Meet Dr Thomas Nechupadam, a tireless entrepreneur who has taken several leaps into numerous business and has become an icon among the top businessmen in Kerala.
“I have a heart of a farmer,” says Thomas Nechupadam while he conversed with me at his posh Dentistry studio at Marine drive that faces the backwaters. At the centre stood a picture of a world map where his patients have the option to scratch to reveal their origin-country. Over 45 countries have been revealed in the map. As I looked around at the stunningly decorated interiors, a robotic machine begins moving around in the other corner of the room, cleaning the floor. Dr Thomas smiles at me, switches it off with a command, and resumes our chat.
SEEING OPPORTUNITY EVERYWHERE
“As an entrepreneur, it is important to keep track of market disrupters,” he says. As for Thomas, his eyes don’t negate anything new that arrives in the market. Instead, he absorbs it, understands it and if need be tailor makes it suit his need. These philosophies of entrepreneurship reflect in his personality as well as the space he works from. At his dental studio stood a unique-looking box that held within it his 55-inch computer touchscreen.
“I found this design at Singapore airport. I got to know that it was not available in the market. So I put together a workforce and got it made,” he chuckles as I looked at the stylish structure. Look at the possibilities, He adds. “Now I can explain most dental procedures and methods with technology and simplicity and many peers now want me to build the same for them,” says he, as he smiled from his ear to ear.
For Thomas Nechupadam, entrepreneurship is not just the means to make money. For him, it is, more importantly, a journey of eternal learning. When he began to assist his father in dentistry at the studio, he hardly knew people in Business other than his uncles and cousins. Soon he got connected to like-minded individuals through business bodies like Chamber of commerce, CII, Yi, Kerala management association, FIEO and BNI among others. He was at one time one of the youngest Director of Kerala Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
“I was in awe by the entrepreneurship spirit during the nineties. Though I was successfully making enough money as a cosmetic dentist, the skills of businessmen enamoured me. It instilled in me the spirit to venture out,” he gleamed.
Business was not new for the Nechupadam family. An aristocratic family, well known to be in the construction business for over 100 years, owners of some of the prime industries as well as hotels, It was his father Dr K T Paulose Nechupadam who slightly deviated to become a dentist in 1965 and then the first full time private practising Orthodontist of Kerala in 1976. The trend was followed by all his four children including Thomas. Today more than 10 members of the family are dentists, yet the entrepreneurship gene stayed deep-rooted in him.
VARIOUS VENTURES
Metanoeo, a 360-degree grooming company, was one among the first ventures he had started. The name Metanoeo comes from two Greek words Meta and Noeo. Meta means change and Noeo is Knowledge. The word then essentially means the change that happens after you acquire knowledge. The venture became the official personality groomers for beauty pageants like Miss South India and Miss Queen of India among many others. He was also the groomer for the International Fashion fest and Mr and Miss Body perfect. Metanoeo also specializes in corporate grooming and also does training for students in professional colleges.
“My business venture was never a hop from success to success. I have burnt my fingers, and lost capital in many,” he says. He tried his luck in stock market trading as well as mutual funds which didn’t do good for him. “It somehow didn’t work for me. In the field of entrepreneurship, the so-called worst times are the best time for few people,” he says, “I have seen really smart people making money even when stock market comes crashing.”
Later, he set up Nechupadam Dairy Farms Pvt Ltd, with a vision of clean milk. After a few years, that also slumped down in time. While venturing into all his new business, Thomas Nechupadam ensured that his core skill – ie Dentistry is making a formidable growth parallelly.
Many years later he invested in India middle East broadcasting Corporations along with some masterminds of multi-crore businesses in Kerala which envisaged a News channel for the Good News and business The TV NEW which went down within a year facing the wrath against disruption. He says that the main advantage of this venture for him was that he could interact and understand from the stalwarts and pioneers of some great companies up-close as they were in the investors' group. He also tried his hands in buying off companies and liquidating its assets. It was during this time the market witnessed a crash. Even this business became inert.
Despite facing so many obstacles Thomas didn’t lose his faith. “ I kept on leaping. I will always do the same until I learn to leap,” he muses.
To boost his network and connection with society, Thomas set up an event management company called The Seven's consultants Pvt Ltd. The company fared very well for a few years. It conducted some of the most renowned events of the time. But soon, the Kerala market saw a sudden rise in event management companies.
EYEING THE SKY. SERVING THE SOCIETY
Dr Thomas and his team of aviation experts in 2018 transformed the company into an aviation training company. With the support of the National Skills Development Corporation & National Institute of rural development (NIRD) Govt of India, he set up an aviation skilling unit. It began to provide free aviation skill training, the first company to do so India which equips the children of Kerala Kudumbasree members monitored and guided by Kerala government state Poverty Eradication Mission. The school provided training on various job roles in aviation including load control, cabin crew training, ticketing, as well as a customer service agent. Soon it will comprise most of the job roles in aviation.
Since 2005, he began to promote medical/ dental tourism in Kerala. He equipped and modernised the clinic with global standards in dentistry time to time by emulating what he could see from pioneers abroad while visiting them including state of the art dental planning and sterilisation protocols. The Dr Nechupadam Dental Clinic under his leadership had treated more than 25000 patients from over 45 countries and was acknowledged by Forbes India in 2011. He uses various technologies for online consultations and advises the patients across the globe in getting quality dental treatments.
“Each business venture that I undertook, though if you look close, seems like a loss-making entity but on a broader level, it has become fodder for my other businesses. The sheer amount of networking that I was able to do, helped me flourish in some of my ventures says, Dr Thomas.
At an International Medical Tourism award function, he met a co-awardee. On connecting with him, Thomas forged an alliance with him to start an aviation leasing and charting company.
“When I met him, he revealed he was a pilot and owned a fleet of flights and air ambulances. Soon we forged an alliance, and together we formed Butterfly Aviation Ltd based in the UK,” says Thomas with an ever-smiling vigor.
Soon, Thomas registered Butterfly aviation in India. Today, he is working on starting a full-fledged commercial airline company as well as a flying school based out of Kerala.
“This partnership bore me fruits immediately. With the partnership, the company is able to absorb all the students who studied in the aviation school,” he notes.
DEFINING ENTREPRENEURSHIP
For Thomas, the journey of entrepreneurship is like evolution. He says it is not just about investing in various portfolios or about making money, but it’s a constant discovery. Entrepreneurship always expands the possibilities of a human mind. “Had I just stuck to dentistry, I would have been limited myself,” says the dentist who has introduced the latest technology in dentistry like Invisalign, Clear aligners, Fastbraces, 3D printing 3D milling and other Global platforms for faster and better delivery of dental treatments.
He also uses social Media and international webinars to acquire & dissipate knowledge and valuable information to more than half a million viewers who have inspired and challenged him to be a video blogger too in platforms like Youtube, Facebook and Instagram
As India is fast changing, Thomas Nechupadam strongly believes that India will become an economic superpower due to the power of its workforce and its ever-increasing market size. As the nation is changing its dynamics, Thomas Nechupadam is keeping track of the latest innovations that are happening around. “ I am curious about many new technological advancements – especially blockchain and Social media which can impact millions and increase your customer reach. I am curious to know what is the next disruption in the market and catch the next wave to accelerate the journey,” he says.
When asked if this is not tiring, he replies that for people like him the change of work is rest. “Work is an elixir that makes me alert. I get my adrenaline from it,” It is my undeterred faith in Jesus Christ and His grace that keeps my smile as my permanent attire, along with the support of my wife Dr Nithia and my children Nissi, Nidhi and Noah that keeps the sails high, he concludes.
As I bid goodbye to him, I realised how the smile on his face never left him. Confidence oozed out of him. Here is one businessman who is ready to give his hundred percentages with a single-minded goal to play a diverse role that challenges him and at the same time bring joyous benefits to society.
Published in the first edition of Corporate Champions' supplement on January 28, 2019.
Link: http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/1999923/The-New-Indian-Express-Kochi/28012019#page/21/1
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