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Dame Ranjna Patel is a trailblazing businesswoman and community-minded philanthropist who’s dedicated her own life to improving the lives of others.
The east Auckland resident’s selfless efforts have seen her named a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (DNZM) for services to ethnic communities, health and family violence prevention in this year’s King’s Birthday Honours List.
“I was in shock, it’s surreal,” she told the Times.
“You think of dames and sirs and you think of ‘old people’ getting these things, and I think, ‘I’m nearly 70 but I’m not old’. It takes a while to sink in.”
In 1977 Dame Ranjna founded Tāmaki Health, which has grown from a single clinic in Ōtara to become New Zealand’s largest privately-owned primary healthcare group with more than 330,000 patients.
In 2014 she co-founded the effective 24-hour family harm intervention service Gandhi Nivas, which has helped more than 6000 Auckland families.
In 2019 she established the Mana 4 Mums free wrap-around service, which supports pregnant Māori and Pacific women under the age of 23 in south and west Auckland.
And in 2023, Dame Ranjna co-founded the Swaminarayan Complex, a multicultural community centre in Auckland promoting connection and offering programmes for seniors, women, and children.
She’s held numerous governance roles with organisations including Diversity Works New Zealand, the Mental Health Foundation, Total Healthcare, the National Advisory Council on the Employment of Women, and Indian Ink Theatre Company.
The patron of New Zealand Police recruit wing 330, she’s the first person of Indian origin to be inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame, in 2024, and the first woman to receive the Kiwibank Innovator of the Year Award in 2021.
She was previously appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2017 and received a Queen’s Service Medal in 2009.
Dame Ranjna learned her business skills as a youngster serving customers in her family’s Herne Bay fruit shop.
When she and her husband, Dr Kantilal Patel, opened their first medical clinic in Ōtara in 1977, being patient-focused was their top priority.
“When we started in Ōtara we couldn’t afford to pay our mortgage,” she says.
“The [health sector’s] model wasn’t going to work for Ōtara because people putting bread on the table was far more important.
“We opened for longer hours so mums could bring kids before school and dads coming home at those days at 4pm or 5pm. What people needed, we did.”
Among the key people she’s keen to recognise for their support is her husband, who was the driving force behind the Hindu temple and complex they built in Papatoetoe.
“With that, come every Sunday, we feed 700 to 800 people, free,” Dame Ranjna says.
“We’ve started children’s classes where within two years there’s 150 kids involved.
“Their ages go from five to 15 and they do things like Vedic maths, public speaking, computer programming, all these things that people volunteer to come and teach and do.
“We started a women’s group when two young ladies came to me and said, ‘can we do this? and I said, ‘yes what do you need?’
“On the first day they had 100 women turn up, and that’s built up to 150.
“There’s an elders’ group that meets every Thursday that’s grown to nearly 180 people.
“It’s somewhere to meet, have a little bit of yoga, have a meal together, have a lecture, and I have health people come in.”
Dame Ranjna says she’s inspired to help people who truly need help.
“It’s about looking at problems from someone else’s point of view.
“I’ve been very privileged and fortunate to have amazing people around me who have an idea and a can-do attitude.”
