On Shark Tank India, budding entrepreneurs from across the country pitched their business ideas to a panel of tycoons, also known as sharks, who offered their investment and expertise in exchange for equity in the company. Executive director of Emcure Pharmaceuticals, Namita Thapar was one of the sharks in the first season of the business reality show. While Namita always conducted herself with utmost grace on the show and spoke only when necessary, her very statement – “mai aapse connect nhi kar paa rahi hu (I am not able to connect with you)” became a viral meme on social media platforms.
During her stint as a judge on the reality show, Namita invested in around 25 businesses. In a new write-up on Your Story, Namita talked about her investments, missed opportunities, and the regrets she had after the show ended.
Namita revealed she evaluated around 170 pitches on the show and made investments worth Rs 10 crore in 25 start-up ideas or businesses that touched her heart. However, the businesswoman mentioned that during the show she had invested Rs 7 crore, and later she invested Rs 3 crore in order to increase her stake in the existing deals and also in the deals she had lost out.
Talking about her “biggest regrets” during the show, Namita said that she was not able to back certain business ideas, but she really wanted to do so. According to her, as future leaders, it is their responsibility to back not just founders, who can scale and make money, but also those who have tremendous potential and are working on a real problem but lack the right mentorship to gain traction in their business.
“Jugaadu Kamlesh and Pandurang of Agro Tourism were both Maharashtrian farmers out to solve real problems but due to lack of right guidance hadn’t made sales,” Namita wrote. She continued that leaders need to be bold to back such founders and ensure they become successful so that entrepreneurship doesn’t just end up becoming the dream of the ones with the right education and resources, but even of the common man. Therefore, she stated that not investing in Kamlesh and Pandurang remains her biggest regret at Shark Tank India.
