The Healing Nanos

Interview with Divya Mahendra Rathod

About

Divya Rathod known as Researchpreneur and founder of Silverynanos Innovations LLP and Divya Innovation. A Ph.D. Scholar in Microbiology with a master’s in Biological Sciences. She has always been keen on innovation and solving problems through her innovative ideas. She is an innovator of the product HAPITO, which you apply once on toilets you get inflectionless and easy cleaning toilets for ONE MONTH saving water and environment from harmful chemicals and pollutants affecting marine lives. She is UN Women Signatory and National winner of UNDP 2019 and UN Women youth leadership award 2020. She was the second runner-up in International among 17 countries. She has won many awards from IIT, BIRAC- TiE, BSE, Chancellor’s Challenge, NITI Aayog, Singapore, UK government UKDCMS, etc. She has been innovating more products to solve everyday problems. Her mission is to prevent Urinary tract infections through product HAPITO and cleanliness across public toilets. Her journey from personal trauma to Entrepreneurship has been a learning for her and others.

Interview

Tell us about yourself.

A scientist combined with skills of Entrepreneurship called Researchpreneur. I like to solve problems by Innovative thinking, and I enjoy being around innovations. I am currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Microbiology and have done a Master in Biological Sciences, Bachelor’s in Microbiology and an advanced diploma in Microbiology.

What was your original career goal, whether as a kid or right out of school?

My original career goal was to become a renowned scientist and give something new to the world in the name of India. I dream of a Nobel prize for India.

“Never let fame and money overhead your purpose of being Human.”

What was it about a career in healthcare/pharma/biotech that appealed to you?

The biotechnology sector has always been appealing for DNA research where life has really connected and can understand the underlying way our body works. Covid has shown us many career opportunities for these sectors. For me, it was fundamental research in Microbiology.

At what point did you realize you wanted to be an entrepreneur?

I suffered from UTI In 2014 during my college years. Then in 2018, during my master’s, I won a competition called Chancellor’s Challenge for an Idea of preventing UTI through a spray Now called HAPITO, which you apply once on toilets one gets inflectionless and easy cleaning toilets for ONE MONTH saving water and environment from harmful chemicals and pollutants affecting marine lives. I took this project ahead based on my personal experience and being Microbiology student, I started working on it as product innovation and then took it to market to solve the problem of almost 150 million suffering from UTI every year.

What would be your alternative career choice if you weren't a CEO/Founder?

Scientist and a Musician.

Do you have any fond or interesting memories from your professional life you would like to share?

When I was 19, I had innovated another product for women’s safety, a belt that has GPS and an alarm system that is currently in process in many countries. I was selected in top50 Maharashtra ideas and won that competition- winning 2 lakhs. Due to some circumstances, the university did not give us the money, and we left the project and pursued our education further; I regret that moment for loss of interest in my own idea, and after two years, some other person in the US won a million-dollar for a similar project. I would like to tell everyone to just believe in themselves and not repeat the same mistakes.

What were the most important, funny, or weird things you have learned in your career?

Important: Believe in your idea and yourself and make it the purpose of your life

Weird: Don’t get into the politics of society; they don’t know what you are thinking of. Better try to match your frequency with people who can understand and have been through such stages.

Funny: Just keep Innovating; this will not always be your best idea.

What is something your friends and colleagues don't know about you?

I love traveling but with the purpose of doing business, and I travel for business and do business on every trip I go.

What's something unique you keep on or around your workspace?

Professionally my ICMR professors and my Junior college Professors from Bhavana college, and Personally my Family, have given me a lot of support to pursue a career that was unknown to them.

Who were your inspirations and mentors, both professionally and personally?

Music.

Music is proven to heal and make you feel happy and calm.

What were your greatest professional challenges along the way and how did you get past them?

Being a Woman in India is the biggest challenge, and that too, an Entrepreneur is more difficult. The society in which we were raised has always seen women doing household chores and sitting at home, and they have never been on the front row. Education was just for the emergency purpose that if your husband/ father gets into financial problems, you can help them. Many women don’t continue their careers after marriage because of their responsibilities. Handling both in our society has been a women-centric work and not men. She can go with two responsibilities, but to an extent and at some point, she will give up as it’s just seen as a passion or hobby for her and not the purpose of her life to do something for her own. The same is my story, but we have to get a revolution here for a new generation where responsibilities have to be divided, and one has all rights to see her purpose in life. Being from a Marwadi family and men dominant society, people couldn’t understand what I was doing and why. But now they are trying to understand, which is an achievement for me but still a long way to go. From being an investor to distributors, women have not been entertained much. A lot has to be changed, and we can revolutionize this area.

Tell of some situations in which you have had to adjust quickly to changes over which you had no control. What was the impact of the change on you?

Many situations, but one specific one is when we have to choose our distributors, and I couldn’t get a good response from India. The UK government UKDCMS invited me to start Company in London with good funding and go global. I was the winner of the global India UK PROGRAMME 2019. When I got this opportunity, I really felt like moving for my company. Still, then when I thought of Indian Women and situations here needing more revolution, I decided to stay back in India and start my company. It’s taking time in India, but I will make it worth my time. That change of decision made me know my purpose.

Looking back, are there any career moves or decisions made for which like a second chance, so to speak?

I left ICMR NIIH in 2016, where I really think I would have done my research on Viruses that could have been in use during COVID, but if I hadn’t left, I would have never been able to start my own company.

Do you think networking helped you in finding the right career opportunity? If yes, can you explain how you approached it?

Yes, networking plays the most significant role in business and your life. You have all the authority to make your own decisions, but by taking all perspectives of the field and for that, networking plays an important role. I have been consistently good at communications and networks which can connect us to our goals. Have been part of more than 150 Whatsapp groups and been to several conferences, which has made me confident enough to start my own company and run on a good scale.

Do you think networking helped you in finding the right career opportunity? If yes, can you explain how you approached it?

What advice would you give to others looking to get into the industry/entrepreneurship or move up the ranks?

I think both are essential Learning ( studies) and venturing your learnings into Entrepreneurship is essential. If I hadn’t been into microbiology, I wouldn’t have made these products that I am making now, and I am still learning more and more through different sources. One needs to upgrade themselves every day according to the market. I am still doing my Ph.D. related to the company and a few other courses related to entrepreneurship. Never stop learning.

Edited by: Vikramsingh Gujar

Meet the communication managers

Oindrila Bhattacharjee

Oindrila Bhattacharjee has done her Masters in Biotechnology and is working as a Project Associate II in Dr.Srikala Raghavan’s Lab at inStem Bangalore following the submission of her Ph.D. thesis. Her Ph.D. was in the field of immunology and cell biology. She takes interest in reading, writing, and communicating science to a large audience. In her free time, she prefers to engage in dancing, writing, sketching and clicking photos.

Kavita Rani Malik

Kavita Rani Malik is an enthusiastic person with determination and consistency in her work. She has done a Ph.D. in Animal Biochemistry from ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute Karnal Haryana. Currently, she is waiting for her Ph.D. final defense and searching for jobs in the R & D sector in private or govt. organizations.