David Reynolds

Vijay and Bhikhu Patel, who together founded Waymade Plc, have seen it grow from a single chemist’s shop in Essex into a pharmaceuticals company with a turnover in excess of £300m at its peak. Vijay arrived in Britain from Kenya at the age of 16 with a fierce determination to succeed in life. After graduating from the College of Pharmacy in Leicester, in 1975 Vijay opened his first pharmacy in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. By paying close attention to the needs of residents the business took off and this in turn fuelled growth of a chain of chemist shops. By 1982 he owned six shops and sales had doubled. Later the company expanded into buying and supplying medicines for its own chain as well as hospitals and wholesalers. Bhikhu, an architect by training, joined the company at this stage to give much needed help to the greatly increased workload generated by such rapid growth. In 1984 Vijay and Bhikhu founded Waymade Healthcare. In 2003, a separate international pharmaceutical company, Amdipharm was established. The company acquired rights to sell products throughout Europe, the Middle and Far East, Australia, New Zealand and Latin America and their products sold in more than 100 countries. In October 2012, Amdipharm was acquired by a Private Equity Group which has successfully continued to expand its operation. Vijay and Bhikhu still maintain some interest in the expanded group. A Family Office (Waymade Capital) has been established to oversee all investments, spread across various asset classes, but the core activity remains in the pharmaceutical and real estate space. Waymade Plc deals in the licensing, sale and marketing of generic pharmaceutical products under Sovereign Pharmaceutical brand to retail pharmacies, hospitals and wholesalers. A new Company, Atnahs, formed in November 2013, manages in-licensing and the sale of branded pharmaceuticals in 27 countries. The group has ambitious plans to expand their product range and the territories in which they operate.