¶ … Primedic? Why has this venture attracted so much interest from Endeavor and IGNIA? When Decanini founded Primedic in 2002, about half of the population of Mexico was uninsured. Decanini's vision for Primedic was to improve access to healthcare insurance for the population of Mexico, a lofty goal. The initial plan was to offer Primedic services to employees of corporations and therefore Primedic would be working directly with enterprises. However, the IGNIA investment helped Decanini and his colleagues achieve the more ambitious goal of offering insurance to the vast numbers of individuals who did not have the types of stable jobs with companies that provide insurance coverage to their employees. The basic Primedic model was to get the lowest rung of the Mexican socio-economic ladder into preventative care so that health outcomes could be improved. Therefore, Primedic is a company with a grand vision, making it attractive on the level of social justice and corporate social responsibility.

Investors like IGNIA and Endeavor recognized the potential in Primedic, not simply as an investment but also as a means to transform Mexican society and improve the lives of the people who needed it the most. However, the physicians who were a part of Primedic at the beginning like Salazar also understood that Primedic needed to be run carefully and like a business. The development of a cohesive business plan allowed Endeavor and IGNIA to have faith that Primedic would deliver on its budget, scheduling, and mission.

2. What is your assessment of the changes...

On the one hand, it was not growing its target market as fast as expected, so that initial investments into the individual payer plans were sluggish. The reason was that many of the target consumers at the lower rung of the socio-economic ladder were simply not used to using preventative care services. In spite of making it easier for economically disadvantaged people to make their payments, Primedic continued to struggle. In 2010, the primary stakeholders needed to completely rethink the vision for Primedic.
Pablo Salazar worked for IGNIA and closely with Primedic, so he was a natural fit to be a commercial consultant who could diagnose the problems Primedic was experiencing and offer insight, solutions, and suggestions. Salazar determined that Primedic needed to present itself differently to the consumer. Essentially, Primedic needed to develop a marketing plan. In addition to making Primedic more understandable and accessible to the consumer, Salazar also helped to change the way the system worked from a supplier and provider point-of-view. Using surveys, Salazar identified some of the reasons why consumers might have resisted using the services and made small but significant changes in the ways Primedic was presented. These changes were successful, but many challenges remained in order to completely fulfill the goals of Primedic.

3. Should IGNIA make a new investment of capital in Primedic? Why or why…