The many years Lokesh Makam spent in the pharmaceutical industry led him to wonder ‘what is the root cause of diseases?’ News of dangerous chemicals used by farmers disconcerted him deeply. Something had to be done.
With a bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy and an MBA in Pharmaceutical Management, Lokesh began his career with the Himalaya Drug Co. and subsequently worked with several other pharma companies. He was worried by the number of new diseases afflicting humans and by the increase in the occurrences of already known ones. Upon investigating, he found that modern agricultural practices and the use of pesticides was a major cause. The practice of spraying pesticides contributed greatly towards increasing toxicity levels in food, leading to subsequent ill health of people. Unwilling to let things be, Lokesh took upon himself the onus of solving this problem. And after working for almost a decade in the pharma sector, he set up Barrix Agro in 2011 with the objective of providing an array of affordable, efficient, and eco-friendly pest management solutions.
Since then, Lokesh has been developing new and effective solutions for pest management in farming. A major hurdle to Barrix’s initial existence was the lack of investor support. Not one to accept defeat easily, Lokesh leveraged his immense marketing experience to reach out to potential investors and keep the startup going. However, he continues to face a critical challenge: educating farmers about the necessity of shifting to sustainable practices.
“Know everything about the customers , who they are, where they are, and how to reach them!”
He has travelled extensively to remote villages to demonstrate the effectiveness of his products. His efforts are now paying off as he has been able to build a large base of crop cultivators who regularly employ sustainable pest control mechanisms. Happy moments have been plentiful with the most joyful one being when Lokesh and his team installed their first product, the fruit fly trap, and saw its effectiveness in practice.
A doting husband and father, Lokesh attributes very low priority to having a good night’s sleep. Deeply committed to completely removing chemical pesticides from farming, he now aims to develop products for every farming need. He is out on a mission to purify the produce we eat and won’t rest till he’s conquered every pest menace out there!