In the late 1980s and early 1990s, German entrepreneur Andreas Rudolph recognised there was something lacking in the home-care health and wellness market. He didn’t believe the services being offered to patients in Germany were as excellent as they could be and so set about developing a business idea which would change the sector for the better. Despite being a university-trained mineralogist, Andreas found his calling when he entered the pharmaceutical industry in 1989. Working for a medical device company as a sales and marketing director, he learned a lot about domestic health management and realised where the gaps were that needed addressing.
In 1992, he launched the innovative home-care health business HSC GmbH which, in January 2008, became known as GHD GesundHeits GmbH Germany, or The GHD Group, and acted as an umbrella brand for several companies. The aim of the business was to provide ambulatory provision of medical aid and medicine services for patients in their home environment. ”The philosophy behind The GHD Group was to bring a service and confident counselling to the patient around products they might need for their whole lives”, Andreas says. “That was my vision for the business. I’m not sure how to define if I have always had an entrepreneurial streak or not, but I take a position and I then bring my ideas to the world. Andreas remained the sole shareholder from 1992 to 2007 and now investors hold the majority share.”