Overcoming Odds, Picking Up The Pieces...
Monday, April 11,
2011
Karenama adapted by Aditi Kare Panandikar from the original book written in Marathi by Nandini Atmasiddha, is a remarkable story of overcoming odds, picking up the pieces when it appears that all is lost, gone and irreparable, and then steering life and business enterprise to success and victory.
While many youngsters would have spent their free hours in fun and play, Suresh grew up hanging around his father’s medical store, helping out with the dispensing and manning the cash counter, maintaining the registers and looking after the stocks. This shop was started in Margao, Goa by his father, Govind Kare, after much effort as a tradesman who sold medicines to doctors, retailers, and others in far flung rural areas. The dream to do something big and worthwhile became a reality after Govind’s wife, Vimal, gave away all her jewellery so that her husband could raise the money to set up the store, Drogaria Salcete in 1932. The family had faced tribulations and bad luck because of a curse by a godman who was upset with them for having utilised his money after they fell on hard times. Govind, inventive and eager to make a living, eked out enough from his pharmacy to later repay the godman and earn his blessings of prosperity in the face of adversity. Suresh was one of the seven children born to the wonderful couple, Vimal and Govind.
The shop grew in reputation because of the large heartedness of Govind, and Suresh learned a lot about the humane approach by watching his father interact with those who came to the store. As a matter of fact, even today, Drogaria Salcete is looked upon with a lot of respect by virtue of the reputation it has earned over the years.
The Mumbai establishment was opened after a French company offered them a dealership, on the condition that they open up an office in Bombay. In 1945, the Indo Continental Trading Company was established with its office at Dwarkadas Mansion, in Girgaum. But after Independence, the Indian government, in order to foster the manufacture of indigenous products, banned the import of foreign pharmaceutical products. On 23rd August, 1947, Indoco Remedies Ltd was registered, the first public limited company to be founded by a Goan, and started manufacturing its products in a small residential bungalow in Thane. All went well with the wholesale and retail business in Goa, and the manufacturing operations in Mumbai until 1954 when the Goa Liberation Movement started which resulted in the sealing off of borders between India and Portuguese Goa.
The standoff between the two nations saw Suresh Kare working in close co-ordination with the India’s Intelligence Bureau. When the official entrusted with handling Indoco’s operations in Mumbai expressed unwillingness to work together with Suresh, he was allowed to leave the company, and Suresh Kare, at age 24 became the Managing Director. Even before he could savour the pleasures of attaining such a high and responsible position, Suresh came face to face with the harsh realities of business and finance in Mumbai. On approaching Saraswat Bank, then a minor player, for extension of credit limit from Rs.10,000 to Rs.25,000, Sanzgiri, then General Manager of the bank, yelled, “Don’t step into my cabin! First show your performance, then and only then, come back.”
This is just the beginning. Read on for the entire beautiful story of how the Kares, along with a few trusted friends, expanded operations and grew, as they honed their own administrative and organisational capabilities, taking Indoco to greater heights.
Karenama adapted by Aditi Kare Panandikar
(from the Marathi book by Nandini Atmasiddha)