A small town boy from Bihar who is incessantly working to create affordable and effective healthcare
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Nov 26, 2018, 03:05 pm IST
Rakesh Pandey, CMD and founder member of Bravo Pharma
A small town boy, Rakesh Pandey from Bihar, who is incessantly working to create affordable and effective healthcare through innovation, can be an inspiration to many aspiring entrepreneurs
A man who fought against all the odds in his life worked as a hawker, and a waiter is now an influential figure and an inspiration for the young Indian entrepreneurs. A small town boy Rakesh Pandey from Motihari of Bihar is now CMD of a multimillionaire company ‘Bravo Pharma’.
Rakesh was born in a small village of Sarottar, which is around 40 km from district headquarters, Motihari. His financial crisis never stopped him of dreaming big. His determination always motivated him to challenge his hardships and move towards success. He is willing to contribute his best towards the primary healthcare in the field of oncology through extensive research and development.
He was in Delhi when Organiser approached him. While talking about his days of struggle, he said, “I still remember that in Patna I bought a ticket for the movie ‘Khalnayak’, but later I sold it in black for money and bought a book of Resnik. I started saving money so that I could come to Delhi. I never complained to my family. The scarcity in my life kept on motivating me”.
Developing Anti-Cancer Drugs
His company ‘Bravo Pharma’ is working on developing anti-cancer drugs in collaboration with the competent centre for cancer research Estonia. “The major problem is that most of the people who get cancer are diagnosed late, which makes treatment less likely to succeed. By the time we know about the disease it becomes incurable”, Rakesh said. So the company is also working on ways of detecting cancer at an early stage. The other missions that he is working on are in the sector of Advanced Laboratory in the field of Oncology, Telemedicine and affordable medical care across the globe. He is one of those who are making a difference on the world platform. A man with the mission to change the entire face of Pharmaceuticals Industry which will help the whole world fighting severe diseases. By doing this, he is putting India on the world map.
Rakesh believes that the higher the risk, the higher the profit. He believes that technology is changing speedily and with this change, we could bring significant differences in the people’s lives who do not have so much money to spend on healthcare. “The problem in India is, one can spend a thousand bucks on movie tickets and popcorn but he/she will not visit a doctor for routine check-ups.”
Worked with Hardship
“After completing my education, I got a job for merely Rs 9,000 per month. After working for six months, I realised that I was wasting my time by doing this job. I informed my father about quitting the job, and he was upset with my decision. But I had already made my mind, so I quit.”
“While working for the Company I had made some good contacts that helped to get my first contract when I started my work. And within one year of my work, I reached from Rs 9,000 to a profit of Rs 50 lakh” Rakesh narrates.
But that was not enough for him. He was not happy with the work as the word ‘contractor’ used to tease him every time. He felt that he was earning money, but there was no respect in that work. Many a time he questioned himself ‘What is my contribution to society and nation building’? “In 2008, I met to a doctor, and he asked me to accompany him to a visit to Central Asia. In the same year, we formed ‘Bravo Pharma’. And from there the journey started”, he remembered.
A Helping Hand
He is the man whose ideals keep on changing at the different stages and as per the situations of his life but the two persons whom he always thinks as his guiding force are his mother and Swami Vivekananda. “Swami ji is my inspiration, and I still believe in his words. ‘The first of all worship is the worship of the Virat—of those all around us…The first gods we have to worship are our countrymen’ is what Vivekananda believed in and I am trying to follow him”, Rakesh declares.
New lease of legs- Thanks to the initiative of Rakesh Pandey, Shivam got prosthetic legs
Apart from his work, Rakesh spends much time helping the poor, deprived and needy ones. “My mother used to motivate me every time. She always showed faith in me and never discouraged me”, Rakesh said. In Bhojpuri, she used to say, “Tu jechahbatupaasakela (you can achieve whatever you want from your life)” and this one line keeps on inspiring me.
His company has activities and establishment in countries like the United Kingdom, UAE, US, Estonia, Uzbekistan, Sweden, Uganda, Rwanda, and he is willing to expand his work in the field of cancer globally. He is also working to provide mass employment by opening centres of Bravo Pharmaceuticals across the world.
‘Want to Revive the Glories of Bihar’
For Rakesh Pandey, India is the future and suggests Indian entrepreneurs think like global leaders. He considers unemployment like a termite and wants to eliminate it. “I am working against unemployment and request the young Indian entrepreneurs to come forward against in this drive. I also want to set up proper healthcare facilities in Bihar. My dream is to make Bihar one of the top-notch states in India with the best diagnostics and healthcare facilities,” he said.
Recently, the Bihar Government offered industrial land to Bravo Pharma to set up his company in Bihar. “The investment is intended to improve the healthcare services in Bihar”, said Rakesh Pandey. He does not want somebody to suffer as he did. Sharing one incident of his life, Rakesh said, “I went on walking for 10 km in the rain because I had no money to pay for the taxi. That day I was unable to sleep and kept on thinking.” His thirst to reach the peak of success gave him the wings to fly.
Rakesh believes that youth should never fall into the trap of the politicians. “Instead of running behind a politician, a youth should spend that time in self-development or for the cause of society”, he suggested.
The spectrum of his company Bravo Pharma also ranges from supporting education and strengthening start-ups in health technologies.
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