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46 Portrait: SMALL BUSINESS — BIG IMPACT * March 17, 2011

By KATE CHESTER

he United States is a great country with great opportunities,” says den-tist and Beaverton resident Hadi Nouredine, “and if you work hard, you can achieve anything you want here. You will be successful.”

Such a work ethic and professional vision is a common thread among three Middle Eastern businessmen — two of Lebanese origin and one from the Palestinian territory of Gaza. They arrived to the Portland metro area years ago, with-out professional connections or financial means. Through a combination of hard work, determination, business savvy, and confidence, all three have built thriving businesses or, in the case of Nouredine, a successful dental practice that continues to expand.

Hadi Nouredine: ‘Patients are like family’

A native of southern Lebanon, Nouredine was 17 when he arrived in Portland with his older brother, Samir. “After the Israeli invasion in 1982, my mother wanted my brother and me to leave Lebanon,” recalls Nouredine. “It took us two years to get the paperwork, but then we did, and came to Oregon, because an uncle had lived here in the 1970s and said how beautiful it was.” The brothers shared a modest apart-ment upon moving to Portland, went to school and worked full-time; Nouredine put in hours at Beaverton’s Cub Foods store (now Winco), as a “bottle boy,” then as a store courtesy clerk and checker. Gifted in math and physics — and encouraged by his mother to pursue a career in medicine — Nouredine took sci-ence and general studies courses at the Sylvania Campus of Portland Community College before transferring to Portland State University to complete his degree. At 19, he was one of the youngest stu-dents accepted into the dental school at Oregon Health and Science University. Nouredine graduated from OHSU in 1990. With $80,000 in student loan debt, he immediately began looking for work and found it in Mount Angel, where he worked under the tutelage of Dr. Thomas McClammy, “a wonderful dentist and man,” says Nouredine. About three years later Nouredine joined Gentle Dental, advancing quickly to the position of clini-cal director at the Beaverton office. But with student loans still to pay — and an extended family to care for — he began to

flirt with the idea of opening his own practice.

Nouredine rented a dental clinic in downtown Portland. He continued to work at Gentle Dental Monday through Friday, and on Saturdays and Sundays he would care for his Middle Eastern clients at the downtown clinic. In 1996, one of his clients had a building for lease in Beaverton and encouraged Nouredine to

make the move. He did and has since bought the building and opened three more offices, in Hillsboro, Gresham and Lake Oswego.

“Opening my own practice was the best business decision I ever made, and in certain ways, I think I waited too long to do it,” says Nouredine. “At the same time, opening your own business is scary. And I had my family — my parents, my two

younger brothers and two sisters — to take care of, as I had brought them from Lebanon to live here.”

But the risk was calculated, and in Nouredine’s case, successful. He works Mondays through Saturdays, mainly from the Beaverton and Lake Oswego offices. A younger brother, also a dentist, runs the Hillsboro practice, and Nouredine and a colleague from dental school are partners at the Gresham and Lake Oswego offices. Collectively, there are about 50 employees staffing the four offices, which focus on all aspects of dentistry — general and cos-metic, periodontology and implants. “My business philosophy is that you treat patients as if they were your own family members,” says Nouredine, which would explain the growth of the practice and why 95 percent of the business is through patient referrals.

“That’s how we can measure how well we’re doing — do patients feel comfort-able here, are we giving our patients top quality care and the best fees possible?” says Nouredine. “If so — if you follow these guidelines — patients will refer you to others, and success will come your way naturally.”

To ensure his ability to help low-income or elderly patients, Nouredine offers an in-house, sliding scale payment plan.

“Some might say that payment plans aren’t the best business practices, but I don’t regret it,” he says. “People see that you’re trying to work with them, and they appreciate that.”

That outlook is applied to his volunteer work outside his practice, too. Nouredine has been a longtime supporter of Medical Teams International, which operates a dental van that offers free dental care to low-income individuals without insur-ance, often refugees and new immigrants. He is researching the potential of buying his own mobile dental van and launching a nonprofit organization that offers dental services to those in need in South America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, partnering with local communities in these regions.

Nouredine also serves as president of the Arab American Cultural Center of Oregon, a nonprofit whose mission is to promote the richness and beauty of Arabic culture through community events, festi-vals and family entertainment.

“The more you give — be it in busi-ness or in the community — the more you get back,” says Nouredine. “Everyone benefits.”

The new immigrants

Hard work and focus are the shared traits of three transplants from the Middle East

whose dedication and commitment have led to success

BUSINESS SUCCESSES — Beaverton resident Nael Saker (above) stands in front of his convenience store, Discount World. Below, Dr. Hadi Nouredine in his Lake Oswego dental office.

KATE CHESTER/For Times Newspapers

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