Ndlovu: The clock ticks!
By Charles Corbett, Sarang Deo, Hugo Tempelman, Mariette Slabbert
Oikos Foundation | 2010
DOI
oikos-international.org/publications/ndlovu-the-clock-ticks/
Citation
Corbett, Charles., Deo, Sarang., Tempelman, Hugo., Slabbert, Mariette. Ndlovu: The clock ticks! Oikos Foundation oikos-international.org/publications/ndlovu-the-clock-ticks/.
Copyright
Oikos Foundation, 2010
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Abstract
This case discusses the situation at Ndlovu Care Group (NCG) in July 2008. The group, founded by Dutch social entrepreneur Dr Hugo Tempelman, has been running a very successful health care facility – Ndlovu Medical Center (NMC) – in the township of Elandsdoorn in rural South Africa. The case discusses NCG’s plans to expand that success to other locations in the country. At the time of the case, Dr Tempelman had just received a major grant from the Dutch embassy in South Africa to fund his expansion plans. This provides a perfect opportunity to discuss questions about how to replicate an intricate organization that has taken some 15 years to build, and whether that is even possible; what management structure is needed to oversee that replication; what risks are involved and how they might be mitigated. The need to balance increased professionalization with maintaining the founder’s passion runs as a thread through the case.

Sarang Deo is a Professor of Operations Management at the Indian School of Business (ISB). He also serves as the Executive Director of the ISB’s Max Institute of Healthcare Management, where he provides strategic leadership for ISB's healthcare initiatives through interdisciplinary research, education, and collaboration.

Professor Deo's research focuses on healthcare delivery systems, examining how operational decisions influence population-level health outcomes. His work spans a wide range of healthcare contexts, including influenza vaccine supply chains and ambulance diversion in the United States, HIV early infant diagnosis networks in sub-Saharan Africa, and formal and informal pathways for tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis and treatment in India. His recent research has focused on designing and evaluating healthcare delivery models, with a particular emphasis on digital health and the integration of artificial intelligence into healthcare systems.

He regularly collaborates with leading global health organisations, including the Gates Foundation, the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), and PATH. He currently serves on the World Health Organization's Strategic and Technical Advisory Group for Tuberculosis (STAG-TB) and the Working Group for Non-Technical Evaluation under the WHO Global Initiative on AI for Health (GI-AI4H).

Prior to joining ISB, Professor Deo was an Assistant Professor at the Kellogg School of Management. He holds a PhD from the UCLA Anderson School of Management, an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, and a BTech from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. Before entering academia, he worked as a management consultant with Accenture.

Professor Sarang Deo
Sarang Deo