DECARBONISATION

Key insight #4: Cultivate an optimistic mindset. This will help you come back from failure and find new solutions quickly.

Pablo Hernandez: During the many years of running and scaling up your business, you faced challenges and even some failures. What did you learn from these experiences?

Dr. Pramod Chaudhari: Optimism is of paramount importance for entrepreneurs. I consider myself lucky in that regard because I am a robust optimist. When you’re optimistic, it’s easier to be innovative and find creative solutions. Of course, the focus should always be on the customer and how quickly and effectively we can satisfy their needs. At one point, most of my company’s business depended on countries in Southeast Asia. Then, in the late 1990s, those countries went through a currency crisis. We had a strategy mismatch with existing products in new markets and new products in existing markets, so our company suffered. But we learned lessons from that situation, and I changed how we do business. Running a company is an endurance game and a team sport.

Pablo Hernandez: How do you manage to push ahead in these challenging and complex moments?

Dr. Pramod Chaudhari: We focused on innovation, which helped us explore manufacturing in a different way, and we also began exploring new markets. Our focus shifted from Southeast Asia to South America, and then we ended up in Colombia. We saw that the country was importing oil and exporting sugar, so we said, “Why don’t you use this extra sugar to make fuel?” By working with local authorities and developer trade organizations, we helped them create their own ethanolblended fuel. From 2003 to 2007, several products in that market reached almost 100 percent market share, which was huge. Because of our success in Colombia, we knew we could go to new markets and find the right technology solution to solve their specific problems. So from there we started working in developed countries such as Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This is just a small example, but with optimism, resilience, and an open mind for solutions, you can transform every failure into a lesson and seize the opportunity to grow successfully.

Key insight #5: Learn how to anticipate problems so you can solve them swiftly; multiple solutions for the same challenge may exist.

Pablo Hernandez: With the growth of your company, you’ve been able to do a lot of new-business building, R&D, and product development. How do you balance creating new things while focusing on the performance of the current business?

Dr. Pramod Chaudhari: You need to train your team to “change the wheel while the car is running.” You also need to get a feel for what the upcoming problems or challenges are so that you can be proactive about finding solutions. These practices can help you face challenges more confidently and comfortably. We have a strong conviction that our future growth drivers stem from R&D; hence, maintaining a healthy innovation pipeline is critical to business growth. In the hustle and bustle of running a business, we have always kept a steady eye on our R&D performance.

Pablo Hernandez: Today, being “green” is a priority globally, with many initiatives running in parallel. If you were to start a new business, where would you start?

Dr. Pramod Chaudhari: Genetically modified crops don’t exist in most markets, except in the United States, though they are starting to take off in Europe. I think there should be a greater global effort to create affordable, scalable, and higher-quality genetically modified products that have a more robust life cycle. This way, we can use the same area of land but have more value-add products per each square meter of land. These improved crops may need less water, may not require pesticides, and could produce more and better yields. In this and other areas, biology plays a very important role. We cannot stop the growth of our population, but we can find ways and means to support [people] while not allowing the planet to suffer. Biobased solutions can address both of these needs. Whenever I get the chance, I like to create awareness about climate action and solutions because each challenge brings the potential opportunity to find multiple solutions for the same problem. If everyone looks at things this way, then you can help yourself and others prosper.