SPIRIT OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP............ KAMAL SHAH, VIKRAM VUPPALA & SANDEEP GUDIBANDA FOUNDERS, NEPHROPLUS

SPIRIT OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP KAMAL SHAH, VIKRAM VUPPALA & SANDEEP GUDIBANDA FOUNDERS, NEPHROPLUS  Biz For A Cause     Only those who have suffered can empathize with the suffering of others,’ says saint-poet Meerabai in one of her compositions. The saying provides a direct clue to the genesis of NephroPlus – a business that seeks to demystify and humanize dialysis and make it safe and less expensive.     In July 1997, Kamal Shah had just completed BTech from Osmania University and was on the way to the US for his Master's. He had to take shots of typhoid, hepatitis B and MMR, a prerequisite for a student landing in that country. A genetic mutation he had, in conjunction with the vaccines, caused his blood to break into fragments, which caused his kidneys to fail. This rare condition is called Atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome. The disease is also known to recur after a kidney transplant, which is what happened after Kamal's mother donated her kidney to him in November 1998. It damaged the new kidney as well. Kamal switched to Peritoneal Dialysis, a form of dialysis that is usually done at home.     In December 2004, Kamal was on a holiday with friends at Mahabalipuram. The tsunami struck their resort and they were neck deep in water in a few seconds. The water infected Kamal's Peritoneal Dialysis catheter and he battled a series of infections before the catheter had to finally be removed and he had to switch to Hemodialysis. He got a Hemodialysis machine at home and had to dialyze every night for seven or eight hours.     Kamal used to blog about his story, and one of those who read his blogs was Vikram Vuppala, an IIT Kharagpur graduate, who went on to do post graduation in computer science and later an MBA in the US. He worked there as a business analyst with a venture funding firm and then joined McKinsey & Co as strategy consultant in the healthcare space.     Vikram got in touch with Kamal and one day suggested that the two meet at the Below Poverty Line Healthcare Delivery Initiative at the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad. There they ran into Sandeep Gudibanda, who was studying MBA after an engineering course at RVCE Bangalore and a stint at employer review website Jobeehive.com. Sandeep too had a passion for healthcare delivery.     The trio clicked and decided to start a chain of dialysis centres in India. Thus was born NephroPlus in 2010, with the objective of providing the latest treatment modalities, stringent process control to limit cross infections, and educating patients to lead a normal life. Kamal and Sandeep had some exposure to running a business -- both had established and run IT firms that they sold eventually. Kamal’s father had a film distribution business and later entered apparel trading.     NephroPlus opened its first dialysis centre in Hyderabad in March 2010 with angel funding of Rs 1 crore from Vikram’s former boss in the venture firm, Prabhakant Sinha. The second centre came soon after, again in Hyderabad, and a third in Mehboob Nagar, near Hyderabad. By this time a second round of angel funding of Rs 2 crore had come.     The early years were challenging and testing, recalls Kamal. “We were changing the way dialysis was done in India and just like any other change, the entrenched stakeholders resisted a lot. But we were focused and resilient. A few doctors believed in us and our idea of standalone dialysis centres. These doctors helped us prove the concept and slowly other doctors saw the market changing and adapted.”     It was also difficult to convince patients, who trusted only the large tertiary care hospital settings. But once Nephro-Plus proved its value in terms of eliminating cross infections (hepatitis C, hepatitis B, and HIV were rampant in India) and providing the highest levels of hygiene and service in an affordable setting, the patients started coming in.     November 2011 saw the infusion of Rs 20 crore as Series A venture capital from Bessemer Venture Partners, which enabled NephroPlus to start expanding beyond Andhra Pradesh. It now has 12 centres – across Andhra, Bangalore, Agra and Ludhiana. The plan is to have 100 by 2015.     Vikram says apart from the zero infection promise, what makes NephroPlus stand out is the service from well-trained personnel and the about 30% lower price tag made possible by centralized purchase of equipment and consumables. “Regular, hygienically administered dialysis is not painful and a patient can lead a normal life engaging in work, travel and sports,” he says. Kamal’s life is a testimony to that. Dileep Athavale TOI130115