His new job has taken him from Bangalore to Abu Dhabi. Muddle, who started his career in Australia as an F&B Supervisor in 1994, began his innings in healthcare by joining Amity Group in Sydney as Group Manager - Hospitality and then Apollo Hospitals, Dhaka as Director Operations. In 2006, he moved base to Bangalore.

"It was hard to leave India after two years, but the opportunity was too good to let go," he shares. Asked about what made him choose a fledgling company, he says, "It provided an opportunity to be part of something as it grows into something great. Apollo was already great when I joined, I like to think I added something to it during my time, but GMS has such a great opportunity to grow and be something special."

"Typically developed countries spend at least twice the proportion of their GDPs on health than has historically been the case in the GCC. However, this region is rapidly growing with an appetite for improvement of its health, education and other services to the standards enjoyed by residents of developed countries. The political will is definitely there to improve these services, which, combined with the capacity to pay and the increasing take up of private health insurance, means that this is the most exciting region in the world in which to be in the healthcare business,"he states.

In his current role, he enjoys being at the helm. "I am able to make policy and drive change and direction. I am working with the team at the grass roots level making and implementing business plans," he mentions. He does not forget to compare his role at Apollo. "There, I was working with established CEOs and COOs and helping them improve services and standards within the Apollo network. Here, I am part of the team building the network of healthcare centres and operations across a wide range of verticals - it is very exciting!" he exclaims.

He has already chalked out plan to take the company forward. "GMS is a relatively small, young and dynamic team, allowing us to have tremendous flexibility. We have worked on a documented business plan that is exciting and is attacking markets that currently sit within the 'blue ocean.' We are working with key strategic partners to take the vision forward and involving experts in certain areas of healthcare, construction, architecture, procurement and so on. We are bringing the best together to deliver great healthcare products and services," he reveals.

He is geared up to take on new challenges in his new job by drawing lessons from one of his favourite books 'The First 90 Days' by Michael Watkins. "It talks about creating a roadmap for a 90 day acceleration plan. The book helps keep me focused on the areas requiring special attention, but it does not talk about specific issues I will face like language and cultural differences, but it does talk about political alliances and dealing with resistance etc," he avers.

And how did his family take the re-location to Abu Dhabi? "In India, we had many friends and were in a great comfort zone. However, once arriving into Abu Dhabi we were all very happy. Abu Dhabi is clean and organised. We certainly do not miss the Bangalore traffic! The Corniche area of Abu Dhabi is just delightful and the people are warm and welcoming. My wife has already found a job in teaching again and my daughter is making new friends already," says the wonder-lust Muddle.