How was your experience like in dental school during the 1975?
Fantastic time 5 years from 1970-1975. It was one of best decision of my life. I stayed with a family with another medical student and we got along so well. I was the only student from Africa in my year and I made friends that lasted all these years. –I was even the class president in the final year!
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Where was your first job after you graduated?
It was luck, I was back in Kenya for a holiday and I thought that I would go back and work in England but when I got to Kenya, I was invited to a dinner and met 3 English dentists who needed a dentist to join their clinic and funnily enough, I interviewed to be a dentist at the practice and joined in 1976.
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What is your experience like, working in Kenya?
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No government subsides in dentistry and its all private so people are very loyal to their family dentist. I have been working at the oldest practice in Kenya for over 46 years. We were also the first clinic to do implants in Kenya.
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How do you find the market for dentistry in Kenya?
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There is quite a few and it is quite saturated.
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Currently, how would a young professional build their name in Kenya?
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Start off with a practice that is already established. It is very difficult to start up on your own. Work in an established practice and build your patient base- this often starts off with friends and family
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How long do you think you would need to work to get established?
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Saturation levels are quite high and with that, it would take at least 5 years to put your name out there- you need to produce the exceptional work to reap the benefits of word of mouth.
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Isn't it better just to open up a practice after gaining a couple years of experience?
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See the way it works is that if you are working for someone, you don't have any expenses and as an associate in Kenya, it works on a 50% basis. If you are an associate 50% of what you earn goes to the practice owner.
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Our clinic provides all types of dental treatments using the latest technology e.g. OPG, scanner, lab where we minimise the outsourcing of work. This is quite a heavy investment and because everything is imported, it is impossible to make that initial investment after only a couple of years.
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In today's world is it necessary to specialise?
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Yes, it is certainly beneficial. Our clinic does everything. I think Orthodontic is quite a good speciality to enter into.
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What is the biggest cost to dentistry in Kenya?
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Equipment and material- we import the material
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How did you come up with a pricing strategy?
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Charged what the practice before charged and now we go up and up- most of our charges are international charges
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How does marketing for dentistry work in Kenya?
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Mainly by name- Word of mouth- it is not like in England- cannot post ads in Kenya. People just go to who they know.