Previous Occupation: Software Engineer, Race Track Owner
Present Occupation: Business Development Manager, MedPlus
Sector: Retail Pharma
Work Experience: 9 years
Interests
Professional: Entrepreneurship, Formula 1 racing.
Personal: Travel and human behaviour.

Can you tell us a little about your family background/ history?
My father is a professor and mother is a teacher. I am from Odisha but I lived there for only five years. In fact, I have lived in Andhra Pradesh the longest - 13 years! My wife is an MBA and a manager in the financial planning team at McAfee.

Briefly describe your personal and professional achievements (including recent awards/ special projects).
Professional:

• Turning a profit with an “intra-preneurial’ idea within MedPlus.
• Being made responsible for managing a division for multiple states in MedPlus.
• Being given special responsibility by the CEO for a new major focus area for the next two years.

Personal:

• Learning paragliding in 2007.
• Creating Bangalore’s best and longest Go-Karting track as my first entrepreneurial venture in 2008.
• Creating India’s first Formula 1 (F1) simulator-based kiosks in 2011.
• Being chosen by the Force India F1 Team and the Mercedes F1 Team for their paddock- based activities for the 2012 Indian Grand Prix.
  
  

Tell us about your profile pre-ISB, and recap your professional life after ISB, including your career progression.
I graduated from IIT Kharagpur in 2004 and worked successfully in Dassault Systѐmes, the world’s largest CAD/ CAM/ PLM company, for four years. Then I started getting bored of the routine and decided to start my own Go-Karting track in Bangalore. After learning about entrepreneurship on the job, I decided to seek professional skills. Enter ISB!

Post-ISB, having already exited my Go-Karting track successfully, I joined MedPlus in Bangalore. Currently I am heading the RiteCure division, which focuses on hospitals and nursing homes. I also run the simulator business as a hobby.

Describe your fondest memory at ISB.

• Late night idli eating trips to Hi-Tech city.
• My friends insisting on always entering my studio through the French windows and refusing to use the door.
• The randomness of campus life, with all of the 570 characters floating around ISB.

In your personal life, how have you changed post-ISB? Do you see yourself doing something differently because you went to ISB? What has left a lasting impression?The education was “Just-In-Case” … as in “Study-This-Just-In-Case-You-Need-It-In-Future.” Some of the course knowledge comes flooding back during real-life situations, especially from “NEGA” and “Managing Teams.” Now, I don’t make obvious mistakes and decision making is much faster.

How do you think ISB has contributed to your career growth?
It has opened the doors to retail pharma and healthcare in a single sweep, which would have been impossible for me without ISB. Also, it has added another brand on top of IIT, which helps to add instant weight to what I say and do.

If you have to sum up ISB in one word:
SNAFU, Situation Normal All Fouled Up!

What was the main highlight of your programme at the ISB?
It was recognising that human gems can come from any background, be it the fashion industry, defence, different geographies or different cultural backgrounds.

Word of advice for the current class?
Do not take anybody’s advice too seriously!

What was your favourite course/ class at ISB and why?
“Managing Teams” with Professor Henry Moon.

Was there anyone during your time at ISB who acted as a mentor for you? Tell us a little about this relationship and why it was valuable.
There was no one who played that role. Most of the guidance I received was based on talks with multiple alumni, my batchmates and from using my own judgment.

What are the areas in which you can contribute to ISB?
I can help stressed-out students get a better perspective and calm down.
I can help out budding entrepreneurs.

What do you enjoy most about your current career position?
The freedom to do what I think!

What is the next new thing in the industry or vertical you are working in? Any trends that you can see?
Pharma retail has a long way to go. Organised players account for single-digit market share in the industry while it is in the 20s and 30s in mature markets. There should be greater consolidation as and when the regulatory hurdles are removed. Also, more and more hospitals should be outsourcing specialised sections, such as pharmacies, dialysis centres, diagnostic labs, etc.

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