In this special edition of the Express Pharma-NutrifyToday Boardroom Series, we introduce you to Anand Swaroop, Ph.D., a biochemist, founder and president of the evidence-based nutritional ingredient supplier Cepham and co-founder of Nutrify Today. He is also one of the six Growth Guardians who will judge the merit of the contestants during the Nutrify C Suite Sumflex – Innovation Battlefield.
A trained scientist turned entrepreneur, Swaroop leverages a decade of experience in the pharmaceutical sector, followed by 2 decades in the Natural Products sector. He is also a member of the task force constituted by the Government of India in 2021 to recommend the development of the Nutraceutical Sector in India & worldwide for Ayurvedic products.
In this interview, Swaroop lists the criteria he would look for in potential investees, stresing on products and ideas based on the 3 Ss – safety, science, and sustainability. In terms of criteria, he would judge their products /services on scientific validity, market demand, innovation, entrepreneurial team, scalability, regulatory compliance, and finally, marketing and branding.
He also lists the challenges in his entrepreneurial journey, and exhorts start ups to find healthy balance of confidence and humility, thorough market research and competitive analysis, allocate resources effectively, to avoid burnout due to a smaller team and lack of management bandwidth, to invest in regulatory expertise to meet compliance norms early enough, to avoid scaling too quickly or slowly and to guard against lack of differentiation.
On the role of startups in India, Swaroop believes that startups from India and Asia have a significant role to play, leveraging and integrating traditional medicine systems that are inherent to this part of the globe, with modern science, transfering traditional remedies to evidence-based products, while adhering to cultural preservation and sustainability.
From his perspective, the most promising segments in the holistic health, nutraceutical and functional foods segments are Plant-Based Nutrition, Personalized Nutrition, Women’s health products, Alcohol-Free & Functional Beverages, Gut Health & Gut-Brain Axis, Adaptogens and Stress Management and Beauty from Within.
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