Adar Poonawalla: Everything you need to know

Being born with a silver spoon helps; but one need to have undeterred determination, patience, and perseverance to scale the glorious heights. Adar Poonawalla, is one such entrepreneur, who has made an indelible mark in his father's company after taking the already successful business, to greater heights.

Adar was born on 14, January 1981 by his father, Dr. Cyrus poonawalla, it is the world's largest vaccine manufacturer estimated by the number of doses produced. Adar education is based at Cathedral & John Connon School of Mumbai and University of Westminster. He is resident in Pune and is built across 50+ Acre of home in Koregaon Park, Pune.

Adar Poonawalla, the chief executive of the world's largest vaccine manufacturer Serum Institute of India is among six people named "Asians of the Year" by Singapore's leading daily for his work in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.

Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) has collaborated with the University of Oxford and the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca for making the Covid-19 vaccine, ''Covidshield'', and is conducting trials in India.

Poonawalla joined the Serum Institute of India in 2001 and became the CEO of Serum Institute with complete control of the day-to-day operations of the company in 2011. As of 2015, the company now exports its products to over 140 countries worldwide, out of which 85 percent of its revenues are from the overseas.

Poonawalla said that he has put USD 250 million of his family fortune into ramping up his institute's manufacturing capacity.

"I decided to go all out," said Poonawalla, 39, who has pledged that his firm's COVID-19 vaccines will help supply lower- and middle-income countries that face significant disadvantages in the quest to obtain them.

He initiated and launched Serum Institute's Oral Polio Vaccine in 2014, which addressed a global shortage of Polio vaccines at that time, and every year plans to launch a new vaccine for public health starting 2017.

Poonawalla said his institute is helping poorer countries level up in access to vaccines.

In 2013, Forbes India named him one of the "Four Scions to Watch Out For." He is the recipient of many business and philanthropy awards from CNBC TV18, CNN TV18, Economic Times, Hurun and many others, to name a few in the recent past.

He was also listed as one of the 50 most influential young Indians by the GQ Magazine and also was awarded Philanthropist of the year in 2016.