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An inspiring lesson in Indian Entrepreneurship

Hat Tip: Dr. Vijay Malik

The objective was to venture where no Indian pharmaceutical marketing company or trader had been before. The more dangerous they said it was going to be, the deeper one was willing to venture.

Which is how Caplin Point ventured to Angola in the Nineties.

There were two challenges in this African country; we did not know anyone who would be interested in marketing and distributing products on our behalf; the prevailing environment was so unsafe that it was usual for businessmen to be held at gunpoint in broad daylight and relieved of their possessions.

Even as this reality was forbidding, the business reality was that there was a large market for the simplest of pharmaceutical products; consumers were willing to pay a premium across the counter for immediate availability. We resolved our challenges through a lateral initiative – we managed a restaurant for Indian cuisine.

The decision was deliberate; the launch of the restaurant was positioned as high-profile, translating into attractive media visibility; soon the walkin patrons comprised the city’s prominent and influential; we commuted every two months from Chennai to manage operations in that country.

The labors paid off; we were able to forge profitable engagements with prospective distributors and our Angola operations, starting from the restaurant,emerged as the foundation on which the later success of Caplin Point would be built.

-from 2016 Annual Report of  Caplin Point Laboratories Ltd.

2 replies on “An inspiring lesson in Indian Entrepreneurship”

I think a master piece of Balance Sheet. Subtly away from simple, drab / jargon laced and figure impounded Balance Sheet.
Look how a Balance Sheet can be re designed and recreated.
How a dream or a vision can be communicated.
Somebody said communication is every thing in life.
What you do? You actually communicate throughout your life – whether verbal, non-verbal (facial or other body part expression) or written. It is simply communication only.

Even today the issue of physical safety is always at the back of his mind. He recalls arriving in war-torn Somalia and being robbed at gunpoint in Angola. (The company still has 10% of its business in Africa.) However, the Paarthipans have gotten adept at living and working in Latin America. The founder’s first son, Ashok, 33, heads the business there. He moved there in 2003, lives in Guatemala and is married to a Guatemalan.

In Latin America Caplin executives travel in bulletproof 4×4 cars. They steer clear of discos and dangerous neighborhoods. Ashok has his own rule of thumb: “You can see a gangster from a mile [away],” he says. “If you are ever confronted, you must give away whatever you have on you.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/anuraghunathan/2016/02/24/chennai-pharma-entrepreneur-braved-odds-to-sell-meds-in-latin-america/#261bbaa27b72

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