Meet The Telugu Guy Who Came From Humble Beginnings And Built A $300 Million Pharma Empire!

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Meet The Telugu Guy Who Came From Humble Beginnings And Built A $300 Million Pharma Empire!
How many of you know Kailasam Raghavendra Rao? He is the man who has built a $300 Million pharma empire in a short span of 13 years. He is a true role model among the first generation entrepreneurship. His life and career demonstrates how talented professionals can utilize their entrepreneurial energy and create employment and earn valuable foreign exchange for the country. Raghavendra Rao came from a middle class background in Tenali, Guntur (Dt). His father was an employee of the South Central Railways. Raghavendra Rao had been a brilliant student all through his academic career. He graduated in 1977 with a Degree in Commerce from Andhra University with a gold medal. He pursued post-graduate studies in Management in the prestigious Indian Institute of Management, Ahmadabad in 1979. He started his career in 1979 with Pure Ice Creams as the Financial Controller and contributed to a turnaround in the finances of the company and brought about a major increase in the turnover of the group in just a two year span. From there he moved to Ashok Leyland and then to Standard Organics group in Hyderabad. Due to the hard working nature of Mr. Rao the chairman of the company made him vice president. During his period the company grew five times from 5cr to 25cr. After a 9 year career his bank balance was still a paltry Rs 11,200. He decided that he needed to hit it big to succeed, thus he took the decision to go abroad. He went to Oman and joined the “Al Buraimi” group. When he landed in Oman it was a small 16 room hotel with 20-30 employees. The most qualified among them was just a standard 12 pass out. Within a span of 4 years, he quadrupled the company’s turnover, taking them from $2 Million to $8 Million Company. The pharma experience he gained at ‘Al Buraimi’ helped him begin his own Pharma Company called Oman Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals in 1990. This made him the first Indian Pharma businessman abroad. K Raghavendra Rao was awarded the Young Indian Business Achiever award in the year 1995 for his outstanding achievements. He also received the prestigious Padma Shri award from the government of India in 2001. Kailasam Raghavendra Rao’s journey from humble beginnings to becoming a leading drug baron is truly an inspirational tale of grit and determination. He truly is an inspiration for the youth of today who have entrepreneurial ambitions. (Inputs from ‘Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish’ by Rashmi Bansal)