MPW 2022: Suneeta Reddy, Shobana Kamineni and Sangita Reddy are making Apollo into a healthcare leader

About 40 years ago, when Prathap C. Reddy undertook the arduous journey to transform the basic need of healthcare into a successful business, he had strong hands to fall back on. His four feisty and capable daughters, who have together created an enviable legacy after facing myriad challenges, from raising capital to running the organisation to sustaining the momentum amidst stiff competition in current times. Suneeta Reddy, Shobana Kamineni, Sangita Reddy, all winners in the BT Most Powerful Women in Business 2022 listing, and eldest daughter Preetha Reddy, 66, who is in the MPW Hall of Fame (comprising seven-time winners), have been major pillars for the father who believed in them, and for the group that they have grown to what it is today.

“When we started, the notion of a corporate hospital that would be run professionally and would need capital outlays, was unheard of. It was a challenge convincing different sets of stakeholders about the operating model, and getting the funding to do it,” says Suneeta, 64, the second daughter, who started working with Apollo Hospitals in 1989. As MD of Apollo Hospitals, Suneeta anchors its finance and strategy functions. She was instrumental in bringing the first foreign direct investment into healthcare in India in 1995 and subsequently taking the organisation to international equity markets through a successful GDR (global depository receipt) issue in 2005. “It took a lot of effort, [and] road shows in multiple countries, to explain my father’s vision,” Suneeta recalls.

For the Apollo sisters, it is not enough to have an idea and get it started. The key is to create something that’s self-generating in terms of cash flows, so that it can create its own growth capital, and fuel more job creation. “In every business vertical, it has been important that we build them up to be self-sufficient units, and overall, build an enterprise that is sustainable for the long term,” says Suneeta, who believes that the Covid-19 pandemic taught them the need to use the tough times to prepare for what’s ahead. “In that sense, we are a resilient, yet agile and learning organisation, and this equips us for all eventualities. We can never be linear in our thinking, and are never satisfied with our progress.”

Over the past 18 months, the sisters have built a lot more cohesion between their verticals, and sharpened their thinking of putting the consumer at the centre. They have also built better modalities of planning and communication, leading to better team work. “An area of deep focus for me was to prioritise engines of growth that would propel our enterprise over the next five years, and provide a platform and funding for those growth areas. We can already see the results of that focus and investment beginning to pay off,” says Suneeta.

Indeed. Apollo, which began as a single hospital in Chennai in 1989, now straddles a wide gamut of healthcare services including 71 hospitals, over 5,400 pharmacy stores and 250 primary healthcare centres across India; and Apollo Health & Lifestyle Limited (AHLL) that is into multi-speciality clinics and diagnostics, among other things. Managed deftly by the sisters, Apollo’s results are testimony to the growth being witnessed across multiple fronts. In Q3FY23, consolidated revenues of the healthcare services division increased 9 per cent year-on-year; revenues of existing hospitals grew 9 per cent and new hospitals, 8 per cent; healthcare services saw 10 per cent YoY growth; AHLL grew 9 per cent YoY; and digital health and pharmacy distribution revenues grew 34 per cent YoY. In FY22, on a consolidated basis, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise’s revenue stood at Rs 14,662.6 crore, a growth of 39 per cent over FY20-21. And net profit grew 602 per cent to Rs 1,055 crore in FY22 from a year ago.

Going ahead, the sisters see several strong growth areas. “Primary care, diagnostics, secondary and tertiary care, all of them linked and enabled through an integrated digital platform, will provide the basis of our next phase of growth, says Suneeta. This integrated digital platform—Apollo 24/7—is being steered by Shobana Kamineni, 62, who also helms Apollo Pharmacy, the pan-India pharmacy chain. Like other working women, Shobana, Executive Vice Chairperson of Apollo, too had to figure out her priorities at critical moments. Prathap Reddy’s third daughter recalls that at times, even showing up for a meeting was a challenge while wanting to be a great wife and parent to three kids. “Fortunately, we all build coping mechanisms... sisters, supportive parents, in-laws, spouses, and even girlfriends... I had all of them to help me make it through the years. I’m very grateful for this,” she says.

Shobana finds it exciting and fun working with people who are her children’s age. During the Covid-19 pandemic, when the healthcare sector was worst affected, Apollo opened its 5,000th pharmacy. Apollo 24/7, which she looks after, continues to grow and deliver results. “Helming a digital business in e-commerce, I have seen a cycle of crazy top line euphoria and valuations pivot to profitable and sustainable growth within three years. Thankfully, my old school training refused to allow us to build a business that wasn’t fundamentally sound. So, apart from building a good business, we are making healthcare more ubiquitous and affordable. It’s an exciting time for Apollo,” says Shobana.

The youngest sister, Sangita, 60, Joint MD of Apollo Hospitals, heads Apollo Philanthropy, and one of her initiatives has been “Apollo Reach”, which aims to build a string of secondary care hospitals in rural areas across India. Under her leadership, Apollo Telehealth established a telemedicine centre in 2000 at a challenging altitude of 4,300 metres in Aragonda, Andhra Pradesh. Sangita is also Chairperson of Apollo Knowledge, an education initiative focussed on developing human capital in healthcare for tomorrow. Over the past year, three things have been significant for Sangita. First, the efficient and effective bouncing back to normalcy of the organisation in hospitals and clinics post Covid-19. Second, the significant growth in the company’s diagnostic laboratory business Apollo Diagnostics, which grew by 32 per cent in the non-Covid-19 category. And third, on February 5, she launched an AI-enabled medical prompt to assist doctors in making the most appropriate prognosis for a patient.

This AI-ML engine uses the latest tech and a large number of Apollo patient journeys as well as curated information from 17 medical journals. “The important point here is that this clinical intelligence engine has been gifted to all our doctors across the country in our efforts to help raise the standard of healthcare in India. This is a turning point in my career,” says Sangita. From being the CEO of Apollo Hospitals Chennai to Apollo Hospitals Hyderabad to starting the country’s first third-party administrator or TPA in Family Healthcare Private Ltd (FHPL), to launching the group’s IT company Apollo Health Street to becoming Executive Director in the hospital business to Joint MD, each role has only reinforced her deep passion for healthcare.

For the Apollo siblings, there has to be focus, speed, and precision. They see purpose and substance inherent in their work. “It comes from recognising that here, more than in any other sector, we can never make a mistake, because a life may be at stake,” says Suneeta.

Wise words, indeed.

@neetu_csharma