Adar Poonawalla (born 14 January 1981) is an Indian billionaire businessman. He is the chief executive officer (CEO) of

Serum Institute of India Serum Institute of India (SII) is an Indian biotechnology and biopharmaceuticals company, based in Pune. It is the world's largest manufacturer of vaccines. It was founded by Cyrus Poonawalla in 1966 and is a part of Cyrus Poonawalla Group. O ...

. Founded in 1966 by his father,

Cyrus Poonawalla Cyrus S. Poonawalla (born in 1941) is an Indian billionaire businessman, and the chairman and managing director of the Cyrus Poonawalla Group, which includes the Serum Institute of India, an Indian biotech company which is the largest vaccine m ...

, it is the world's largest vaccine manufacturer by number of doses produced.

Education

Adar Poonawalla was educated at

The Bishop's School (Pune) The Bishop's School is an Indian private, unaided (independent) minority school, for boarding and day students between Nursery and 12th grade. It is located in Pune, which is the cultural capital of the state of Maharashtra. It was founded in 18 ...

and at the

St Edmund's School Canterbury St Edmund's School Canterbury is an independent day and boarding school located in Canterbury, Kent, England and established in 1749. The extensive school grounds were acquired in 1855. The school currently caters for girls and boys aged 3–18, ...

followed by the

University of Westminster , mottoeng = The Lord is our Strength , type = Public , established = 1838: Royal Polytechnic Institution 1891: Polytechnic-Regent Street 1970: Polytechnic of Central London 1992: University of Westminster , endowment = £5.1 million ...

Career

Poonawalla joined the Serum Institute of India in 2001 after graduating from university. Then exporting its products to 35 countries, Poonawalla concentrated on the company's international market, new products license and getting pre-qualified by the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

for supply to United Nations Agencies including

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...

and

PAHO The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is an international public health agency working to improve the health and living standards of the people of the Americas. It is part of the United Nations system, serving as the Regional Office for ...

. As of 2015, he has helped the company export its products to over 140 countries; 85 percent of its revenues are from overseas. In 2011, he became the CEO. In 2012, he played a major role in the acquisition of Bilthoven Biologicals, a Netherlands-based government vaccine manufacturing company. Poonawalla is a board member of the

GAVI GAVI, officially Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (previously the GAVI Alliance, and before that the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization) is a public–private global health partnership with the goal of increasing access to immunization ...

Alliance, the global vaccine alliance. He initiated and launched in 2014; Serum Institute's oral polio vaccine, which became a bestseller for the company. It was reported that he planned to expand the product portfolio to include vaccines for dengue, flu and cervical cancer during the same year. Presently he is the CEO of Serum Institute of India. On 31 May 2021, he was appointed as the chairman of

Magma Fincorp Poonawalla Fincorp Limited, (formerly known as Magma Fincorp) is a Cyrus S. Poonawalla group Non-Banking Finance Company (NBFC) that focuses on consumer and MSME financing. The company operates more than 279 branches in 21 states, as of 2022. ...

, after acquiring a 66% stake in the financial services company.

Threats demanding COVID-19 vaccines

In an interview with ‘

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

’, Poonawalla declared that he left India for

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

because of threats demanding COVID-19 vaccines. Poonawalla also said that he will start Covid vaccine production outside India in addition to the ongoing production in India. He was provided with ‘Y’ category security by the

Indian government The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the Government, national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy lo ...

as the threats were made public.

Philanthropy

In 2020, SII announced that it would donate $66 million to the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

to fund the creation of the Poonawalla Vaccines Research Building.

Awards

* In 2016, he was listed by

GQ Magazine ''GQ'' (formerly ''Gentlemen's Quarterly'' and ''Apparel Arts'') is an American international monthly men's magazine based in New York City and founded in 1931. The publication focuses on fashion, style, and culture for men, though articles on ...

and awarded Philanthropist of the year. * In 2017, he received Humanitarian Endeavour Award In Hall of Fame Awards 2017 and was also awarded as Indian of the Year in CSR Business Category on

CNN-News18 CNN-News18 (originally CNN-IBN) is an Indian English-language news television channel founded by Raghav Bahl based in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. It is currently co-owned by Network18 Group and Warner Bros. Discovery. CNN provides internationa ...

* In 2018, Chief Minister

Devendra Fadnavis Devendra Gangadharrao Fadnavis (Marathi pronunciation: ��ेवेंद्र फडणवीस born 22 July 1970) is an Indian politician serving as the 9th and current Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra since 30 June 2022. He served as ...

presented the ET Edge Maharashtra Achievers Awards of Business Leader of the Year to Poonawala, he further received CNBC Asia's award for Corporate Social Responsibility in the same year * In 2020, Poonawalla was included in a ''Fortune'' magazine's '

40 Under 40 ''Fortune'' magazine's 40 Under 40 is a list of individuals the publication considers to be the most influential young leaders for the year. The list has existed in two phases: First, from 1999 to 2003, the list was presented purely as a numeric ...

' listing in the healthcare category. *In 2021, Adar has been adjudged Entrepreneur of the Year by Economic Times for unparalleled contribution in fighting Covid-19 by successfully supplying huge quantities of Covishield in India and globally, a vaccine developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca and produced in India by Serum Institute. *In 2021, Adar was included on the ''Time'' 100, ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

''s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poonawalla, Adar 1981 births Living people People educated at St Edmund's School Canterbury Alumni of the University of Westminster Indian billionaires Indian chief executives Businesspeople from Pune Indian businesspeople in the pharmaceutical industry 21st-century Indian businesspeople Parsi people