Eren Ozagir is the founder and CEO of Push Doctor, Europe’s largest on-demand GP video consultation service. Eren has held senior positions from a young age across multiple industries, including technology, property, retail, and advertising.
Prior to founding Push Doctor, Eren was the Chief Commercial and Marketing Officer for the online marketplace Music Magpie, helping turn it into a hugely successful e-commerce company.
1) Which place or city or country do you most feel at home in?
I’ve lived all over the country and indeed the world, but home right now in Yorkshire is the most settled I’ve ever been. The floods a few years ago were terrible at the time but have fostered a lasting sense of community that is special and unique.
2) What are your proudest achievements?
What we’re achieving now with Push Doctor is just the start but already hard to top. We’re making a huge difference to thousands of people every week, changing and even saving lives. We’re having to build completely new pathways to make that happen for people but the reward is immense.
3) What inspires you?
Without question, the feedback from our customers. We’ve always captured some amazing stories online and through the service, but in the last 12 months we’ve hit a scale where it feels like everywhere I go I’m getting that first hand. That unprompted face-to-face feedback from someone we’ve helped is incredible.
4) What has been the biggest obstacle in your career?
I was a patient, not a traditional ‘healthcare guy’. That’s been key to the way we’ve seen and approached the problem but early on it meant it was at times hard to engage the sector. Together as a group is the only way we’ll really change things for patients; happily, those partnerships are now starting to come together.
5) Who has been the biggest influence on your career to date?
I don’t have one single mentor and I also don’t think that would have tuned my thinking in the same way. I worked with some inspirational people in an array of industries who have shown me leadership skills and team building that I use today. My career is the result of a collective set of influences, and I’m proud of that balance.
6) What is the best aspect about your current role?
Leading a growing team of amazing individuals. A team who turn up for work inspired to create better lives for people. Seeing that energy, ambition and the ideas that come from it is remarkable.
7) And the worst?
Having to choose between all those ideas. There’s so many ways we can make life better for people, and we will, but it’s a complex challenge and we always bring it back to simply: what’s the most acute problem people need us to fix next.
8) What are your long-term goals?
Our purpose is super clear: To Help People Live Happier Longer Lives. My long-term goal is to build a model and organisation that is sustainable enough to still be delivering that in 50-100 years.
9) If you were Prime Minister, what one aspect would you change?
I’d introduce a principal of radical transparency. If we want to solve some of societies biggest problems we need to be much more open about how things work/and don’t today. Far too much energy is often wasted as a result of incomplete understanding.
10) If you were marooned on a desert island, which historical figure would you like to spend
your time with and why?
I’m not sure I’d be unkind enough to subject anyone to being marooned with me alone. However, I would love to go back and meet Rene Dubos who once defined health in a way that’s been a huge inspiration to us: “Health… …a measure of each person's ability to do and become what he wants to become.”
