Saving Lives to Celebrating Life!

It has been three months since I left GE Healthcare to join DIAGEO India leading Technology and Innovation R&D. Having spent twenty years in Healthcare and having spent the better part of the last decade decoding problem statements, building scalable solutions, identifying barriers to adoption and working with the start-up ecosystem to deliver sustainable solutions for parts of the world that do not have access to care, the move to the Alcoholic Beverages space was indeed a leap of faith.

Most people, including myself, ask this question of me - "Why did you move from Healthcare to Alco-Bev?" The domains seem to be at loggerheads with each other. The answer was simple. Purpose. Back when I had joined GE Healthcare in 1999, I did it for a reason - having lost my dad to pancreatic cancer and having felt helpless despite all the connections in the medical fraternity that my mom had, I felt a burning desire to "do something about it". They say fortune favors the brave. In my case, I believe the saying is "Desire and commitment to a cause opens new doors". That was exactly what happened with GE. A random advertisement in The Hindu, one of India's national dailies, caught my attention. "Wipro GE Medical Systems looking for candidates with knowledge of French and Fluid Dynamics". I applied. The rest is history.

20 years hence, in 2019, I had reached a stage in my career where I felt proud of what had been accomplished, the foundations that had been built, the people that were groomed, products that were delivered and most importantly, the lives that were touched in moments of need. Over the years, I had also developed a passion for beer. The story goes back to the days when I shared my first beer with my father. More on that later. Having met people in the micro-brewery industry and looking at the potential for true craft of brewing, I had developed a strong desire to open a micro-brewery of my own at some point in time. While it continued to be a dream for over 8 years, I was greatful that I had my mind open when the opportunity to work with DIAGEO India came up. I always knew I wanted to move to the brewing industry at some point, albeit in a start-up mode. That was my second calling. My second Purpose. Build a legacy of crafted liquids. The possibility of working with DIAGEO meant I could indulge in brewing at SCALE! This was important. Having worked with multiple start-ups in the healthcare industry, I am a firm believer in the philosphy of "Scale is directly proportional to the Impact" you can make. And, the prospect of making a large-scale impact with one of the world's largest alco-bev companies immediately appealed to me. As I said earlier, "Desire and commitment to a cause opens new doors".

Having moved into the alco-bev space, the first week was a real rush. I was literally drinking out of a firehose (no pun intended). And now, having spent close to three months, I wanted to present my perspective comparing healthcare with the alco-bev industry.

Market: The Alco-Bev market in India is roughly $210B. That is roughly double the Healthcare market at $110B. Interestingly, while Alco-Bev is considered a consumer business, the route to market is essentially B2B or B2G2B as direct sales to consumer is controlled by retailers or government institutions. Very similar to the Healthcare market where products are essentially sold B2B or B2G. G = Government. And, this makes the entire product life cycle - starting with assessing the need, creating new blends, envisioning new categories of beverages and marketing the product to the end consumer in a media-dark industry - challenging to say the least.

Product: The end product in Alco-Bev is a beverage in a pack. It is consumed by the consumer and the beverage is directly absorbed into the blood stream. Sounds similar to the pharma world. Coming from the Healthcare sector, as a product guy, my first impression was consumer safety. Interestingly, just as we have Regulatory Laws that are evolving for Medical Devices and Drugs in the country, so is the case with Alco-Bev. There are numerous discussions, debates and consultations around framing the right food safety norms that will ensure consumer safety above all. And, a recently published article also called for the potential harmonization of food safety standards (FSSAI) and drugs safety standards (CDSCO). I believe this is headed in the right direction - for reasons of simplification and more importantly, for effective application of consumer safety norms.

Jurisdiction: The governance of Alco-Bev is a State subject. Everything from manufacturing licenses, distribution licenses and commercial sales happen through government entities at the State level. Every State has total control of Alco-Bev governance and commercial returns arising from the sale. Interestingly, Healthcare is a State subject as well. Every State has a healthcare mandate to meet and they completely own all investments and associated sustenance of healthcare projects. The biggest difference I notice is the economics associated with the two domains - one is a natural draw for consumers and the other not so much. One is a consumption-driven industry. The other is starved of consumption. I leave it to your imagination to figure out which is which.

Uncertainty: What makes for a great beverage? That is a million-dollar question. And in some cases, a billion-dollar question. Taste profiles, aromas, nose, pallette, after-taste and accessibility - terms that are used to understand consumer preferences - difficult to decode, large variances in judgment and a highly complex sensorial analysis. An "IF-THIS-THEN-THAT" equation is just hard to put down. Just as in Healthcare, a lot is left to be understood about the functioning of the human anatomy. Uncertainty, therefore, when bringing out a new product offering is extremely high and is almost never a function of only the product.

Consumer Behavior: If there is one stark and glaring difference between the two sectors, it is the behavior of consumers. Alco-Bev is a commodity that consumers want to spend money on. Healthcare on the other hand is incidental. People think about spending money, in most cases, only when they fall sick. While state subsidies and measures taken by the central government to help provide medical insurance have slowly started making healthcare more accessible and pertinent, I believe changing consumer behavior and their approach to wellness, fitness, health and pro-active self-provided health covers will be the answer to long term sustenance. Think about it this way - India produces roughly 28 million people of legal drinking age every year. That is the same as the number of babies born in India every year. What would it take for us to proactively insure every baby the day it is born just as the market expects every individual of legal drinking age to start consumption?

20 years of Saving Lives has brought me to a new chapter - that of Celebrating Life. And, there is a ton of impact to be made - from crafting the finest of products and bringing consumer delight to life to working with the government on constructive regulations focused on consumer safety to enabling consumer awareness and advocacy.

Say Cheers!