PHARMA LIFE
DR SHRI THANEDAR
THE SPUNKY ENTREPRENEUR From a small town boy in India to US millionaire, Dr Shri Thanedar’s journey to success is a saga of grit and gumption which would continue to inspire entrepreneurs in the times to come BY SACHIN JAGDALE “Listen to the mustnt’s, child, Listen to the don’ts Listen to the shouldn’ts The impossibles, the won’ts Listen to the never haves Anything can happen, child, Anything can be”
T
hese lines by Shel Silverstein, American poet, singer-songwriter may have inspired Dr Shri Thanedar, CEO, Avomeen Analytical Services, as he embarked on his educational and entrepreneurial journey to the
86 EXPRESS PHARMA December 1-15, 2015
US, from a small village in Belgaum in Karnataka, India. His life is a reflection of a journey that is filled with emotions, tragedies, struggles, celebrations and success. Today, Thanedar is one of the most sought-after analytical service providers in the US pharma and chemical industry.
Back to the beginning Like many young ambitious students, Thanedar too dreamt of pursuing his education in the US. However, unfortunately he was denied the
visa four times as he did not have the requisite bank balance and enough property to convince the US consulate that he will return to India after completing his education. Thankfully, after a lot of trials and tribulations, he somehow got the visa in 1979 and started pursuing his PhD in polymer chemistry at the University of Akron. Thanedar’s life in the US was tougher than his experiments in the chemistry lab. In the initial days, he did not even have a place to reside. So he
used to conduct experiments throughout the day in the laboratory and sleep there itself (going against the set protocols). He recalls an incident when after performing experiments till late in the night,
was unable to wake up early the next morning and unfortunately his professor saw him sleeping in the seminar room. He had to literally run with his sleeping bag from there. Overcoming all the difficul-