The buck never stops

My aim to put India on the map for lifesciences was possible only by establishing a classical, robust and efficient marketing mechanism for HiMedia Labs. Pvt. Ltd. Without the benefits of digital marketing and ease of communication that we enjoy today, it was a very challenging task to ensure that our market presence was far reached across the globe 49 years ago. With a strong sales force that has grown to more than 150 capable members spread across the country and an all-encompassing dealership network across 150+ countries and more than 600+ Indian distributor companies, a remarkable business track record worth ₹1200+ crores at an average growth rate of 18 percent, I can proudly say that I lead one of the most stable and successful marketing and sales teams in the biosciences business. After tireless long journeys across various countries for months together with limited phone calls back home and by persistent efforts with extremely brand conscious end users, my dream of building the strongest marketing and sales teams in the Lifesciences sector seems rather rewarding.

HiMedia Labs. caters to one of the broadest biosciences product categories: our premier established line of Microbiology products and newer promising products in Molecular Biology, Automated and Molecular Instruments, Cell Biology, Chemicals, and Premium Grade Lab Consumables, amongst others. The Covid-19 pandemic revolutionized not only mine but also the clinical industry’s thought process regarding the significance of molecular diagnostics products. Thanks to this product segment, HiMedia was able to not only tide through a tough time but also rise to the occasion by supplying Covid-19 RT-PCR and automated extractors with kits and VTM swabs to almost 70 percent of all Indian state governments and top Indian private testing labs like SRL, Metropolis, and Neuberg.

Our Molecular Biology Division has established an in-house advanced sequencing and bioinformatics facility which marks HiMedia’s entry into the services space. Post Covid, our oncology and neonatal subsectors have grown with the development of the first ever indigenous oncology and NIPT sample processing platforms with liquid biopsy samples for cfDNA isolation.

Our cell biology segment contributed with technologies which have brought in serum free media for biopharma applications, viral vaccine production platform, multicompendial grade chemicals, cultivated meat, and 3D bioprinting.

Moving from conventional to advanced automated methods like MALDI-TOF (Autof MS 1000) has been our newest endeavour for microbiology.

As the commercial head of the organisation and a person who adapts with changing times, my focus remains on strategies to position products and come up with Innovative ways to brand and market our products based on the customer’s requirement. For example, we have a team of trained field application specialists conducting teaching kit workshops in various educational organizations thus allowing the end-user (student) to intimately understand our products’ applications and usage. With more technologically advanced products today, the need to constantly upgrade our knowledge as sales people and compete with other multinationals; at the same time, to relay the relevant competitor product information back to R&D becomes more profound. Digital marketing campaigns are being aggressively executed at HiMedia to build customer confidence on our techno-commercial expertise and create an exclusive brand space which lets us expand our customer base.

Despite all this at the age of 78, I still have the drive to build strategies for exploring more avenues and ensuring HiMedia percolates through the market not only for microbiology but also for two segments of molecular biology and cell biology. As we started with the vision- “Biosciences in the service of humankind,” this has been our mission and we are committed to serve. This mission has enabled us to surmount challenges in the transformation of India’s health sector to serve the common man by passing on the benefit of technology with cost advantage to the enterprising scientists. My journey throughout HiMedia has led me to not only succeed in terms of professional endeavours, but it has also enriched me with personal relationships formed years ago that I cherish till date.