Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health and wellness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Nuno Silva, Co-Founder of Ferreira da Cunha Saúde, located in Lisboa, Portugal.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

FC Saúde was founded in 2019, and with the beginning of our activity marked by a global pandemic, our journey has been full of challenges, disappointments, and achievements. We survived and grew during these crazy times thanks to all our team hard work and dedication.

We are a company that provides clinical, wellness, and specialized home care services. Our biggest objective is to facilitate access to quality health care at home, so that our patients can treat, prevent, and optimize their health while maximizing their most valuable asset, time. No lines, no waiting room, no traffic; we take care of the whole family where they need.

To maximize our centralized clinical management approach, we work based on a methodology of interconnection of the different clinical and well-being specialties, their application in more effective treatments, all supported with a centralize clinical management and personalized follow-ups. Our goal is to target the needs of each individual, creating a true 360º around our users, with the ability to follow up at any stage of life, from pregnancy to 3rd age.

Tell us about yourself

I was raised in a small village just outside of Lisbon called Praia das Maçãs (Translates to Apple Beach), I love surf, music and traveling. Since I was younger, I always wanted to create a business of mine, so I went to business school to try and figure out the best way to do it.

I first started working on this business while I was working full-time at L'Óreal as a product manager at the time. I started to work on it mostly on the weekends, as I was working a full-time-job. It all started after a friend of mine, who is a doctor, told me about this idea of providing a complete set of complementary clinical and wellness services at home, with centralized clinical management, to maximize the effectiveness of treatments and health optimization. I thought it was a great idea, and Miguel (The doctor and founder of FC Saúde) at the time was working in a company that provides medical services at home, as a private doctor for some hotels and individuals, so he had - between other things - the understanding of the industry I was lacking, which made us a great team.

Although I didn't know anything about the health industry, I always wanted to do something that could have a good impact on people's lives. Improving the access and quality of health services at home really fit this desire of mine. Luckily Miguel and I share this passion and ethical values, which led us to team up and put our hands to work. We wanted to create a company that could set an example of transparency, trustworthiness, and added value for our customers. Three traits we believe to be extremely important, especially in this industry. We opened our services in October 2019, and in 2020, the pandemic started, exposing even more the fragilities and problems of the different health systems all over the world, which helped us confirm our theory that this type of company will be extremely important in the future. The other side of the coin, regarding our business development, was that all of our competitors accelerated their process of digitalization and started offering more services like ours, closing a little bit more the market gap we wanted to fill. There’s always room to grow, it just became more difficult.

During this crisis, we helped thousands of people that were desperate and in fear, since most health infrastructure was overcrowded, closed, or dangerous to go to. We adapted our whole business plan to the new reality, which was a lot of hard work. Fortunately, the necessity of these services, our team's bravery, professional capability, and ethic, plus the difference we made every day gave us the motivation we needed to just keep going.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

I think our biggest accomplishment is to have a great team that works well together, brings constant value, and helps us evolve every day. It's one of the biggest challenges every company faces. I believe a start-up has the best chance of succeeding if it is not dependent on one or two persons as fast as possible. As you grow, you need to make sure the company is running and is well managed even if you aren't there. There is nothing better than to have people that are smarter than you, helping you develop your business.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

The company culture is probably one of the hardest things to do. For example, how you overcome the stress and frustration that mistakes and problems create is a big part of a company's culture. When you are an inexperienced business owner like I was, you can feel deep in your heart every problem and mistake that occurs, and your team will feel that as well. As time goes by, it's important to create a balance between accountability and margin for mistakes. The team must be sharp and vigilant to avoid errors, but too much pressure causes a poor work environment and lowers productivity and employee retention. Also, margin for mistakes it’s the only way you have to make sure your team tries new stuff, which is essential to scale. Additionally, the time you spend looking for and hiring talent can be mitigated with good company culture and constant evolution. Your team capability to focus on the right priorities, adapt to the everchanging environment and overcome obstacles will dictate your success.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

I'm assuming here that the idea already exists, but my biggest advice would be:

  1. Find the right partner for your business. You will need help, someone that can compensate your weaknesses and have the same commitment as you. This will make the journey a little bit easier and less lonely.
  2. Get advice from experts in your industry. A mentor is always a great help to grow and learn faster; you will need to learn and grow as fast as you can. Network, make partnerships with other companies and don´t stop.
  3. Make sure everyone learns from their mistakes. It's not about humiliating anyone; it's about consolidating knowledge and keeping everyone up to date with dos and don'ts. For this to work, it's always better if the higher hierarchy starts by pointing out their mistakes and how they solved them or if it's possible to go around what happened without mentioning anyone or indirectly pointing out who made a mistake, that works as well. Talk in private, revise the problem and solution in public.

Remember that a company is only as good as its employees, treat and guide them well and they will give back more than you expect.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.fcsaude.pt/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ferreiradacunhasaude/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ferreiradacunha_saude/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ferreira-da-cunha-saude/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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