Isabirye started her dental clinic during maternity leave
What you need to know:
Deborah Isabirye, a dental surgeon started a dental clinic in Kisaasi after identifying the gaps in the neighbouring suburbs. She explains how she started and her growth plans.
It is rare to take a decisive step to start out on your own during maternity leave. Deborah Isabirye set up a dental clinic in 2018 after she was not remunerated at her former workplace during maternity leave. This pushed her to think out of the box.
With five years of dental experience, she shared the idea with her husband who embraced and implemented it after a survey.
“We did a survey in surrounding places of Kyanja, Kyebando and Kisaasi, and how far it is from my residence. We also researched on the availability of dental clinics in Kisaasi. I looked at their kind of work and how they handle patients. In fact, I went as a patient to many of them and realised the gaps which I vowed to offer. Keeping in mind, I wanted an upmarket kind of client.”
Getting started
She did not have the resources to start with since dentistry is a capital intensive venture. Her former lecturer, dealing in the same business offered to give her resources on credit. Isabirye topped up rent and other miscellaneous costs which all summed up to Shs50m for the start.
“For the last two years, it has been a journey of faith. We put up signage before we officially opened so that people become familiar with the place. We also activated social media accounts prior to the business opening. However, the calls were already coming in so we were prompted to start earlier,” Isabirye recalls.
Her first clients were from social media; Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Her husband still pushes for social media marketing since she is equally engaged at work. She adds, normally I post a good unique and attractive case, take a good photo or video, talk about it and boost it because we know it will be useful to someone out there. We spent between $30 to $50 to boost Facebook posts a week.
Other clients come through walk-ins and referrals.
Isabirye keeps in touch with clients by making calls after the service to find out their welfare and if they are taking medication.
“We ask for feedback about the service; how we can do better? If we know we cannot handle something, we refer to it however much it is juicy,” Isabirye says.
Her marketing strategy also involves offering 20 per cent discounts on a week prior and after special days such as Christmas or Easter. These offers include free cleaning to people who are already doing procedures with them, extra treatments and 100 per cent on free consultations. Also discounts on big jobs like bridges, crowns, braces.
“We don’t over charge dental braces during the peak seasons. This is intended to motivate our clients to associate with us and get us more referrals,” Isabirye says.
The peak seasons in the dental fraternity are December and January, also the start of the financial year, July /August. These serious dental procedures are more luxurious than normally administered when people have money to spend on such procedures.
In December, parents bring their children for dental braces because most of them plan during the third term holiday. Since there is a need for reviews in the first months.
Like the saying, ‘When life gives you lemons, make lemonade,’’ is a reflection of what Isabirye went through. Tthe Covid-19 crisis controlled movement of staff while Isabirye still had a new born baby to attend to. This did not stop her from coming to work on emergency cases whenever called upon as the husband kept the baby at work. During the crisis, residents in Kisaasi and Ntinda got familiar with the clinic since those who had dentists in the city centre could not access them. So they checked in and became their clients.
Also the numbers were few but they managed to expand the clinic to three rooms from two in the post Covid era. Currently, the business is worth Shs150million.
The dental surgeon at Kayunga Hospital advises other dentists to first undertake a hands-on training. There might be that urgency to start but how are you starting?
“Start small, know what you want, embed it with a vision and zeal, then go for it,” Isabirye advises
Since the hospital is under renovation, she is able to balance her time with morning hours at the hospital and afternoon at the clinic.
In this kind of business, a good day could be one patient a week or in one day one who will pay a lump sum between Shs2million and Shs5 million for big jobs. A bad day is when no one has shown up and one has to dig deep into their pockets to meet the staffs’ meals who are three.
Currently, her greatest sacrifice is insuring the business, which is costly yet they have not reached where they want to be. But it is somewhere on her to-do list. She now hopes to increase staff so that the clients don’t wait long.
Overtime, Isabirye has learnt to treat the patient as the boss. “However much they are in the wrong, they are the bosses. Human relations is key in business. Once you build your brand, it takes you places and brings the people you least expect however small.”
She hopes to enroll for a financial management course to operate the business better.
The clinical services cost 20,000 for consultation fees while dental braces range from Shs4.5 million to Shs6 million . They offer simple dental surgeries, replacement, conservation, orthodontics, dental restoration crowning, and dentures, rebuilding the broken and other services.
The limitations are inevitable and part of the learning journey. The mother of two admits that some patients default payments so they come due to pain. Once they are relieved of pain, either they don’t complete treatment or payment.
“We dream big but are limited by finances. I want a bigger machine like an OPG, bigger x-ray machine for the dental,” Isabirye tells of the challenges and prospects of the business.
The loophole in the industry is that most clinics are after profits rather than service delivery.
“I have interacted with top performing clinics in one way or the other as a trainee, employee or patient to get ideas.”
Isabirye attributes her success to believing in herself, processes, strong Christian values and having a supportive partner.
“Our clinic values professionalism, time management, integrity and confidentiality. I keep my word on time. In a relaxed Godly environment, they mind about the quality of services from the reception to the dentist. It is a good attitude to calm someone faced with a lot of pain or stress due to dental issues,” she says.
“We hope to have permanent premises for the clinic which can be transformed into a dental hospital housing other medical departments,” Isabirye peers into the future.
He says
Research
“We did a survey in surrounding places of Kyanja, Kyebando and Kisaasi, and how far it is from my residence and also searched on the availability of dental clinics in Kisaasi. I looked at their kind of work and how they handle patients. In fact, I went as a patient and realised the gaps which I vowed to offer. Keeping in mind, I wanted an upmarket kind of client, Deborah Isabirye says.