Chiranjeevi Kumar: A Visionary Pharmaceutical Leader With A Strong Focus On Customer Centricity
Chiranjeevi Kumar
Managing Director & CEO
A multi award-winning pharma-ceutical leader with over 18 years of extensive experience across various sectors within the industry, Chiranjeevi Kumar started his career with Ranbaxy as a Medical Representative and has worked for various esteemed organizations over the years. In 2018, he started his Pune-based Pharmaceutical firm Curega Healthcare and has been using his inspiring leadership abilities to push the firm to provide high-quality drugs as per market demand at affordable prices.
In an exclusive Interview with CEO Insights, Chiranjeevi sheds light on his overall industry experience, his leadership approach, and much more.
Could you walk us through your professional journey?
I started my professional journey as a Medical Representative in the pharmaceutical industry with Ranbaxy in 2007. After working as a Medical Representative for around one and a half years, I was promoted to First-line manager. I was also the youngest manager in Ranbaxy’s history to get promoted within one and a half years. Later, I joined Alembic, where I launched the cardiac & diabetes division. After around three years at Alembic, I joined Torrent Pharma. During my three and a half years at Torrent as a first line manager, I also got a chance to launch the cardiac & diabetes division at the firm.
Thereafter, I joined Novonordisk, a market leader in insulin and diabetes, as a business development manager. Later, I got promoted to Regional Manager, where my responsibilities included managing a bigger team at the firm's headquarters in Mumbai while taking care of the entire operations
in Maharashtra, MP, Chhattisgarh, and Goa. During my tenure at Novonordisk, I also got the opportunity to launch the firm's flagship brand Tresiba.
In 2018, I left Novonordisk and started Curega Healthcare. Over the last five years, Curega has been experiencing tremendous growth with a primary focus on helping patients who are suffering from diabetes or other cardiovascular diseases. Currently, we are pretty much present in every city of Maharashtra and have also launched in Madhya Pradesh. We are also planning to expand our venture in Karnataka and Chhattisgarh.
As the CEO & Managing Director, what are the factors you take into account when developing effective corporate strategies?
As a leader, you need to have a clear direction and purpose for the company to guide decision-making. The focus should always be on understanding the market trends and based on that, developing unique value propositions while consistently seeking new ideas or technologies that can help the company stand out from its competitors in the market. Apart from that, you also have to collaborate with your peers in the market to leverage complementary strengths and resources. The overall delivery and growth of an organization depend massively on its employees. As an organization, attracting, developing, and retaining top talent is vital to drive innovation and execution.
A key strategy to continuous business growth is to be responsive towards regulatory and market changes while identifying and mitigating potential risks to the business, including financial, operational, and reputational risks. You have to balance shortterm goals with long-term sustainability and growth objectives. Lastly, effective evaluation strategies are vital to evaluate organizational growth compared to the goals set. That can be achieved by establishing metrics and KPIs to track progress and evaluate the effectiveness of strategies while being willing to adjust course as needed.
How do you guide the team in performing extensive research on accurate formulations and nurture innovation to process these products?
We don't have a manufacturing unit of our own and are planning to set up one soon. We are currently
In 2018, I left Novonordisk and started Curega Healthcare. Over the last five years, Curega has been experiencing tremendous growth with a primary focus on helping patients who are suffering from diabetes or other cardiovascular diseases. Currently, we are pretty much present in every city of Maharashtra and have also launched in Madhya Pradesh. We are also planning to expand our venture in Karnataka and Chhattisgarh.
Instead of putting more effort into planning, focus more on the execution
As the CEO & Managing Director, what are the factors you take into account when developing effective corporate strategies?
As a leader, you need to have a clear direction and purpose for the company to guide decision-making. The focus should always be on understanding the market trends and based on that, developing unique value propositions while consistently seeking new ideas or technologies that can help the company stand out from its competitors in the market. Apart from that, you also have to collaborate with your peers in the market to leverage complementary strengths and resources. The overall delivery and growth of an organization depend massively on its employees. As an organization, attracting, developing, and retaining top talent is vital to drive innovation and execution.
A key strategy to continuous business growth is to be responsive towards regulatory and market changes while identifying and mitigating potential risks to the business, including financial, operational, and reputational risks. You have to balance shortterm goals with long-term sustainability and growth objectives. Lastly, effective evaluation strategies are vital to evaluate organizational growth compared to the goals set. That can be achieved by establishing metrics and KPIs to track progress and evaluate the effectiveness of strategies while being willing to adjust course as needed.
How do you guide the team in performing extensive research on accurate formulations and nurture innovation to process these products?
We don't have a manufacturing unit of our own and are planning to set up one soon. We are currently
getting the manufacturing done by a third-party manufacturer on our license, who strictly adheres to our set of compliances and guidelines while manufacturing our products. Once the drugs are ready, the manufacturers send the quality report to us. After receiving the drugs, we still do one more round of quality testing. In case of any difference between the two reports, we don't allow those medicines to go to market.
As a team, we have trained our team to constantly and extensively work on as well as analyze a wide range of market trends, including the latest customer demands, the newer treatments available, trending compositions and combinations, and many more. We also gather IMS data from various third-party research bodies. Apart from that, we also closely monitor various international markets and try to match them in terms of innovation as well as product quality.
Tell us about your leadership approach. What are the guidelines or methodologies you follow as a leader?
I believe in being focused and patient. Sometimes, your team tries to do many things at once or seeks immediate results, especially in sales. However, the whole process never happens overnight and always takes time. As a leader, you need to have that patience. Leadership is no science but more of an art, an art of getting people along with you and keeping them inspired to get the best out of them. You also always have to be there whenever your team needs your support. As a leader, you should know the way, show the way, and go the way.
Chiranjeevi Kumar, Managing Director & CEO, Curega HealthCare
A visionary and multi-award-winning industry leader with over 18 years of extensive experience across various domains, such as sales, marketing, business development, key account management, dealer management, client servicing, and team management, Chiranjeevi Kumar started his career with Ranbaxy. Over the years, he has worked with many reputed pharmaceutical organizations with a proven track record in increasing revenues, streamlining workflow, evolving effective operational procedures, and enhancing profitability. An inspiring leader with a strong belief in teamwork, Chiranjeevi currently works as the CEO & Managing Director of Pune-based leading Pharmaceutical firm, Curega Healthcare.
•Hobbies: Playing Cricket, Singing
•Favourite Cuisine: Home-made food
•Favourite book: The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma
•Favourite Travel Destination:
Shirdi (Sai Temple)
As a team, we have trained our team to constantly and extensively work on as well as analyze a wide range of market trends, including the latest customer demands, the newer treatments available, trending compositions and combinations, and many more. We also gather IMS data from various third-party research bodies. Apart from that, we also closely monitor various international markets and try to match them in terms of innovation as well as product quality.
Tell us about your leadership approach. What are the guidelines or methodologies you follow as a leader?
I believe in being focused and patient. Sometimes, your team tries to do many things at once or seeks immediate results, especially in sales. However, the whole process never happens overnight and always takes time. As a leader, you need to have that patience. Leadership is no science but more of an art, an art of getting people along with you and keeping them inspired to get the best out of them. You also always have to be there whenever your team needs your support. As a leader, you should know the way, show the way, and go the way.
Chiranjeevi Kumar, Managing Director & CEO, Curega HealthCare
A visionary and multi-award-winning industry leader with over 18 years of extensive experience across various domains, such as sales, marketing, business development, key account management, dealer management, client servicing, and team management, Chiranjeevi Kumar started his career with Ranbaxy. Over the years, he has worked with many reputed pharmaceutical organizations with a proven track record in increasing revenues, streamlining workflow, evolving effective operational procedures, and enhancing profitability. An inspiring leader with a strong belief in teamwork, Chiranjeevi currently works as the CEO & Managing Director of Pune-based leading Pharmaceutical firm, Curega Healthcare.
•Hobbies: Playing Cricket, Singing
•Favourite Cuisine: Home-made food
•Favourite book: The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma
•Favourite Travel Destination:
Shirdi (Sai Temple)