DR JOHN COWLIN - MULTI-TALENTED DOCTOR
& ENTREPRENEUR
I have
known Dr John Cowlin, a remarkable achiever and whose late father was an anaesthetist, for more than 26
years.
John Cowlin
was born in Cape Town in 1949 and matriculated at Westerford High School in
Rondebosch, Cape Town, in 1966. In 1967 he did his compulsory national service
in the army before studying medicine at UCT where he graduated with an MB. CHB,
in 1973.
John married
Margie Travers-Jackson (who also went to Westerford High School) and they had
two children, John and Lisa.
Medical doctor
Between
1974 and 1981 John did his housemanship followed by surgical registrar training.
He had a practice in Sandton and was regarded by one of my late Dad’s co-directors,
Gerd Niterl, as “one of the finest GP’s I have ever known”.
Furniture-manufacturing business
John, whose
hobby, had long been cabinet-making, set up a small factory in Johannesburg in
1981 making motif furniture. He sold this business in 1983 and returned to the
Cape where he set up a practice as a GP in Somerset West.
Co-partner of surgical clinic
John missed
the “action and pulse-beat” of Johannesburg so decided to relocate back to
Johannesburg in 1986 where, in partnership with a group of local doctors, he
established the “Sandton Surgical Clinic”. The popular clinic was later sold to
a public company - Life Health Centre. At this time John was also consulting to
Rossing Uranium Mine and the National Department of Health on health
maintenance issues and it wasn’t long before he was offered a position with one
of South Africa’s largest medical aid organisations - “Medicaid”, which was subsequently
absorbed by the Medscheme Group.
Pioneer of pharmaceutical benefit management
John
developed a particular interest in studying the utilisation and funding
arrangements of medications consumed by members of medical aid schemes. In 1991
when he went to the USA to do further research in this area he discovered that
the focus in the USA was on hospital benefit management rather than on
pharmaceutical consumption.
On his
return to South Africa John adapted some of the principles he had learned in
the USA into a model for marketing and
managing chronic medical programmes in South Africa and, in partnership
with Medscheme , in 1993 he established a
pharmaceutical benefit management company,
“QHS” (Quality Health Services). This was the first of its kind in South
Africa (and probably in the world at the time) and I was personally privileged to serve as his Admin Director.
John
realised the importance - in order to survive in business - that one should have some form of basic financial
and accounting understanding and so, in 1996, he also completed several short
courses in finance and accounting as the Wits GSB (Graduate School of Business)
.
Over the
ensuing five years the fortunes of “QHS”,
which was renamed “PBM” (Pharmaceutical Benefit Management) in 1996, rose
meteorically with compounded earnings of some 40% per annum! And then in 1996 John
was appointed to the Medscheme main board of directors.
In 1999
when the “PBM” PE (Price-Earnings ) ratio was "18" John exercised a “put” option
and “retired” at the age of 50!
Winemaker
 |
| Dr John Cowlin |
John
Cowlin, who has had a lifelong love of
good wines and is a true wine connoisseur, started studying wine-making in his
early “retirement” and bought 30
hectares of vacant land in Simondium (near Paarl) in 2000. There he personally constructed a house and wine
cellars as well as various out buildings and planted vineyards and established
“Cowlin Wines”. He soon learnt that the most important factor in successfully
promoting and marketing wine was correct branding. By 2005 he had succeeded in
establishing “Cowlin Wines” as a strong
regional brand, exporting to Canada, Denmark and Japan as well as supplying
local bottle stores and upmarket restaurants.
Although in
2006 John sold his wine farm and relocated to Simon’s Town from Simondium he
has recently (along with his daughter, Lisa) again devoted himself to re-promoting the “Cowlin Wines”
brand.
Yacht Club Commodore
John has
long been a deep-sea fishing enthusiast and in 1999 he built and launched a
40-foot sport fishing vessel named
“Tshaya” and in 2002 was elected Commodore of the False Bay Yacht Club. In 2013
he was, for the 2nd time, elected Commodore.
BA (Hons) degree & evolutionary biology author
After
retiring from business and having sold his wine farm John, who has an
extraordinary photographic memory, decided to enrol as a full-time student at
the University of Stellenbosch where he studied History and soon graduated with
a B.A. (Hons) cum laude. He had also
meanwhile developed a strong interest in evolutionary
biology, driven by “an incurable desire” to understand why there is a human
need to believe in the unseen and why it is so deeply ingrained in the human
psyche. John is currently writing a book on the subject which he hopes to
publish in 2016.
John
Cowlin’s advice for aspirant entrepreneurs is this:
“If you want to be successful and are really
driven to succeed, dreams are essential. But remember that in order to turn
your dreams into reality it requires hard work, dedication, self-discipline and
total commitment. Don’t become frustrated or discouraged when you find that sometimes
things take longer and cost more than you budgeted for”.
"John Cowlin, medical doctor, businessman, entrepreneur, family man and friend,
is an
inspiration for everyone"
- Guy Macleod
TERRY WALLACE, step-son of the late Helmine Wallace (nee Macleod) and Kerry Wallace, qualified in engineering and commerce at UCT and later,
with a partner, started his own business, the well-known civil engineering firm
of “Burger & Wallace” has not yet “retired” , and still remains very active. Married to his lovely wife, Lindsay, a
physiotherapist, they have two sons. Stephen is a talented sportsman who
captained the Rondebosch Boys’ High School First X1 Cricket team as well as the
school’s Rubgy First XV team whilst his older brother, James ,
is more keen on camping and fishing.Terry and Lindsay plan to visit the UK next
month (September) to watch Stephen playing rugby there.
