The Care N Cure Story: Building a Business in the Gulf

About this episode

In this episode, Shan A Salam sits down with EP Abdurahiman, founder and chairman of Qatar-based healthcare retail and trading conglomerate Care N Cure. Abdurahiman traces his entrepreneurial roots from running small side businesses as a teenager in Kerala to moving to the Gulf in the late 1980s. He recounts his transition from working in pharmaceutical manufacturing and sales to launching his own ventures in Qatar, including building a pharmacy chain from a single outlet to dozens of locations. The discussion covers practical business fundamentals such as prioritising cash flow over paper profits, maintaining liquidity during crises like the Covid-19 pandemic, and delegating operational duties to scale multiple enterprises. Abdurahiman also reflects on setting up an extensive back office in India to cut overheads, launching rapid ecommerce delivery for medicines, and leveraging structured networking through BNI to build credibility and expand across the region.

Key takeaways

1. 1Aspiring founders should build execution muscle through small side businesses before undertaking large commercial ventures.
2. 2Managing cash flow and preserving liquidity is essential for surviving major market disruptions.
3. 3Early company profits should be reinvested into expanding the enterprise rather than extracted as founder income.
4. 4Moving back-office operations to cost-effective regions substantially reduces overheads for Gulf businesses.
5. 5Digital storefronts can act as promotional channels that increase footfall and trust for brick-and-mortar retail outlets.
6. 6Entrepreneurs must delegate day-to-day operations to capable managers in order to focus on strategic growth.

Chapters

1. 00:00The eCom Show happened because of this reason
2. 04:19We should be entrepreneurs before entrepreneurship
3. 06:46The water and soil of entrepreneurship
4. 10:23Politics and entrepreneurship
5. 13:03Five Wives and One Husband policy
6. 15:08Entry into the Gulf
7. 18:44Three jobs in one day
8. 19:35Riskiest step of career
9. 23:34Life in Qatar & side business
10. 26:39Care N Cure started in 2000
11. 28:00How to manage business, family, and other activities
12. 32:49Salary of the founder
13. 35:23Advantages & disadvantages of a tiny setup
14. 37:17Expansion psychology
15. 44:37The character of E. P. Abdurahman
16. 46:44Covid period: team and cashflow
17. 54:44The importance of cashflow
18. 58:07eCommerce at Care N Cure
19. 01:07:58VCP principles
20. 01:09:43How the back office helps
21. 01:11:54How to focus when running multiple businesses
22. 01:15:11Football team
23. 01:17:58Networking is extremely important
24. 01:22:40AI and conclusion