Ranjna Patel and her husband broke with convention as they built a large, successful healthcare network. What they did with the millions they made broke the mould, too.
A roof over your head, food on the table, and a car to get around is multimillionaire Ranjna Patel's definition of wealth.
"It becomes ridiculous if you have more. You've got to know when you've got enough."
Patel and her doctor husband Kantilal could certainly afford a lot more. The couple founded Tāmaki Health, starting with a single clinic in Ōtara in 1977, building it into the largest independent primary health care provider in the country.
Patel has collected a host of business awards and accolades along the way.
The Patels sold their last remaining stake in the business in 2022, leaving them to focus on their community work, which includes a Hindu temple they built in Papatoetoe and a successful family harm prevention programme, Gandhi Nivas.
She spoke with RNZ as part of a special series RICH: The meaning of wealth in Aotearoa.
Ranjna Patel speaks with RNZ's Anusha Bradely at the Shree Swaminarayan Temple Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Patel is reluctant to say exactly how much money the couple have donated but estimates it's "about 40 percent" of their wealth. For the third-generation New Zealander, it's a no brainer.
"The Eastern way is, the more you give, the more will come back to you. And I think that's worked for us.
"Giving back is your greatest strength. After 60, I thought 'what more do I need?' Now, nearly 70 I feel, well, how many more years do you have? What good can you do? What difference can you make?
"This temple is a beautiful breeding ground for the amazing things we do."
Bargain fruit box customers count just the same
Ranjna Patel learnt her business skills serving customers in her family's Herne Bay fruit shop.
"After school our job was to be in the shop, and we learned very quickly you had to be very customer focused because in those days people didn't touch anything in the shop. You put it in a bag for them.
"If someone wanted a pound of peaches, you gave them good quality ones because if they were bruised they'd be bringing them back, or they won't come back."
It's there she learned the value of money as well as the importance of not judging her customers.
With shops closing at midday on Saturdays back then, boxes of produce about to go off would be made up for cheap.
"At 11:30, there would be 10 families that would come. That's how we learned about money.
"We never discussed money, but we were always talking about the customer and how you did good service. And those people that came at 11:30am we never judged them. We knew they could not afford it or they had large families, so don't judge people in their circumstances.
"In health, it was the same," she says.
The dot matrix printer
The Patel's first clinic in Ōtara served a lot of low-income families, forcing them to do things differently.
"The mainstream would say they don't care about their health because they don't turn up to appointments. But they don't realise they have no phone, only one car, the husband's gone to work and the mum's got three children and there's no way she can keep an appointment if it starts raining.
"We had to be patient focused."
Ranjna and husband Kantilal Photo: RNZ / Lynda Chanwai-Earle
Back then, most GP clinics were open from 9am till 3pm, she explains.
"We opened from eight o'clock to 6pm which suited the people in our community, so they came to us."
They hired locums to cope with the extra patients, which again, wasn't the done thing unless a doctor was going on holiday, she says.
"But my husband said 'we're not turning anyone away' and so our obstacle became our opportunity."
The practice grew and they acquired more, eventually building it into a chain of nearly 50 clinics, but the focus on customer service never changed, says Patel.
"We realised our families were very transient during the school holidays so we installed computers in 1984 - the cost of a house, $40,000, back then. And we had to install air conditioning for the dot matrix printer," she laughs.
"But that database was so important as our patients could go to any of the clinics and be seen. Access was our main priority."
That meant offering low cost, sometimes free, healthcare to those who needed it. They never chased unpaid bills because "you can't get blood out of a stone." Most could return on pay day to settle their bills, she says, but it wasn't important.
"Providing access to a community that needs it is our strength."
The move paid off.
"Three, four generations would come to us. We've had staff that have had two or three generations working for us. That loyalty was incredible because they could see we were working for the community. The only marketing budget we had for 40 years was word of mouth."
What counts as wealthy?
Sitting in the main hall of the Shree Swaminarayan Temple surrounded by intricately carved deities, Ranjna Patel explains why she believes the wealthy should give back to society.
"You can build an empire of millions and billions but what are you going to do with them?"
The temple site, a former Samoan church, was acquired in 2008. The Patels also funded the construction of a brand new community centre and event complex next door in 2021. Master carvers from India spent a year installing hand carved wooden panels throughout.
The Shree Swaminarayan Temple, in Papatoetoe Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
The temple is open daily for prayers as well as hosting events, weddings and support groups for the local community. The commercial kitchen - where Patel can often be found peeling potatoes or washing dishes - feeds around 800 people each Sunday.
Most of the people who walk through its doors don't know about her wealth, nor do they care, she says.
"I'm just one of the people here. The temple is very grounding for me.
"Wealth isn't going to buy you happiness, but giving joy to other people, making a difference, changing the landscape of social determinants we have at the moment, should give everyone joy."
Patel considers herself to be a wealthy person, but admits she struggles with the definition of wealth as most may perceive it.
"If you can find something you are passionate about, you will be a very wealthy person. And the biggest thing that people give is time, which is a very valuable commodity.
"What you consider wealth in the business world, and what you consider wealth in the community world are two different things. A community is when you are there for people, you are there to help. That makes you wealthy.
"In the business world, it's the dollars. It's very very different and sometimes both will never meet."
* This story is part of a special RNZ series, RICH: The meaning of wealth in Aotearoa. Over several days, feature interviews by Corin Dann and Anusha Bradley with a diverse range of wealthy and powerful New Zealanders examine attitudes to wealth, ideas for making us a richer country and what to do with money when you have plenty of it.
