ecap Insights Podcast | Evercare × ecap Leadership Transformation Program Mini Series: Episode 1 – The Power of Local Talent in Healthcare Leadership
In many frontier and emerging markets, senior leadership positions are often filled by expatriates or external hires. But what if the real solution is developing talent from within? In this opening episode of the ecap × Evercare Mini-Series, we speak with Evercare’s Group CEO, Irfan Khan, about how investing in local leadership becomes a strategic and sustainable lever for growth, especially in healthcare.
“You can’t expect a good patient experience until your employees are having a good experience.”
Over the conversation, Khan outlines Evercare’s bold strategy: not just training leaders, but embedding them into local systems so that excellence is home-grown and long-lasting.
Why Local Leadership Matters
One of the most persistent challenges across markets such as Nigeria, Pakistan, and Kenya is talent drain. Skilled professionals often seek opportunities abroad, leaving gaps in leadership and continuity. Khan describes how Evercare’s programme aims to reverse this by creating clear growth pathways locally, so that talented individuals stay and thrive in their own context.
He emphasises:
“It’s not about bringing people back; it’s about preventing them from leaving.”
By cultivating skills in the local context, Evercare fosters leaders grounded in cultural understanding and networked deeply within communities.
Learning by Doing: Embedded Leadership Training
Theory alone won’t cut it. Khan stresses that Evercare’s approach is not a traditional “classroom and case study” model, but one embedded inside its hospitals. Leaders are mentored through real problems (clinical, operational, strategic) while still in situ. This approach allows immediate feedback loops and transforms training into actionable impact.
One participant’s growth in crisis management or staff engagement is not just academic—it becomes part of daily operations.
Coaching, Accountability & Ownership
A central thread in the episode is the shift from “teaching” to coaching. Khan argues that every participant already carries leadership potential what they need is space, guidance, and accountability to claim it. Through ongoing mentorship and performance support, they begin to see themselves as drivers of change within their organisation.
This approach builds confidence, resilience, and ownership, qualities essential for leading under ambiguity.
Ripple Effects Beyond Evercare
What’s remarkable about the model is its openness. Evercare does not seek to trap talent within its walls. On the contrary, the organisation admits that some participants may eventually move on but that only strengthens the broader health ecosystem. Even when leaders leave, the improved standards, practices, and mindset they carry with them create a positive ripple effect.
Khan likens it to building a talent pipeline across the industry rather than a captive system.
Linking Employee & Patient Experience
Khan underscores one core insight: excellent patient care is inseparable from employee experience. Staff who feel supported, developed, and heard are far more likely to deliver compassionate, high-quality care. This alignment between internal culture and external deliverables is key to Evercare’s strategy.
Scaling & The Road Ahead
Building on the leadership initiative’s early success, Evercare plans to expand into a full Evercare Academy offering not just leadership, but technical and clinical programmes as well. Graduates from early cohorts are already becoming trainers themselves, enabling a cascade model of development. Over the next three to five years, Khan expects thousands of health professionals to pass through the programme, creating systemic change.
Why This Moment, Why This Approach?
Asked whether the timing was deliberate, Khan is firm: there’s no right time, only urgency. Instead of outsourcing leadership development to legacy global institutions, Evercare and ecap co-designed a curriculum from the ground up, specifically for these markets. It isn’t imported. It’s homegrown.
Closing & Call to Reflection
In this opening dialogue, we see that leadership in emerging markets is not a gap to fill, it’s a frontier to pioneer. Evercare’s model offers an antidote to dependence: by cultivating agency, ownership, and excellence from within, it sets a roadmap for healthcare systems that can sustain themselves.
For investors, policy makers, and practitioners alike, the lesson is clear: real impact begins when local leaders are given agency, not oversight.
Listen to the full episode
🎧 The Power of Local Talent in Healthcare Leadership
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Stay tuned for more episodes where we explore leadership insights across energy, healthcare, finance, and beyond.
