I am the founder of Uwal Healthcare and Astra-Indo Pharma India Private Ltd. Currently. We have a portfolio of 150+ products consisting of pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and a cosmetic range in our company. Along with that, we have 10,000+chemists and around 400 wholesalers.
Q. What was the impact of Coronavirus on your business. Did the pandemic add any profit, as pharmaceutical products are in high demand?
The pandemic had a positive and negative impact on my business. Some of the pharmaceutical products have seen an enormous increase in demand because of the Covid-19 pandemic. For instance, hand sanitisers have seen massive growth in their sales but other products like skincare or derma products, have seen de-growth. So, it differs from product to product, some have seen an increase in demand while demand for some product fell or didn't change.
Q. When and why did you decide to start your own company?
After completing PGDM in International Business from JIMS, Delhi, through campus placement I started working at ‘RegaloKitchens’. According to my experience in every marketing field, they give you targets and according to that, they give you salary. I was supposed to generate interest in the market, provide leads and do the closing part of it as well. That's when I thought why shouldn’t I sell my own product or build my own brand as today everybody can start their own business with the required resources. I believe it's because of the consistent hard work that I am able to grow and learn in this field. Now our company has Area Sales Managers in every state, who are managing their distributing partners, we also own dispatch staffs across the country dispatching the products.
Q. Could you please tell us more about your two organizations, Uwal Healthcare and Astra-Indo Pharma India Private Ltd.?
Founded in November 2019 we started with the mission of providing High-Quality Generic Medicines at ‘Affordable’ price. The company has a central warehouse and a robust supply chain which makes sure of timely delivery of products to our channel partners. As of May 2021, we have a presence in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh Chhattisgarh and Delhi and have a distribution network of 400+ stockists and 10000+ chemists and pharmacies. Uwal Healthcare now has 80 brands in its portfolio and Astra Indo Pharma India Pvt Ltd has 70 brands in its portfolio. Our product range consists of tablets, capsules, cough syrup, food supplements, syrup/tonics, dry syrups, Ayurvedic syrups and ointments. In Astra-Indo Pharma India Private Ltd., we have a range of ointments, tablets, capsules and more. We have also started a range of subsidiary companies including Livwal, Multiwal, Walzyme, Ferowal-XT etc.
Q . Are you the only one who manage these companies or do you have a team or a set of interns like other companies?
To run an organisation, one definitely needs employees for smooth and effective working. In the beginning, it was just me but eventually, I managed to receive funding. I got 50% funding from an anonymous person for Uwal Healthcare and earned 67% of funding for Astro-Indo. Now, as I have already mentioned, we have our own area sales managers and dispatch staffs across the country who are working with us.
Q. What was one of your biggest failures and how did you overcome that failure?
I started from zero so I had nothing to lose. I knew I had to work hard for this business and face failures. Gradually, those failures became my learnings and through these learnings, I proceed further with the business work. Therefore, one should never give up and this is the motto of my life as well, which has helped me overcome my failures.
Q. Who was your supporting hand in your journey?
My father was the one who supported me, motivated me and also provided funds to run the organizations as I said I started from zero. He was the one who not only helped me financially to raise the funds for the organization but also believed in me and my hard work.
Q. What advice would you like to give to the other entrepreneurs who are working and are not able to succeed in what they’ve planned?
Extensive research is the key to everything and anything that you want to do in life. The same is the case with entrepreneurship, you need to explore, do a lot of detailed and in-depth analysis or a lot of extensive research in order to be successful.
Q. Being a business person, why did you choose a pharmaceutical company only? Why didn't you go for finance or some other field?
My family has been a part of this field since the 1980s. Therefore I know this industry from the inside out and that's the reason I opted for this industry. The prior gained knowledge has helped me a lot throughout this journey.
Q. What’s the motivational force behind setting up these pharmaceutical companies?
The support from my family throughout this journey has been my main motivational force. Also, watching all those success stories of exponential growth has always motivated me. I also want to motivate people, the way these stories has motivated me and that is where my motivation comes from.
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