Envisage Dental: 10 years on, we speak to Acquisitions Director, Jon Toh, about how this group has quietly built a formidable reputation.
Envisage Dental is a very quiet brand, tell us more about the history and how it started?
Envisage was the brainchild of Harry Gill and Dr Sandy Dau, who are a husband-and-wife team, back in 2014. They have always been very inward facing with 100% of their energy going into creating one of the best Healthcare companies in the world. For this reason, they are relatively low-key within the industry as they spend all their time with their teams and clinics. Over the last 10 years, they have quietly built a dental group of sheer excellence backed up by a 97% engagement score from the 1,000 + colleagues across the group as well as becoming the first nationwide dental group to achieve B Corp Certification.
Our founders are here for the long term too, and you can really feel that passion and care across everything they do. Good enough just isn’t enough at Envisage. We really believe in creating a company of the future where clinics can feel empowered, supported and understood in a group setting; something rare in our industry. With Sandy being clinically-led it means that the needs of our practices are represented at every level across our teams, meaning high-quality patient care is never sacrificed for extra profits or a ‘one-size fits all’ model. Harry is our visionary and keeps the entire company pointing to our north star, we have two formidable (and very humble) founders in charge and we are lucky to have them at Envisage.
With so many groups out there, what is unique about Envisage?
From day one the founders were clear on operating within the private space only and had a deep understanding of private dentistry. This has meant they are alive to the fact that each clinic is highly local, unique and has a powerful DNA that needs nurturing and supporting. Our culture means we have a community of like-minded principals and teams – everyone feels a sense of belonging. We know what administrative burdens to take away from practices and what support is needed to help high-performing teams thrive. What’s more impressive is is focus has remained, and this philosophy is engrained within us no matter how big we may become in the future.
What drives the culture and team at Envisage Dental?
We are all aligned to our purpose of using business as a force for good as well as our mission to create one of the best healthcare companies in the world. This means at the heart of everything we do are our colleagues and the high-quality care we deliver to our patients. Our broad mission also means we look at other sectors within healthcare to bring the best talent and ideas together in order to support our clinics as they want to be supported; without the red tape and bureaucracy and with real collaborative conversations. We really want to set the benchmark for how a dental group should operate in today’s landscape – we believe we are carving out a blueprint for how group dentistry should operate.
What kind of clinics join Envisage Dental?
We really believe in buying high-quality clinics as our starting block. This also means the local brand and way of doing things is very important to sellers, and us. Our strict criteria is why our growth over the last 10 years has been much slower than the other groups, but also why our engagement with teams is super high – we have real alignment. Our clinics are mainly private (some have very small NHS contracts), have 4 + chairs along with a large team to deliver the best patient care possible. The Principal is also very important to both us and the seller given we see this as a partnership, and we must be fully aligned on how we will run the clinic together post-sale.
What does life look like when clinics join Envisage?
away all the administrative headaches so the team can focus more on patient care. We then sit down with the Principal to come up with a 3-to-5-year plan to evolve the clinic to the next level, harnessing all their strengths and supporting in their weaknesses. It's highly collaborative and very local – our clinics remain empowered whilst we offer all the support they need.
If we spoke to principals in the group, what would they say?
We really spend time getting to know the clinics in due diligence and the first 90 days of joining, as well as explaining our philosophy in detail. Everyone is aligned and this is underpinned by a team of support experts who just “get it”. They understand private dentistry as deeply as our principals do, so the conversations are always meaningful and on point.
Like what you hear? Join us in redefining group dentistry.
Envisage Dental is an award-winning group and actively seeking out other high-quality clinics that align with our values and mission. As one of UK's fastest-growing privately focused dental groups, we would love to hear from you if you feel you have a high-quality clinic that needs the right home for its future success. Speak to Jon Toh at jon@envisage-dental.co.uk for a confidential and friendly conversation with no obligation.