It is highly difficult to stereotype the man. He refuses to be slotted. At 80, he is not sitting idle and does not indulge in endless gossip which men of his age savour all the time.
Octogenarians generally complain about sons and daughters-in-law for their negligence of them, curse politicians and officials for their slothfulness and corrupt practices (some of these elderly gentlemen themselves were government servants before their superannuation); and admonish today’s youth for their excessive greed.
He has serious health problems, In fact, he was born partial deaf. He has the usual other ailments – hypertension, sugar, heart surgery, breathing problem-which age and city life have wrought on him. He does not mind all these. With a mouthful of tablets and couple of pricks in the morning, afternoon, and night everyday, he shrugs and declares—“I am 100 per cent fit”. Fit he tries to be. He is a stickler. He and his wife stay in a posh and well-decorated house in Bangalore. Most of the time, he spends his time in his study room in the first floor. For bathing, food, meeting visitors, he come down to the ground floor. He maintains a log book and records therein every time he comes down and climbs up. He ensures that he has at least done these 25 times a day. Unmindful of heart ailment and breathing difficulty, he climbs the seven hills of Lord Venkateshwara (so far five times) barefooted, flies and stays in hotels when not in Bangalore, without an escort.
His ambitions are infectious, spirits inebriating and his zeal to achieve more is undying. He is a voracious reader, prolific writer, and composes poetry felicitously in Sanskrit. He is well-grounded in the prasthana traya, the Vedas, the Upanishads and the Gita. He is quite familiar with the Quran and the Bible and the philosophical concepts built around Buddhism.
Dr. Dayanand S.Rao was born in 1929 at Mangalore, did his schooling, graduation and Ph.D. in Mumbai (then Bombay). He majored in Organic Chemistry. He worked in the US as Research Scientist and parallelly completed his MBA over there.
Back in India, he worked for two companies – Amar Dye Chem and Colour Chem. In both these companies, the job involved was dealing with dyestuffs. Though the nature of business was unknown to Dr.Rao, he did commendable jobs, receiving awards and earning patents for the companies.
Somewhere, deep in his thoughts, Dr. Rao felt he was wasting his time and talents in Mumbai. He also felt he was commoditised. He decided to start something on his own. Thus, the first generation entrepreneur was borne in Dr. Rao. He was 51 years old then. He relocated to Bangalore and in association with close friends and relatives, Dr. Rao started Remidex Pharma Pvt. Ltd. The initial investment was 20 lakhs and the employee strength was just 15. Remide-X went into manufacture formulated drugs, in the form of tablets, capsules and liquid orals. This was a bold move, which was his wont all the time, as Dr. Rao had only self-acquired knowledge about pharmaceuticals. From Organic Chemistry to Dyestuff to Pharma, the journey was long and arduous.
During the last 25 years, Remidex has grown in strength. As of now, the firm’s turnover is ‘350 crore and employee strength is 600, which includes contract employees also. Over the time, two more firms were added:
1. Sanil Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd.
2. Ishaan Labs Pvt. Ltd.
Sanil is into making granules and Ishaan makes potent hypoglycemic.
Was the journey from rags to riches, smooth for Dr. Rao? No. There were setbacks, betrayals and humiliations. It was the early period of Remidex’s life. Dr. Rao was in need of money. He thought of raising loan from a bank and decided to meet the branch manager of a nationalised bank. When Dr. Rao sent in his business card, the manager refused to give Dr. Rao an audience, forget about sanctioning the loan!
The year was 1986, Karnataka State Financial Corporation (KFSC), the agency supposed to lend money to small units, closed the doors and gates of Remidex on the pretext that outstanding loans were not cleared.
Everyday morning workers come, wait at the gate and go back in the evening. This went on for 10 days. In the meantime, Dr. Rao was left to fend for himself. He has been converting every adversity into an opportunity. His partial deafness made him not to attend functions and meetings. He became inward looking. He has taken to reading and writing, focusing mainly on philosophy. He is seeking to get the right answer to an ever elusive question “Who am I”?
Ask him what is the secret behind his success as an entrepreneur? “It is people”, says Dr. Rao. His employees work for him, stay with him and are totally aligned with Remidex. Hardly does any employee leave and those who quit earlier came back to him. No HR expert himself, it is amazing how Dr. Rao could hire such loyal and committed employees. It appears that he hires only the top-level executives. They are given freedom and authority to hire people down the line.
Is Dr. Rao paternalistic in his approach towards his employees? The answer is no. Though CMD himself, Dr Rao goes to the plant two days in a week and that too for a brief stretch. He lays down only major policy initiatives to the functional heads. It is up to them to carry out. They are given total operational freedom. He trusts his employees and they live up to his expectations. Management of Remidex is fairly professionalised.
Born in a poor family, Dr. Rao has earned money for himself and generated wealth for the country. More than six hundred families are depending on him and drugs turned out from Remidex are lifesavers.
Being kind-hearted and generous, Dr. Rao is ever eager to reach out to the bottom of the pyramid. The tips he gives to waiters in hotels he checks in and cab drivers at airports are legendary. He has also set up a trust with corpus of 2.0 crore. The trust aims at providing scholarships for higher studies to poor students on the basis of merit.
What is Dr. Rao’s message to today’s youth? He blushes when quizzed on this. Pressed, Dr. Rao says with conviction and sincerity—have good intentions, be a good human being, have ambition but not greed, have patience and be determined. Old clichés may be, but these are the pillars of success, which sadly most people do not posses.
From Mangalore to Mumbai to the USA to Germany to Bangalore and from organic chemistry to dyestuff technology to pharma to philosophy to book writing, Dr. Rao’s saga is eventful, colorful and inspiring.
Questions 

1. What lessons can the owner and manager of a small unit learn from Dr. Rao?
2. Do you think that with the change of time and the announcement of new policies and initiatives, the life of a small unit owner would become easy?