Tenacious entrepreneurs turn COVID-19 curve ball into opportunity

For many lockdown has proved a bane. But for the enterprising entrepreneurs, it has been a boon in disguise. In Goa there are several entrepreneurs who took this challenge, innovated and emerged stronger than before. 

Director of Goa Medicare Devices Pvt Ltd (GMD), Anup Sardesai, narrated how GMD was established in 2005 for manufacture and export of disposable syringes, and Sardesai Group took it over in 2011. GMD halted production and shut operations in 2016. The company ventured into marketing of cosmetics in 2018 and a year later applied for a production license for cosmetics at the factory, which was granted late in 2019. In early 2020 the management anticipated a growing need for hand sanitisers and applied for a license to manufacture the same with the FDA in early March. The FDA later in the same month after the lockdown granted a special drug license for production of hand sanitisers because of the large nationwide requirement.

“The company was only about gearing up to produce liquid cosmetics when suddenly the opportunity to make hand sanitisers came along. We had to suddenly consider changing the production setup to make the new product, enhance the production machinery, develop new vendors, and get the production team trained all during the early stages of the Lockdown 1.0,” said Sardesai.

He further added that the hardest part was to develop new vendors, find the new raw and packaging materials, with most of the country in lockdown. What was however admirable, was the support that the government machinery was able to provide, as they got their act in order, after the first few days of difficulties.

The business has certainly increased after GMD got into the full scale production of hand sanitisers and it has brought in a certain sense of satisfaction, that they are making a contribution towards the front lines of the battle against the terrible illness.

“As we are licensed to manufacture by the DFDA Goa, and under the applicable laws, hand sanitisers are classified as a drug, we have, as instructed by the FDA suspended all our other manufacturing activities in our factory. However considering the current trend in the markets, we have decided to carry forward our activities under drugs and have applied to the DFDA to carry forward the current activities,” added Anup Sardesai.

On his learnings from the present lockdown, Sardesai said the key to the success for any business is a motivated and ambitious team, who are willing to change, innovate and adapt to a very dynamic business environment. One of the key to our success during this crisis was the willingness of our small but highly motivated team.

“As a lot of the supplies coming into Goa are out of Mumbai and in particular originating from Bhiwandi, when this location was tightly locked down, our production was almost brought to its knees. One of the biggest shortcomings for a small business is the lack of financing options. And while we are debt free, this has hindered our abilities to innovate and grow, significantly in the past and now very starkly during this crisis,” added Sardesai who is also a member of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Goa.

Former CII Chairman and founder of Magsons, Kirit Maganlal who is in the retail business expressed that due to the COVID-19 induced lockdown and apprehensions over social distancing, crowd shopping, restricted mobility etc, it has become imperative that businesses innovate to create demand and customer outreach. 

“One such method is working the hyper-local method for those who already possess a brick and mortar setup. The online delivery platform ensures that customers can shop from home, opt for contactless deliveries of their order and pay on-line. Every new model takes time to break-in and has to go through the entire process of trial and error. It is too early to say whether it is a viable, leave alone lucrative, alternative as of now but it certainly is preparing the industry for the days to come,” said Maganlal.

For him too businesses have been severely affected with the lockdown some to the extent of 100 per cent loss in revenue, particularly from the stores which are located inside shopping malls. However, they will continue with the new mode of business since it is the base of their operations. 

“Grocery forms a part of essential services and hence, despite all odds surrounding the lockdown, we have made all out efforts to keep our supermarket services running so as to serve the anguished public. I believe resilience is the key and it is important to turn your limitations into opportunities,” added Maganlal.

For Colleen Sequeira of Ace Hospitality Linen, her primary focus has been hotel industry as it has been her largest customer followed by hospitals and homes. 

“With opening of Covid hospitals and quarantine centres, we have developed a range of disposable bed and bath linen for hygiene purposes. This includes water proof mattress and pillow protectors, disposable bed sheets, pillow cases, towels and blankets. With more people locked down, we are working on customised linen to be delivered to homes. Yes, quality hotels and regular hospital linen will definitely continue. Hotels will open with renewed hygiene measures and bed and bath linen forms a fundamental experience for a guest,” said Colleen Sequeira.

On lessons learnt Sequeira said, “There is a need to diversify, need to reinvent methods, products. We also need to continue learning, listen to the pain and problems for the solutions required.”

Nikhil Shah of Crown Electronics which is into the business of industrial batteries, power conditioning equipment like stabilisers, inverters and UPS systems clients during the pre-Covid19 times included more of corporate, industries, institutes and reseller networks.

“With increase in work from home and online schooling, there is a huge demand for domestic and individual requirements which we have tapped. What we have done is added new client base and tried to develop a system to address it. Currently we are seeing an increasing demand from this new sector and also from our resellers. It will surely give positive results in the long run but what is more important is it will surely help us tide over this situation,” said Shah.

What Nikhil Shah learnt during this phase was that the business organisations need to be fitter and leaner where the remuneration is based on measurable performance. Prompt adaptability to situation and empathetic support to the staff and community to the extent possible was also the key.

Ria Patil Chandray from Porvorim who is a Vastu Shastra consultant said “My main business is vastu and astrology consultancy but with mask production I am thinking of more subsequent products related to women hygiene.”

She has now started to make khadi face masks and got many orders from pharmaceutical and other companies in bulk and retail.