By Indranil Halder
Ardor 2.1 Restaurant, Connaught Place, New Delhi, India was the location for the celebration. Sitting with Rajesh and his family, we enjoyed a massive multi dish thali. As a silent witness to Rajesh’s gradual success for more than a decade, I feel, it is time to celebrate his unbelievable professional story in Indian subcontinent.
Rajesh Kumar Rai:
A father of three kids who lives and works in Delhi as Regional Business Manager for Troikaa Pharmaceutical Limited. Smartly dressed in his blue suit, he is a multilingual who is fluent English, Hindi, Bhojpuri and Bengali and ready to improve business growth.
Bahubali determination:
I spoke to Rajesh about, The Kidney
Project which is led by Dr Shuvo Roy In California, USA. Roy’s aim is to create an implantable bio artificial organ to patients with treat kidney failure. He was surprise to hear about Australia’s Melbourne-based startup Opyl. The company is proactively using data to increase efficiency and reduce limitations for clinical trials. During our discussion, our thali arrived with 32 different dishes to jump start our celebration with enthusiasm.
My question is, can Rajesh’s daring determination to work for the Indian pharmaceutical/healthcare and medical devices industry will help develop the industry further ?
Just like any other country across the globe, the Indian pharmaceutical ( $24 billions)/ healthcare (US $6.20 billions )and medical devices (US$ 12 billion) market is developing at an extra ordinary rate. And Rajesh is a part of that story. I meet Rajesh, nearly decade and half ago when my own daughter was admitted to Apollo Hospital in Kolkata as she suffered extreme dehydration from gastrointestinal bug. My daily duty included staying with her at the hospital and going to Grindlay ANZ Bank ATM for treatment funds. In the middle of night, Rajesh would ensure my safe return to my car carrying a large sum of money from the ATM for many days and enquire about my daughter’s health. So when my daughter left the hospital after her recovery, I wanted to know whether, I can be of any help to Rajesh.
I learnt he moonlight several jobs. He worked night time as security guard at the ATM and in the morning, he was delivering fresh cow milk from door to door and also helped his father in his job.With his traditional Indian values, his priorities were to provide food for the family , pay rent and looking after his three younger brothers and one sister. There was neither extra time nor funding to support his own goals. He want to finish his education and wanted to get a better job too. He also had a fascination for health science. He followed his dream thick and thin, including going to bed hungry for nights. Not a merited student but his daring determination was genuine and was enough for me to support him in his journey.
He took ownership to attend College at Nav Bharat Siksha Parisad, Dum Dum, West Bengal to study bachelor of science and attending Institute of Medical Representative (training center) in Kolkata too. A professional area, I was familiar with in Australia, so was happy to guide him. He got his first job with India’s TTK Healthcare( worth $US 450 million) followed by Alkem Laboratories Limited (US$1.4 billion, 2022) and then Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd (US$1.1 billion, 2022). Visited doctors in public transport became part of his daily life. Travelling in the rush hour traffic catching public transport like a packed sardines and waiting see doctors made him a Regional Business Manager today for Indian multinational pharmaceutical company Troikaa Pharmaceuticals Limited. Now he actively mentors juniors with his industry business knowledge.
I believe, his daring determination, has definitely kick started his professional career, unlike many Kolkata youths. They mostly studying Bachalor of Arts ( English) but work passionately as fitness trainers in gymnasiums to make a risk avoided living . That daring attitude to explore possibilities, is severely lacking in the city’s conservatively trained young minds. Rajesh’s story proves beyond doubt that with daring determination like Hindu mythology character Bahubali, can be achieved positive outcome. Today, in India, the growth of its pharmaceutical, healthcare and medical devices market have global investors pouring in and young Indians like Rajesh can definitely add confidence to this process by increasing trust. Trust to achieve goals for end users, patients and investors. His story highlights a determined Indian youth who deserves a celebration for India to shine. Let us all join the celebration.
