anyone looking at healthcare services in Emerging Markets would be well advised to take diasporas into account. And in fact they do.
TVM Capital Healthcare, for instance, bases its investment area on the two ethnicities it mainly employs – Indians and Lebanese. Together they can understand and are at home in markets from francophone North Africa through to South East Asia.
The Lebanese, in particular, are a force not to be ignored. A banker told us: “In some African countries just about every large trading business is owned by Lebanese. And they are starting to look at the hospital sector.”
Hospital groups can also follow diasporas for patients.
The CEO of a big hospital operator in the Gulf, which is segregated along ethnic lines, says that Indian operator Aster DM is in the Gulf principally to serve Indian ex-pats. That is why Medical City, the largest Filipino chain, plans to open 20 clinics across the Middle East. Some 700,000 Filipinos live in the UAE alone and the introduction of mandatory insurance has created a market.
We would welcome your thoughts on this story. Email your views to Max Hotopf or call 0207 183 3779.
