In partnership with TMTC (The Medical Travel Company), join us for an exclusive Audience with Dr Vijay Patel OBE — founder of Waymade Capital and one of the UK’s most accomplished British-Asian business leaders. A serial entrepreneur, investor, philanthropist, and long-term business builder, Dr Patel has spent more than four decades shaping and transforming the healthcare and pharmaceutical landscape.
Born in Kenya to Indian parents, Dr Patel came to the United Kingdom and qualified as a Pharmacist from De Montford University and began his career with a single retail pharmacy in Leigh on Sea. Over the next 40 years, he transformed that modest foundation into a global healthcare and investment enterprise, driven by disciplined execution, operational excellence, and a long-term approach to value creation.
He went on to build Waymade Healthcare into a major pharmaceutical distribution and manufacturing business supplying medicines across the UK healthcare system and international markets. He later founded Amdipharm, a global specialty pharmaceuticals company whose portfolio was distributed in more than 100 countries worldwide.
In 2012, Amdipharm was sold in a transaction valued at approximately £370 million — a defining milestone in his entrepreneurial journey. Subsequent industry transactions involving the wider group reached valuations exceeding £2 billion, cementing his reputation as one of the UK’s most successful healthcare entrepreneurs. Over the years, his personal wealth has been reported in the national rich lists at over £1billion, reflecting decades of sustained business building and strategic investment.
Today, through Waymade Capital, Dr Patel oversees a diversified portfolio spanning healthcare, life sciences, property, private equity and VC. His focus has evolved from hands-on operator to long-term steward of capital, shaping businesses with durable impact and strategic value.
Alongside his commercial successes, Dr. Patel is widely respected for his extensive philanthropic work. Through his charitable organisation, The Shanta Foundation, named in honour of his mother, he has championed and continues to support numerous healthcare and education initiatives. Among these is a £1 million contribution to De Montfort University, which helped fund the Vijay Patel Building, now a central part of the university’s main creative hub. In recognition of his outstanding contributions to both business and philanthropy, Dr. Patel has received numerous accolades, including an honorary doctorates from Anglia Ruskin University and De Montford University.
In this intimate conversation, Dr Patel will share the principles that have shaped his remarkable journey — from identifying opportunity and managing risk to scaling complex organisations, navigating economic cycles, and transitioning from entrepreneur to institutional-grade investor.
More importantly, he will reflect on the deeper lessons behind sustained success: the discipline required to think long-term in a short-term world; the resilience needed to build from modest beginnings; and the responsibility that comes with creating lasting, meaningful impact beyond commercial achievement.
Members can expect an inspiring discussion on ambition, stewardship, and the mindset required not only to build wealth, but to create an enduring legacy.
