“People Thought We Wouldn’t Be Successful – But Here We Are!”

Inception days

Kairus Dadachanji reminisces enthusiastically on the inception days of the Dadachanji Group. He says that it all began 35 years ago when his father was an MD of a multinational company. His father wanted Kairus to pursue Chartered Accountancy after completing his high school studies. But Kairus says he had other plans, as he wasn’t interested in sitting behind a desk and instead wanted to do something on the shop floor.

“That was when I began reading-up on business models and realised manufacturing was something that held my interest. I got my first opportunity to realise my dreams when a small ampoule manufacturing company offered me an opportunity to buy some shares and look after their newly established plant in Boisar, Tarapur. The company belonged to someone who supplied materials to my father’s company, and they were looking for a partner to set up their operations,” says Kairus.

He shared that though it was pretty opportunistic for them and he did join hands with them as well, but eventually it didn’t turn out to be very fruitful. The venture was a great opportunity, and Kairus’ first foray into manufacturing. However, he says it did not turn out to be very fruitful in the long run. But the experience made him foray into building his own business – now known as the Dadachanji Group – and there has been no looking back since.

For over 30 years, The Dadachanji Group of companies has been a premier manufacturer of pharmaceutical products. With innovative, tech-driven solutions at the helm of its approach, each product, from, packaging, manufacturing injections to customised medical machinery, is world class as the company values quality in development and quantity in production.

When asked about his first products, Kairus clearly remembers the beginning with tubular glass manufacturing which are used to make further downstream products like glass ampoules, vials, cartridges and syringes. “We also believe that something that is entering into the human body must be made with utmost precision and care, and using the highest standard of technology available. Therefore, we decided to upgrade the concept of glass manufacturing in India, by bringing in a high GMP model, which ushered in world class manufacturing practices for the first time into the Indian market,” stated Kairus.

Kairus also talks about the challenges he faced, saying the journey has certainly not been a cakewalk. There were many naysayers who considered him foolish; some also advised him to shut shop, as they did not believe the business model would be very successful. Despite this, Kairus believes that his belief in his passion and hard work helped him overcome all the odds. “Here we are, the biggest manufacturers of pharma packaging in India today!”, he adds. -

When the son takes over the reigns

Moving on to the future generation, Rishad remembers a different childhood to his father – he has seen the business grow under his father and remembers the time when they had only 4 machines. “I have been fortunate to witness the company grow each day under my father’s vigilance and constant guidance from four machines, to new buildings, new lines,” asserts Rishad.

“I cannot shy away from accepting that I have also grown up with the company and hence its working has been in my blood ever since.”

But Rishad wasn’t just born with a silver spoon in his mouth. According to Kairus, he had to prove his merit to take the reins of this company in his hands. “In the initial 4-5 months of my joining, I took my time to understand and study the various branches of our businesses. I already had a base from my years shadowing my father, but the ground level understanding of the work mechanisms were gained when I decided to join my father whole-time.,” remembers Rishad.

Rishad brought with him a fresh vigour into the group – and made new product development and innovation his forte. With his leadership, the company patented many existing products and have filed for many more patents since. They have also brought in a new product development segment, as well launched new companies which cater to the untapped market segments. “I strongly believe in developing products that help our customers fulfil existing needs – for this we study market gaps and strive to develop specific solutions and products catering to them”, says Rishad.

He also introduces us to his proud new addition to the group’s portfolio, the recently launched company KAIRISH INNOTECH. Visibly proud of the work the company has been doing, he explains that the company is a first of its kind in India to offer completely custom-made technological machines and automation solutions for the pharma industry, and others. “If u can dream it, we can make it for you – we take care of the design, development and manufacturing for all customised machines, medical devices, tooling, robotics and automation services”, says Rishad.

Taking over from an illustrious and immensely successful father, we ask Rishad if he felt pressured by the enormous responsibility of taking over the future of the company. He says he has been fortunate in that department, as he was eased into the company in a gradual manner – and given enough time to understand the mechanism of all segments of the business in-depth before taking charge. Today, he feels he has learnt a lot from his father and invested enough background work into the company to be able to handle day to day affairs with clarity, and efficiency. “For any other difficulties, Dad is always around to act as my advisor and sounding board”, he says in the end.

Leadership styles and challenges

Though a generational gap is often observed between first and second-generation entrepreneurs, but the father-son duo seems to be on a similar wavelength, for instance, they both believe strongly in standing by their staff in tough times.

During the pandemic, when reports indicated that the pharma sector was booming, companies in The Dadachanji Group were busy making sure their labour were well protected and housed, so that they could continue to cater to the immense need of pharma packaging and medicines during the harrowing times. At a time when facts claimed that pharma sector was on a high and was booming each day, it was those people in the pharma world who experienced dire need of labour to logistically provide medicines and other necessary aids to hospitals, as well as the nation.

Kairus and Rishad both remember the massive efforts involved in ensuring that labour remained healthy, and reached their production sites. “Geographically, Daman lies between Maharashtra and Gujarat – two of the most affected states by Covid. Moreover, most of our labour was also from Gujarat. We must thank the Daman Administration, that helped us get labour through the sealed borders, so we could continue the production work, in keeping with proper Covid protocols. To our amazement, we did surpass those high-pressure times as well, delivering in full to our customers.” stated Kairus.

Both believe that for your employees to stay loyal to you, you too have to be receptive to their needs. In a very humane description, Rishad elucidated that they spent most of their time during the pandemic taking care of their employees – from housing, food and Medicare – to ensure that they looked after the employees, who were selflessly working to help the country in an unprecedented medical crisis. He also described how both him and his 60-year-old father Kairus, worked from office during the peak of the pandemic - spending almost 8 months with their workers in factories – to ensure high morale and be role models in these trying times.

What lies ahead

Rishad is proud to possess a similar working style to that of his father. He likes to surround himself with his teammates and create a friendly environment, and engages in discussions with them in order to take informed decisions. He believes that taking is the best feedback, and is essential to making right decisions. “Hence we follow an open-door policy – literally anyone can come up to me or my father for troubleshooting or to give suggestions or help in laying the roadmap for procedures ahead,” says Rishad.

When asked about the future, both Rishad and his father are clear that their priority is to cater to the non-availability of solutions in Indian markets. “Looking at what is available globally but not in India, we basically see a phenomenon where things gain attraction more easily in global markets but take more time in Indian markets. Another big problem lies in the huge costs of using those technologies in the Indian markets”, points out Rishad.

However, he believes that its important to evolve with time. “Our prime focus has always been understanding customer needs. We have tried to keep a solid check on whether their needs are being catered to or not and if they are getting exactly what they were seeking”, says Rishad. The company intends to continuously enhance their portfolio to offer the best solutions and the latest technology to their clients