Vinod Ramchandra Jadhav is a first generation Entrepreneur and leader of several organizations. He is the Chairman of Sava Group and Devtech M2M and the Director of GenGen Inc. and Regent Global FZCO. Throughout his career, Mr. Jadhav has been a principal contributor to the development and maintenance of supply chain topics in various industries ranging from planning and logistics to strategy and transformation. He is most passionate about providing opportunities to grow people’s careers and positively impact the lives of others.
Mr. Jadhav is a proud honorary member of Rotary International, well-known for connecting people who work together to solve community problems, provide humanitarian aid, and promote peace. With over 35,000 clubs worldwide, Rotary’s Pune Heritage Club awarded Mr. Jadhav Honorary Membership. Since then he has been involved like Happy School Project, Dialysis Unit and Pediatric Ward infrastructure development at Sassoon Hospital, Pune, India.
He holds diploma in Mechanical Engineering from Cusrow Wadia Institute of Technology and a graduate degree in Materials Management from Indian Institute of Materials Management.
Where did the idea for your company come from?
After completing my Mechanical Engineering Diploma in 1990, I worked for 13 years with Engineering and Automotive companies like L&T, Mercedes-Benz, Fiat Automotive and Tata AutoComp. I gained experience in various aspects of supply chain management, import-exports, global sourcing and international taxation laws.
I was obsessed with a passion for being an entrepreneur after reading the book, “Rich Dad Poor Dad.”
To start something on my own, I started with a “Medicine Shoppe” franchise in 2001 as I had very limited capital.
Over a period of time, my knowledge of medicine and supply chain, management with more than 13 years’ professional experience helped me establish a Pharmaceutical Export house in 2003 with the first breakthrough coming from exports to Fiji. As the operation grew, we found the Indian laws restrictive for the growth of the business and decided to set up operations in UAE and Mauritius for global trading of pharmaceuticals in 2006-07.
There was no looking back, I acquired two pharmaceutical manufacturing companies in 2010 in India and set up marketing offices in six countries around the world employing 600+ people.
What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive? How do you bring ideas to life?
I have delegated large parts of operational decision making to the executive management of each company in India and UAE since the beginning of company operations. I ensure one to two interactions with each executive team member per week discussing business strategies, growth areas, and areas of improvement for operational efficiencies.
What’s one trend that really excites you?
The global trend of Artificial Intelligence is exciting, and it will be interesting to see how we are able to leverage this new trend for our businesses.
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
Making timely decisions is an essential aspect of the entrepreneurship. The effectiveness of decisions can’t be known immediately; however, it is essential that decisions are not delayed.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Success is all about knowledge and hard work. There are no shortcuts to success.
Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.
Many people feel that success is all about luck. For me, luck is all about hard work, knowledge, and experience playing in tandem to get results.
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
It is important to have conviction for your idea and back it with full resources. There are no part time businesses and if I am convinced I will make full efforts in backing the idea.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?
The customer is king. The customer is always right, and your business exists because of the customer. If a customer is kept at the center of your fulfillment model, your business will grow. Business is all about offering solutions to satisfy the needs of the customer. As long as the customer finds value in your relationship, your business and your offerings, it will keep growing.
What is what failure you’ve had as an entrepreneur? What did you learn from it?
As an Entrepreneur, I had more than one failure, and that has not stopped me from taking risks.
The most notable failure being the “SAVA Medica” Branded Generic business in India. We started with a lot of fanfare, and it failed miserably causing a loss of more than 400 jobs.
When I critically analyzed it, it was evident that we failed to provide the market with product distinction and position in the marketplace. In a branded generic market, it is important to launch products which have some unique positioning in the marketplace. In the absence of that, the business model is bound to fail.
I learned from that failure and launched “SAVAVET,” a new division for branded generic Veterinary products with a new resolve to ensure that we launch “first to market” branded generic products and not to compromise on that principle.
SAVA Medica’s failure happened in early 2012, and immediately I launched SAVAVET within the first quarter of 2012.
Today, with five years of operation in India, SAVAVET has achieved immense respect and brand value from the Indian veterinary community and is ranked amongst the top 5 companies in India for branded generic prescription VET products.
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
The best $100 I spent was on books. I like reading non-fiction, biographies, and management-focused literature. Every time I read a book, I learn new things and find new perspectives.
What software and web services do you use? What do you love about them?
Google has been the miracle of our generation. There are many products from Google which I’ve used effectively over the years to enhance productivity. Google Cloud services & Gmail have been great tools which helped our international trading business with cross border activities.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
My all-time favorite is “Rich Dad Poor Dad,” by Robert Kiyosaki. It advocates the importance of financial literacy (financial education), financial independence and building wealth through investing in assets, real estate investing, starting and owning businesses, as well as increasing one’s financial intelligence (financial IQ) to improve one’s business and financial aptitude.
It was a very influential book which motivated me to try my hand at entrepreneurship. I also believe that books are powerful tools to develop our thoughts and visions. Books play a decisive role in helping us achieve success.
Steve (Stefan) Junge hails from Germany and helps with the day-to-day publishing of interviews on IdeaMensch. While he and Mario don’t share a favorite soccer club, their enthusiasm to help entrepreneurs is a shared passion.