An unfulfilling career as an investment banker persuaded Kam Takhar there was more to life than a fat salary

Kam Takhar qualified as a chartered accountant with Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) and then went to work for Goldman Sachs in New York. Stints in Hong Kong and Japan followed before he returned to London.

It was a successful and well-rewarded career. But, explains Takhar, it was ultimately unfulfilling. After a decade in investment banking he was seeking something else. "Goldmans was a great place to work, but there is more to life than being well paid," he says.

Around this time, his brother, a qualified doctor who had left the NHS and was working in the private sector, was also eager to start something new. During his spell in the NHS, his brother encountered a patient with severe learning difficulties who came to see him, communicating with the help of a carer. When visiting the patient a few days later, while the carer was out, he realised the patient was more than able to think and talk for himself.

This led the brothers to launch Noble Care, a company offering individual care to those with learning difficulties in four nursing homes across the west Midlands. Their purpose-built homes try to create a relaxed atmosphere, with most rooms having their own bathrooms. "The idea is that we take them in for a while and teach them whatever we can to make them more self-sufficient," Takhar explains.

He says their aim is that everyone in their 22 beds should achieve some sort of semi-independence. "Long spells in hospital are not good for anyone in the long term. We want to integrate them back into the community."

This level of care doesn't come cheap, and Takhar admits his company isn't the cheapest provider. But he adds: "Some larger providers lower their prices for the local primary care trust (PCT) and then cut corners to lower costs to match. We start from the point of what each patient needs and build a properly costed package that reflects those needs."

And Takhar defends his approach of charging local authorities and PCTs a price that allows his business to make a profit. "Local authorities are outsourcing a lot of this work. Charities are fine, but we offer great value for money and do all we can to help our patients live fulfilling lives. We offer a service that the public sector never would and the charities can't afford."