Becoming a Creative Retail Doctorpreneur from Scratch

Disrupting Doctors Careers - 7th May 2023

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“It is not easy but it is a wonderful feeling when you are at that point where you can say you have all the resources and you own a business.”

Dr. Catherine Fernando

Hi ✋,

Building a successful retail business as a doctorpreneur from scratch is no easy feat. It takes a lot of hard work, dedication, and resilience to turn your vision into a successful business.

In this episode of Disrupting Doctors Career podcast, Dr Catherine Fernando, founder of Iyasu Bags, shares her journey, triumph over cancer, resilience, and inspiration in building her business from scratch in retail as a GP and a mum juggling life and everything that comes with it. She also shares the strategies on how you can become a successful creative retail doctorpreneur from scratch, from the challenges to the pitfalls you should avoid when building your business.

In this episode, Abeyna and Catherine discuss:

🛌 How Catherine overcame a diagnosis of Hodgkin's Lymphoma as a junior doctor

🤸 How this experience eventually helped build up the resilience and tenacity needed to become a doctorpreneur

👜 Steps she took to design a bag from scratch and without a fashion degree

🏹 The sacrifices she made professionally and personally while building her business including quitting her job and homeschooling 4 children

♟️Advice she has for budding retail doctorpreneurs

👩‍💻 Featured Opportunity

Work with the world’s BIGGEST telehealth provider

They’re about to open their doors to GPs who LOVE to work with GREAT tech and want to be at the forefront of innovation in telemedicine.

🎙️ This Week's New MF Premium Content

Abeyna has been busy podcasting with lots of inspiring doctors in the last few weeks.

All of these will be published as podcasts sometime in the coming months. But MF Premium members get access to it as soon as! Check these out!

Abeyna and Dr. Khadija Owusu on the “Growing a Global Brand & Influence as a Doctor” podcast

If you are an MF Premium Member or Doctors in Industry Incubator Fellow, login and check it out.

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Warm Wishes,

Dr. Ola van Steen

Chief Growth Officer @Medic Footprints
Consultant in Intensive Care and Acute Medicine