The Sangani File

The Sangani File
Dr. Bharat Sangani.
Age: 42
Occupation: Cardiologist, developer
Education: Medical school in Bombay, India;
medical residency in Columbus, Ohio.
Family: Married 16 years to Smita Sangani, a
Bombay native. Two daughters, Nili, 10 and
Niki, 8.
Biggest Project: Lakeview Village at Interstate
10 and 110 in D’Iberville, an $80 million, 85acre shopping center.
Business philosophies: Prepare 10-year
financial plan, hire experts, set attainable goals,
move quickly, take losses quickly and scrap
business deals that keep you awake at night.
Dr. Bharat Sangani monitors the stock market continually from his medical
Personal Philosophy: Do your duty. Don’t hurt
office in Gulfport. In the 12 years since he moved to the Coast, the cardiologist
anyone. Do everything possible to be happy.
has ventured into real estate, property development, and investment enterprises.
Dr. Business
Smita Sangani serves coffee at breakfast Friday with her cardiologist husband, Bharat and daughters, Nili, 10, left, and
Niki, 8. The family lives in a palatial home on the beach in Jackson County just east of Ocean Springs. Bharat Sangani
has built a diverse medical and financial empire on the Coast but still manages to spend a lot of time with his family.
By PATRICK PETERSON
THE SUN HERALD
It was a typical day at Bharat
Sangani’s office on Broad Avenue in
Gulfport on a recent Monday. While 40
patients made their way in and out to see the
prominent cardiologist, Sangani’s personal
investment expert traded $9 million in
stocks in a quiet office in the same building.
In the 12 years since he came to the
Coast, Sangani, 42, has built a vast medical,
real estate and financial organization. He
owns hotels, moves millions through the
stock market, develops real estate and
runs a medical practice with offices in Bay
St. Louis, Gulfport, and Biloxi. About 160
employees work in the various enterprises.
While Sangani believes in luck,
he practices long-range planning; sets
attainable goals and goes home to his family
at the end of his 12-hour days.
His system is simple: Write a 10year financial plan and work hard to make
it a reality.
“Not many people come to me for
advice.” Said Sangani, who studies the habits
and lifestyles of successful people. “It’s all
hard work, common sense, and a lot of luck.
I always believe in luck. It keeps me humble.”
When he married in 1984, he
gave his wife, Smita, a written plan for the
first 10 years of their life together. They
completed the plan in three years, and he
began working on new goals.
“The process makes me happy,”
said Sangani, “I enjoy the process as much
as reaching the destination.”
Sangani’s latest real estate project
is Lakeview Village at interstates 10 and
110 in D’Iberville. When finished, the 85acre, $80 million shopping center, anchored
by a Wal-Mart SuperCenter, could rival
Crossroads Shopping Center at U.S. 49 and
I-10 in Gulfport.
Lakeview Village already has
doubled the city’s sales tax revenue.
D’Iberville Mayer Rusty Quave
said Sangani’s development organization
approached the city with the project,
moved quickly and maintained realistic
goals. Sangani personally negotiated
with city officials to hammer out a deal
in which taxes from the shopping center
would pay for $5.6 million worth of roads
and drainage, including construction of
Sangani Boulevard.
“Dr. Sangani was very involved
from the beginning.” Quave said. “He was
at every negotiation. It was a hard project
to put together.”
Quave said the cardiologist is an
honest and personable businessman.
“He’s done everything that he’s
said he would do,” the mayor said. “He’s
a real nice guy and a fine person to do
business with.”
The doctor from Bombay
Sangani was born in Bombay,
India, to a family in the automotive parts
business.
In 1983, he came to the United
States to live with his older brother, who
was studying computers in Columbus,
Ohio. Sangani attended medical school
in Bombay and finished his residency
at Mount Carmel Medical Center in
Columbus.
He and Smita, who were married
in Bombay, moved to the Coast in 1988 to
begin his medical career. The adjustment
was not so difficult.
“The weather was similar to India,”
Smita said. “Bombay is hot and humid and
we were on the ocean.”
Memorial Hospital at Gulfport
hired Sangani to set up a cardiology
program. He specialized in balloon
angioplasty, then a relatively new procedure
for opening clogged blood vessels in the
heart. Acceptance of the new procedure
and the young doctor were not assured.
An older colleague warned him,
“Don’t unpack your bags.” But Sangani
realized that he must take a risk to make the
program successful.
“When you do angioplasty, people
can die,” he said. “It was a risk, but the need
was there.”
Sangani now works with three
other cardiologists and about 35 employees.
A sign in his office urges patients to tell the
receptionist if they’ve waited more than
15 minutes. He also offers a money back
guarantee on his medical services – no one
has ever taken him up on it – and he gives
patients his home phone number.
“We’re here to serve our patients,”
he said. “If a patient calls me to complain,
the next day, somebody’s head is going to
roll.”
Management Style
While Sangani’s holdings are
great, he directs each facet of his business.
“My people call it modified
micromanagement,” he said. “Not a single
dollar is spent without my knowledge or
approval. I am very much hands-on.”
Along the way, Sangani tries to
learn from those who know more than him.
He’s not easily intimidated.
“I’m not a smart man, but I’ve
made a practice of being surrounded by
smart people,” he said. “Other people’s help
makes all these things possible.”
Sangani said he’s demanding, but
he pays well. He tells his employees, “I want
to pay you the most money anyone can pay.
Just give me a reason.”
When making financial plans,
he focuses on strategies for success, not
reasons for failure. He tells his managers
“Let me know what you need to succeed.”
Working for the doctor is not
difficult as long as you realize that he
expects results, said Pat Barber, president
and chief executive of Encore Enterprises,
the company that manages Sangani’s real
estate and development projects.
“A lot of it is getting accustomed
to his philosophy,” said Barber, who has
worked for Sangani for three years.
Another thing to remember when
you work for Sangani is that in business
dealings, he moves quickly. He bought the
D’Iberville property less than three years
ago and developed it immediately. The
company strategy is to make a piece of
property as valuable as possible and sell it.
“We do not believe in holding
things,” Sangani said.
He built the 79-room Ramada
Ltd. Ocean Front in Gulfport in 1994 and
now owns five hotels in four states. He also
is part of a management company that has
interest in 25 hotel properties. One of his
latest endeavors: forming a consortium
to raise $100 million to invest in projects
related to the hospitality industry.
But Sangani is also quick to
abandon troubled ventures.
“Take your losses as quickly as
possible,” he advises. “Any project that
keeps me awake at night needs to be
scrapped. Nothing is more important to me
than my inner peace. Money should always
be a secondary issue.”
“I’m not doing it for money. I’m
building a dream and seeing it become a
reality.”
Personal Time
Sangani’s personal office in
Gulfport is a dark room with soft clouds
painted on the walls. In front of a bright
window sits a fountain and a garden of
lush plants – an oasis of serenity in a busy
medical building.
In stark contrast to the frenzied
trading floors on Wall Street, Sangani
uses the office for his daily activity in the
financial markets, receiving up-to-theminute information and taking advantage
of stock fluctuations with his financial
manager.
“We trade continuously.” He said.
“Every morning, we create a strategy.”
In stark contrast to the frenzied
trading floors on Wall Street, Sangani
uses the office for his daily activity in the
financial markets, receiving up-to-theminute information and taking advantage
of stock fluctuations with his financial
manager.
“We trade continuously.” He said.
“Every morning, we create a strategy.”
When the day is done, Sangani
goes home to Smita and their two
daughters, Nili, 10, and Niki, 8. Sangani
enjoys swimming, walking the dogs and
roller skating with the girls.
“Everything is related to the kids,”
said Smita, who designed the couple’s dream
home on Jackson County’s waterfront in
Belle Fontaine. The house has an indoor
pool, a five-car garage and broad picture
windows that look out on the Mississippi
sound.
“It was like a dream come true,”
she said. “We’re very proud of the house.
We’re very happy.”
Smita, whose father is in the
clothing business, assists in her husband’s
real estate ventures. She first saw the
possibilities of the property that has become
Lakeview Village.
“I went there to buy 2 acres,”
she said, “and when I saw the price I said,
‘You’ve got to buy the whole thing.’ “
Smita said her husband has given
up the 16-hour days that were common in
the early years of his medical practice. And
while he still works with great intensity, his
demeanor is joyful.
“If he’s in a relaxed mood, he can
make you laugh and laugh,” she said. “He’s
mischievous too.”
As a father, Sangani is focused. The
children have schedules and duties. There’s
a weekly family meeting, where everyone
has one vote. Sangani has veto power, but
he rarely uses it.
“I don’t want anyone to second
guess about who’s the boss,” he said.
At each meeting, Sangani reminds
his daughters of his personal philosophy:
1.
2.
3.
happy.
Do your duty.
Do not hurt anyone intentionally.
Do everything possible to be
Though raised Hindu, Sangani
said he believes in a more universal religion
and philosophy of life.
“God and the community have
been very good to me,” he said. “My Dad
has always told me we have gotten more
than we deserve. When you get more than
you deserve, all you can do is give some
back.”
Patrick Peterson can be reached at 8962243 at ppterson@sunherald.com