Profiles
Imran Osman: From shopkeeper to hospital CEO
Friday October 13 2023
Avenue Healthcare Group CEO Imran Osman. PHOTO | POOL
A suit. That’s Dr Imran Osman’s fondest memory of his father, a mechanic who loved his polo shirts and khakis. Definitely not cut from the same cloth, Imran chose the formal path, which, at 5:45pm in insanity-inducing traffic-crazed Nairobi, is how we meet — he as the swashbuckling CEO of Avenue Healthcare Group, well-dressed in a nice suit with a nifty tie, hair-parted and combed to a gloss.
His greying beard is haphazard but intentional — the point where sloth meets affectation — giving him the look of a youngish professor with the unassuming air of an accountant.
This, coincidentally, is his background, ticking off over 16 years of experience managing all levels of multiple businesses and projects including budgeting, financial management and administration.
His tendency to speak in fully knotty paragraphs is unlike most accountants, however, a skill he says he has borrowed from his staff. “Me si babi, me ni msee wa mtaa,” he tells them, and anyone within earshot. He laughs after every sentence, getting extremely placid when he talks about his daughter, Zoya.
“We gain weight easily in our gene pool,” he says, “So I am exercising a lot for her. I want to win a race during Parents’ Day, for her,” he says. Everything he does is seen through that prism. His daughter. And his wife, Dr Naznin Sokwalla, a pharmacist.
But it is his nine-year-old daughter who lights the fire under him: with her sarcasm, with her wit, and with the things she tells him while driving to school — teaching him to listen, the one chink in his armoury.
“I am a poor listener,” he repents. But he is learning. A man eventually learns that girls want an ear, not advice, he says. The same goes for their mothers.
How was your day?
Hectic! But exciting. We are having rounds of board meetings. Generally, we meet every quarter, especially with the medical advisory committees. The first meeting started at 7am, and then I had another with a client, a corporate CEO. On Wednesdays and Fridays, I catch up with other CEOs. In the afternoon, I had an audit committee meeting.
What’s the best part about being a CEO?
Sitting back and listening actively. If you are a leader, you should be the last person to speak unless the agenda deviates. One doctor was raising an issue about improving his orthopaedic career; all he needed to do was address it correctly. It gives me a lot of fulfilment to impact and change lives.
What is one question people never ask you as CEO?
It’s rare to hear people ask you how you are doing or how your day was. I realised it when Edith, our finance secretary, approached me and asked, ‘Mr Imran, how are you doing today?’ The CEO role is very lonely, there are lines you have to draw. I have to create a network of other CEO friends just so I can vent because there are things you can’t discuss with your spouse. They will get bored.
Are you married?
Yes, have been for the past 15 years. I have a little girl called Zoya. My wife is a pharmacist, but she took a sabbatical for our daughter. She does voluntary teaching and contributes her time to community service. My daughter is nine, but she thinks she is 14, haha!
Which is easier; being a CEO or a father?
I have created a work-life balance by moving out of town to Syokimau. When I was living next to the office, I’d just pop into the office and do something. Distance has made me unwind. I realised that the best way to unplug is by keeping yourself busy at home. I discovered this when I was doing a renovation project at home.
My daughter surprises Naz (wife) and me with how she reacts. She recently learned sarcasm and so often irks my wife, who is the disciplinarian, and I am supposedly the ‘indulger’. They fight a lot but get along very quickly. I am always caught in the crossfire.
My HR person told me that at this age, they (girls) create an image of the perfect gentleman for the future. I try to be the right man in her life now, hoping she will learn how to choose the right man.
Solid advice. What is fatherhood revealing to you about yourself?
Patience. I have to make time. I have to be able to change pace and keep fit. I just turned 40, and I realised I needed to watch myself. I attend all the Sports Day activities.
I want to surprise her when they call parents to race, and I win, haha! Sometimes, I don’t have to respond. I just have to listen when she is venting. I don’t give her solutions.
Which are you good at…being a better husband or a better father?
I try to have a balance. My wife has been key. To be a good husband, I have to be a good father. We do most of our activities together. She directs where we will go for holidays — ganging up (with the daughter) against me. We are going to Lisbon for an award Avenue Hospital has been shortlisted for, and they just decided they will tag along.
That way, I am a good husband because I am taking my wife on holiday and a good father because I expose my daughter to responsibilities (chuckles).
What’s one area of being a husband that you struggle with?
My wife has defined who I am. When she found me, I was a shopkeeper in a supermarket, just trying to get by. She has seen me through tough times. I struggle to express how much I appreciate what she has done for me. Sometimes, we’d eat a lovely meal, and I’d say thanks, but after a while, she’d notice no reactions (at the table).
She’d feel that she is not contributing because she took a sabbatical, but her spending time with our daughter and helping us navigate life — is invaluable. That is what I struggle to say. She is not only valuable to me; my mum and sisters rely on her, whether for medical or family advice.
What has marriage given you and taken from you?
Marriage has given me stability. Before marriage, in my early 20s, peer pressure influenced me a lot. We have tried stuff in life, haha! We have had fun. When I met Naz, she anchored me and gave me focus and stability. We set milestones together.
Our first car, we contributed and bought it together. Marriage has taken away the bad influence from me. I believe in the sanctity and faithfulness of it.
What do you think the boy you once were would tell the man you are?
Wow! Hang in there. Hard work does pay off. If I walk back to where I was 20 years ago, I remember almost dropping out of high school. Teachers kept me on. I’d always raise my hand when they’d ask who wanted to go to university. But I knew I wouldn’t make it because my dad had told me he could only afford to take one of us to the university. I have made mistakes, especially when I was between 29 and 33. I just wanted to get ahead in life. I could have done some things better.
How has running a company changed you?
I joined Avenue as a CFO (Chief Financial Officer), always the number two, even in my previous workplaces. I realised that I needed to stop doing everything. Being a number two, you fix things before the main person comes in.
I have learned that I need to let go and delegate. I am trusting my team more and allowing them to make mistakes. Mistakes in a private room and successes in an open room.
What do you struggle most with letting go of?
Being an accountant in healthcare for over 16 years, I struggle to let go of finance. I have an excellent financial controller, Barnabas, who has done a fantastic job, but I still catch myself picking up a spreadsheet and analysing it and doing formulas. Now, I no longer walk with my laptop, just an iPad because iPads are terrible when it comes to Excel sheets. I still go back occasionally to analyse big data.
What has been the biggest loss in your life so far?
My dad. I lost my dad 12 years ago. We weren’t as close until he became ill, and I realised how much I leaned on him for advice. I had travelled to Kisumu, but I was called to Eldoret to go and see him. He had never been admitted to a hospital before, at least not in my lifetime. I asked him to stay with me, even though I was married then.
He fell sick again, and we admitted him back to the hospital. When we put him on a plane, his eyes started to tear a lot, and AMREF medics had to jab him to resuscitate him. I remember he said that he wanted to be buried in Eldoret.
That’s when I realised how much he used to do in the background, especially in the jua kali industry — he was a mechanic. Many of them came to the burial.
When he was alive, I felt like I never did enough, and now that he is gone, I feel like I lost a companion. I remember he told me in our DNA we need to watch our weight and our sinuses. I wish he was around so I could ask him if I will lose my hair! (chuckles)
What is your fondest memory of your dad?
When he attended my wedding in Kisumu. Before he came to the wedding, he called me and told me he was at a suit stitching company, and he wanted me to choose a suit for him. I just remember how excited he was about my wedding. I keep showing my daughter videos of him in that wedding, telling her ‘This is your grandad.’ I have borrowed that suit a few times in his memory. He was a guarded person but that day he let it all out. Thank you for bringing back that memory.
How is your relationship with suits now?
For a long time, I have been wearing suits and ties. My former boss was always wondering why I was in suits. When I go for fitting, I remember his experience. My father loved polo shirts and trousers. He was a content man.
What would your dad say about you if he were alive now?
That I have exceeded his expectations. I wanted to take his garage to the next level, but we decided we couldn’t work together. I got a job where I would travel 350km daily to Mt Elgon on a pickup, delivering diesel and studying in the car. I am privileged to be heading a group of doctors at Avenue, and I think he would be very proud. I wish he could hear this.
What is one thing people get wrong about you?
People underestimate me a lot. I don’t speak immediately so I tend to be seen as an introvert, which I am not. I conduct CEO town halls with my team across the country and tell them, ‘Mimi si babi. Me ni msee wa mtaa.’ Haha! We are in this together. They don’t even expect me to speak Swahili or sheng’ or listen to E-Sir!
What will people mourn most when you are gone?
Wow! My family. I plan for their future when I am still alive. I hope people will mourn the kind of leader that I am, the kind who will be with you in difficult times at the front, to work with you. If there is a celebration, I will be cheering you from the back.
When we won the IFC (International Finance Corporation) award, I told my CFO and my hospital manager to go with their better halves to have fun. I have sat with my team in Parklands Hospital eating githeri and sat with others in continental restaurants too. I relate to anyone.
What are you least afraid of?
That is very difficult, but I am least afraid of letting my daughter and wife down. I may not meet every wish and need they have, but internally I am a very content man. I am least afraid that I will fail them, and even if we do, we will always bounce back. We have stood by each other and adjusted our lifestyles.
What are you most sure of?
The team that I have will transform the healthcare in Kenya. We all have one vision and every new initiative we are doing is transformative if not disruptive.
You seem to be very good at many things. What are you not good at?
Advising psychologically, especially the ladies. I am horrible at reading people; somebody could be expectant and I won’t have a clue, haha! My wife will tell you I am horrible at listening because I zone off.
I tried to be good at marketing and told one of my staff that I liked some design work and she went off saying ‘How can you like that one? That is the worst graphic!’ haha! When my wife wants us to have a conversation, she’ll tell me to start listening so I don’t zone off.
Speaking of your wife, what did your first heartbreak teach you?
Haha! It taught me that I was right. haha! I was right not to go along with it because somebody was waiting for me somewhere and that’s where I landed.
Have you figured life out yet?
I think I have figured out the purpose of my life. One is to give my daughter the best I can and to retire with my wife. I want to take care of them and my mother. I have worked in many industries, from transport to audit to retail to hospitality but healthcare always had my number. I would volunteer at the board of MP Shah Hospital and Lions Eye Hospital.
Healthcare comes naturally to me, and this is because I saw my mom start a chama ( fundraising group), give back to the community, build a nursery school, then primary and now a secondary school. When I tell her to move in with me, she refuses, saying she will grow old because she will have nothing to do.
That inspires me because even if I am not earning a lot in healthcare, the fulfilment that I get is out of this world. It is almost like an adrenalin. The question then is, how do I create a legacy out of it?
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