Watch: 3 generations of Poonawallas talk vaccines, business and life
Three generations of the Serum Institute of India’s Poonawalla family indulged CNBC TV-18 in a conversation at the India Business Leader Awards event.
Cyrus Poonawalla, son Adar Poonawalla and his son – also named Cyrus, all dressed in suits, spoke to CNBC TV-18 about getting together at the event, what they would want to pass on in their family line and the new vaccines Serum plans to launch in the future.
Starting the chat off, Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute, said that even though the family takes holidays together, all three of them have different schedules. He expressed happiness to have come together with his father and son at the event.
When asked to describe some qualities in his son, Cyrus Poonawalla said: “Outspoken, honest to the core and speaks his mind.”
On whether he would want his grandson to imbibe the same qualities, Poonawalla senior said: “I would want Cyrus to have the same qualities but in a more refined manner because he is now going to be trained in UK.”
Adar Poonawalla then spoke about the qualities he would want his son to have.
“Lots of things I have learnt from my father. The qualities I would like my son to continue to have on is maintain integrity, our love for doing good for the world in public health – if we focus on that – business and success can come later. I teach that to Cyrus and Darius – my younger son.”
He also said that his son is just 12 and needs to complete his education and get at least 10-20 years of work experience and added how even he has also just entered his 21st year in business.
Next came Cyrus Poonawalla junior’s turn. Although he said he likes acting, he clarified that he would like to continue in his father and grandfather’s footsteps.
On the new vaccines, Serum will be launching, Adar Poonawalla said they have a pneumonia vaccine on the cusp of launching and an HPV vaccine that will prevent cervical cancer in women. Serum hopes to launch it by end of the year. On mental health issues, especially due to the pandemic, Adar Poonawalla said that most people don’t tell their closed ones when they are having issues and urged they must open up to their trusted loved ones and get the required help.
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