Dentistry, healthcare and engineering are some of the most common professions in India. But the former has a long way to go in developing markets. Ahmer wanted to bring his skills to the UK. It was a path that would lead him to working for the National Health Service (NHS), treating patients at hospitals across England and Scotland for the next seven years.
“I trained in India but came to UK because dentistry still has a long way to go in emerging markets,” he says. “I’m not discounting dentists back home, but I wanted to see how the profession has evolved in the western world.”
In the UK, the NHS subsidises dentistry and the system has more structure. Ahmer says that compared to Britain, the healthcare system in India is “almost non-functional”. The economy in India is slowing down, and the expected growth this year is not enough to create the salaried jobs needed for the country's growing workforce.
The UK was a route to greater opportunity - one that Ahmer took, leading a long and successful career in the healthcare sector.
After joining the Dundas Dental Practice based in London and Grangemouth, where he led a research project for dental procedures within NHS Scotland and England, he developed and implemented various clinical protocols for management of skin cancers, HIV disease and wisdom tooth extractions.
While the NHS may be shrouded by controversy in Britain, with horror stories of patient care emerging on an almost daily basis in the press, it is a hugely valued service - and one that has given Ahmer a prosperous career in the UK.
Ahmer was always a risk taker, but it was his father than convinced him to take a “safe” career path such as dentistry. “But when you grow up with the background I had, you have to be realistic with the kind of risks you take,” he continued.
“We had a view in our family that if you go into an engineering, medical or dentistry profession, you are safe. I had the risk appetite but I chose to listen to my dad.”
In retrospect, it was a clever decision. For Ahmer is both an oral surgeon and an entrepreneur. He chose to specialize in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, helping to treat cancer patients and other diseases in the head and neck region.
But while he has had a long and distinguished career in healthcare, traits of his business acumen can be seen at his work in hospitals across the UK. Last year he successfully led a £500,000 expansion plan while working as a business adviser at a dental practice in Scotland. For Amher, it was either diversify or study a long medical degree in the hope of advancing his career.
“To go all the way you have to do a medical degree,” he explained. “I enjoyed my work but then I thought, do I really want to invest another four or five years of my life studying?”
The decision was clear. He has since taken on the challenge of a full-time MBA at Cranfield School of Management, giving him an education needed to reach the top, but in a quick twelve-month period. Ahmer was inspired by a mentor, whom he cannot name, to try his steady hand at business leadership.
His mentor has been trying to tempt him into investment banking in the UK for the past few years - one of the most popular MBA Jobs - and Ahmer admits it is a route he is considering taking.
But he wanted to study an MBA first - and Cranfield fit the bill. With an average age of 31 and seven year’s worrk experience, this MBA program provides the experienced cohort that Ahmer craves. It’s been hugely beneficial to study a general-business program, he says, to help him switch careers and take advantage of new opportunities.
87 per cent of Cranfield MBA graduates are employed within three months of graduation, and average salaries are increased by up to 88 per cent. Ahmer wants to use his diverse background to his advantage. He is an Officer of the Cranfield SoM Management Consulting Club and sees that function as a possible career path.
“If I use my healthcare experience in a different area, it will have a benefit there,” he says. “I’m not looking straight at investment banking, but looking at how business is here in the UK, in general. It’s very exciting for me.
“When you come from a diverse background you have an open mind. You can explore everything and take your pick. I don’t want to go back into dentistry as a frontline healthcare worker, but I can go back into healthcare as a management consultant, or into the pharmaceutical industry.
“My first option would be go into a consultancy firm which works in the healthcare sector, but my second option is investment banking at a company which looks after money in the private healthcare sector.”
An MBA opens many doors and career paths, and a few months in at Cranfield, and Ahmer already has many more strings to his bow.
Even those from the most diverse of backgrounds can prosper after an MBA in the UK.
“I know these are very big dreams, but I have to aim high because of my career background,” he says.
“I have to dream big. I have to be ambitious.”
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