Bioentrepreneurship Challenges & Risks – Why Is It A Career Option?
Hello every one, here’s presenting one of the 2nd place winners of the Biotecnika Article Writing Contest – Ms. A. Aishwarya! Read on and enjoy the winning article on the topic Bio-entrepreneurship -Risks, Challenges and why you must take it as a career? Congratulations once again.
The 6 obstacles and why is it worth persevering to tackle them?
“Biotechnology has no scope” is a quite common phrase used in Indian households. The Corona pandemic has shown how a virus could make everyone sit in their houses and still thinking biotechnology has no scope is troublesome to the future of mankind. Over 600 biotechnology companies,100 biotechnology incubators and 2700 start-ups in India give hope to aspiring bioentrepreneurs. The right mixture of idea, finance and management is a prerequisite tha
t would help in a successful venture.Let us discuss the 6 risks and challenges of the sector, find solutions, and know why working upon it is worth it.
Bioentrepreneurship Challenges & Risks – Why Is It A Career Option?
1. Break open the shell
The risk of investing in a growing industry is still the second reason behind the lagging of a number of bio-entrepreneurs compared to other sectors. The fear of the unknown created by fellow people about the scope and turnover based on their knowledge of business and biotechnology, along with constant discouragement is the main reason many fail to create a mark despite having biotechnology or life science as their field of interest. The shell separating you from your successful future self builds all along and finally, one’s ideas and inventions are hidden inside it forever.
The ones who have the courage to break open the shell survive. The brain hears everything you tell yourself. Hence it is important to tell it the success stories of those who followed their hearts, of those who started small but made it big and of those who never gave up. The first step of doing anything is to believe that you can do it. Being confident about the plans and goals made for the company or start-up is essential.
2. Feed on ideas as well as wastes
The multidisciplinary nature of the field can keep one guessing and can easily lure the risk-takers by the profits gained by various successful entrepreneurs in their fields, ranging from pharmaceuticals to biofertilizer production, and end up making the wrong decision if all the factors are not analysed well according to their situations. And the blame is finally on the sector for being uncertain.
Being practical and knowledgeable can help tackle the confusion for the selection of the right idea. A degree in management could add proficiency and expertise. Having a clear idea of the feasibility of media and inoculum, the location, and other requirements to produce the product or render service serves right. Doing one thing provides the best result. But it is not wrong to have two pasturages and graze on one and keep one for the bad times. Having plan B in the sector boosts confidence and even if the first one fails, one does not have to leave the sector once for all, instead opt for the second one.
No one is perfect and so are the processes carried out. Very few processes have a high yield rate, and none match the theoretical yield. To make utmost use of the same, spending on downstream processes and recovery becomes mandatory.
In the 6th century, in a few rice fields of China, the ducks were grown in confines having fractional open doors from which their wastes were moved to the lake of finfish (that resided below) as fish feed. The excess was sent to another lake that raised catfish. The remaining sustenance was offered as nutrients to the paddy fields, allowing nothing to squander. Being stringent evokes the mind towards ways of overcoming wastage. One such example is the use of mutated organisms that are made from the exploitation of knowledge in molecular biology and biotechnology tools.
3. Be the best of the nest or different from the rest
The major drawback of taking the path which is less trodden is copying the same things that the successors did. The so-called easy path to success could end up in failure due to a lack of dedication and innovation. Everyone goes by the road most successful people travel without finding the secrets of their journey.
Either copy it right or pave your own way. Setting the path right would involve making sure all the processes are done right, making yourself stand out of the crowd, just like the ZyCov-D, which has emerged as the first DNA vaccine. Though not comparatively effective, it has shown the road for the future.
4. Maybe not today, but tomorrow
It is normal to daydream about success overnight, but the field providing low to no assurance of success can turn out to be nightmares. The field is developing, yet slow-paced. The research-oriented field keeps putting on challenges all the way and gives work to your critical and analytical thinking skills and problem-solving ability, periodically. Work more on interests rather than profits.
Quitting at the onset of mistakes and not learning from them leads to failure as well as the fear to start things again. As someone said, “Winners never quit, and quitters never win.” The sector requires the confidence to deal with any kind of situation. The setting of a new path itself is the success of the field. Learning every day and knowing day to day improvements is a must when it comes to any field.
5. Feather your nest
The funds allotted by the government for the development of biotechnology have often been prone to criticism. Even though it is life sciences that play a major role in human welfare, the fact is often neglected. The rants and misbeliefs over bio-entrepreneurship force one to quit before the start.
Being aware of the policies made by the Department of Biotechnology and taking utmost use of them for enhancing start-ups or companies would prove to be effective in the long run.
Bioentrepreneurship Challenges & Risks – Why Is It A Career Option?
6. Save for the chicks
Unsustainable development in the field of biotechnology has become quite common. Bioproducts and services make use of animals and other organisms, sometimes end up exploiting them. Several NGOs and animal rights activists express their concern over the killing of living organisms without ethics. The technology used for the Welfare of the community can reverse its role, and harm biodiversity, ultimately affecting future generations.
Bio entrepreneurs must be keen on developing bioproducts or services that are sustainable and evolve less harm to fellow organisms. A part of the capital must be spent on waste management and downstream processing. Effluents must be treated before being released into the environment. Combining environmental engineering with biotechnology plays a key role.
Challenges make things interesting. If you are a person ready to overcome hurdles with zeal to reach your zest, persevering to establish yourself as a bio-entrepreneur is worth it.
3rd-year Industrial biotechnology at A.C.Tech campus, Anna University. Het interest areas are bioreactor designing, bio-architecture, and study of fermentation processes. Her hobbies are drawing, writing, and reading books and science journals.Bioentrepreneurship Challenges & Risks – Why Is It A Career Option?
