Strengthening the pharma industry with her 23 years of experience, Ms. Nita Borkar talks about her journey and vision with The Global Hues.
Entrepreneurship can be a tough and long journey for many people. Some get lucky and succeed the first time. For Nita, that wasn’t the case. She continued learning and growing through her journey. It was her dream to become a successful entrepreneur. It all started way back in 1997 with Nicholas Piramal. Her conviction and hard work helped her to move up the curve and grow as a strong strategic leader.
Nita’s positive qualities include being a good listener, the ability to analyze any situation, and having clarity in thoughts, which helped in her career. She was an asset to rapidly growing organizations. It was the same skill set that acted as the driver for the growth of Oaknet Healthcare, the new emerging organization where Nita is currently driving 1000+ employees as an executive director.
The leading lady along with the founder & 4 Key Sales professionals was behind the strategic decision of acquiring the entire Indian market of Adcock Ingram to the kitty of Oaknet Life Sciences, a start-up in the Pharma market with a turnover of Rs.4 crores in just one year of its inception. This was possible with a long-term vision to scale up the business to a new level to generate higher profits. “One successful step towards a big leap convinced a leading private equity firm to invest in Oaknet Life Sciences to acquire the business of Adcock Ingram. This resulted in the formation of Oaknet Healthcare and the ‘dream came true,” said Nita.
Journey to Entrepreneurship
Nita’s mother always taught her that there is no shortcut to success, only determination and hard work can bring success in life. Her mother and sister are the guiding force in her life who kept her grounded. Fortunately, she has always worked with bosses who have been demanding and brought out the best of her. In 2000, She joined Lupin Pharma which was entering chronic therapy in the Indian market.
Over the next couple of years, She worked closely with Megha Dhargalkar, and chalked out the launch plan of the Cardio-Diabetic division in India, shaping the company’s future expansion and growth strategies. Nita played a pivotal part in the selection of the molecules, brands, and execution strategies. In 2003, she moved to Dabur India as Marketing Manager, APAC. During her tenure, she successfully launched and positioned Dabur Oncology as the No.1 generic company in Thailand, Philippines, and Malaysia.
Later, she re-joined Lupin under the mentorship of Mr. R.S. Raghav, scripted the business plan that delivered and landed Lupin amongst the top 10 CNS companies in India in the first 6 years of launch. Nita played a key role in the expansion of the Non-communicable diseases (NCD) business of Lupin and the business flourished exponentially. With the strategic decision, dedication, perseverance, determination, and hard work she emerged as a successful leader, making Oaknet Healthcare a force to reckon in IPM.
Nita looks at the business through a customer’s lens. New brands, new markets, new therapy areas, with an ability to take risks and build brands increasing the market share in the IPM fascinates her. As a businessperson, building a stronger business model with a solid EBITDA is very crucial to Nita. She loves reading books & novels, watching Hollywood and some Bollywood movies in her spare time.
About the Company and Products
Oaknet Healthcare’s inception took place in 2016 along with leading PE firm, MD, CEO Mr. R.S. Raghav, Nita Exec. Director and with few other colleagues. The acquisition of Adcock Ingram has propelled Oaknet to an impressive 78th position with over 1000 employees spread across the country. In a short span of 25 months, there was a turnaround from a loss-making entity to a profitable business. The strategic vision for Oaknet is to build a Sustainable, Scalable, and Specialty focused pharmaceutical company.
The core values are Performance Orientation, Innovation, Openness, and Committed to Learning & Integrity. Oaknet Healthcare offers a huge basket of products in the field of Dermatology, Woman Health, Diabetology & Cardiology offering superior care to the patients with quality and unique products. At Oaknet Customer is a priority. With state-of-art manufacturing and best practices, Oaknet delivers value. Oaknet has acquired many MNC brands, strengthening its portfolio year after year.
Oaknet is a team of multi-talented and highly experienced professionals dedicated to enabling India’s medical fraternity. All these efforts come from the passion to serve humanity, like the Oak tree that shelters everyone, without discrimination. The business ethos is Performance Orientation. Oaknet strives towards ushering a new era where the best medical treatments will be affordable not just to the classes, but also to the masses.
Overcoming the challenges
Nita has faced many tough challenges during her entrepreneurial journey. She gives all the credit to her family for their unending support which helped her to balance work and personal life. “My husband- Mr. Prasad, a banker by profession, daughter- Nitika, parents & siblings supported me and always encouraged me to try new things,” said Nita.
Nita believes that every individual must analyze the situation and make the right decisions at the right time for progressive business growth. Times are changing, as a country, people are advancing and seeing women in leadership roles. “The current environment has become conducive to the empowerment of women and women have to come,” said Nita. “As an individual, I have never faced any discrimination or gender bias in my career,” she further added.
Words of wisdom
- Acute determination, hard work, and perseverance, together with constant learning, will help you reach heights in your career.
- Businesses are not run by emotions. We should not be emotional, rather be professional while making business decisions.
- Competency and Commitment are the two things that will take us places no matter the gender.
- Have passion & a strong desire to do something unique, and channelize all energy to achieve that goal in life and be successful.
Vision and Future Projects
As a team, she believes that Oaknet can strive & reach:
- Amongst Top 50 companies in the IPM.
- Top 15 companies in the derma segment.
- Top 30 companies in the Gynae market.
- In terms of brands, build at least 10 brands above 10 Cr, 4 brands above 20 Cr, and one 50 Cr brand.
- To acquire corporations and brands in identified therapies to increase the rank and market share in IPM.
Advice for upcoming female entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurship requires a lot of patience to handle failure, meticulous planning to ensure that the business entity does not run into a financial crisis. Every step has to be financially safe and executed accordingly. It is also important to build a solid reputation for the organization to attract talent through a growth story and culture.
A book that inspires Nita
Nita is very inclined towards reading. She loves to read the Bhagavad Gita and implement its learnings in everyday life. “I could recollect the famous saying from the Bhagavad Gita, ‘Parivartan Sansar ka Niyam Hai’, which translates to, ‘Change is the Law of Nature’. Change is inevitable and better you change to the changed circumstances. Change to be a Game Changer” explained Nita.
Favorite book:
“The Reluctant Billionaire”, a biography of Dilip Shanghvi the founder of Sun Pharmaceuticals.
Favorite quote:
“Define success on your own terms, achieve it by your own rules, and build a life you’re proud to live.” – Anne Sweeney, Co-Chair of Disney Media Networks
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