Monday, May 6, 2024 4:32 p.m.
Jennifer Sieg meets with scientist-turned-entrepreneur Madusha Peiris in Ambition AM’s latest Founder Spotlight to find out what she’s learned on her journey so far. After all, entrepreneurship isn’t always easy, but it can be fun.
Build, test, repeat – Reject – Build, test, repeat.
Sound familiar? Then you will understand how science and entrepreneurship work.
Madusha Peiris founded weight loss product development company Enterika in 2021 and may be in the very early stages of her entrepreneurial career, but she already knows quite a bit about how business and innovation works. seems to know.
“I call it ‘accidental entrepreneurship,’” she says with a laugh.
Mr Peiris founded Entelica after 10 years of research at Queen Mary University. She is a scientist turned entrepreneur and currently spends about 60 percent of her time as a senior lecturer.
The remaining 40 per cent will be spent learning how to build a business from her discoveries, which she believes will enable Enterica to become a “major” disruptor in the £4.8bn a year anti-obesity market. Yes, she says. .
How to use
Traditionally, weight loss drugs work by using drugs that reduce feelings of hunger and fullness.
“I think you’re probably getting hungry now,” laughs Peiris.
But Peiris and her colleagues have found a way to do it without drugs through a nutrition-based approach.
“I really like finding out why things happen and how things happen,” Peiris says.
I really like knowing why things happen and how things happen.
Madusha Peiris
“When we started discovering it, we thought, wait a minute, this might have commercial potential.”
Naturally, like most researchers, she started asking questions.
Is this patentable? Does it have commercial potential? Will we be able to secure the funding we need to move forward with our plans and test trials?
Once the patent was obtained, the foundations of the business quickly began to form.
Like any successful startup, having a strong product first and foremost will help you get off the ground.
“Obtaining a patent and pursuing a patent application was one of the first things we did, and now we have patents in Europe, the United States and India, which allows us to protect our intellectual property. and products are also protected,” she says.
“In the field of science, and especially in business, it is almost vitally important to protect your ideas from being copied by others. Otherwise there would be no niche fields and no niche products. plug.”
Now, after receiving a £50,000 ‘Unlocking UK Potential’ grant from Innovate UK, Enterika is working to complete a Phase II study in obese volunteers and a Phase I study in people with type 2 diabetes. Participated in a seed funding round.
accidental entrepreneur
Peiris often laughs when I ask if he always wanted to be an entrepreneur.
“No,” she says, still laughing. “I never thought something like that was possible.”
But what was possible was finding a product that worked and having the patience necessary to perfect it.
“So I didn’t necessarily think it was going to be a business, but I always wanted to turn our research into something that could actually be used to treat patients and treat people in need.” added Peiris.
“How can we apply this to the real world?”
As an “accidental entrepreneur” you must be prepared to shift your focus elsewhere.
Developing a strong product may help you lay the foundation, but it’s not always enough to reach your business’s full potential.
What does the future hold for Peelis and the business?
“I currently work strictly for the company 40% of my time. [and] “I’m going to take it to 80 percent,” she says.
“Because as the founder and chief visionary, I’m in a very good position to move everything forward, and it’s very scientifically driven right now.”
Peiris said with a smile that she has had her fair share of rejections, but it’s important to take “no” lightly in order to learn from the inevitable challenges early on.
“There’s always someone who says ‘no’, someone who says ‘it’s not possible’ or someone who throws a handle in your face,” she added.
“I’ve been through a lot, to be honest, I’ve been through a lot. And I think the only thing that helped me was turning a blind eye to it.”
And with the anti-obesity market expected to grow to up to £80bn by 2030, entrepreneurs may be right to not take ‘no’ for an answer.
resume
name: Madusha Peiris
company: Enterica Co., Ltd.
Established: 2021
staff: Currently 4 people (scheduled to double in June)
title: Founder and CSO of Enterika.Senior Lecturer and Group Leader in Enteric Neurobiology, Queen Mary University of London
Year: 41
to be born: Colombo, Sri Lanka (raised in Australia)
lifespan: Notting Hill (London)
What I learned: Bachelor’s degree (Hons) and Ph.D. from the University of Queensland, Australia
talent: A joke or a witty remark (I like to think of it this way!)
motto: Be persistent and persistent because daily efforts will lead to lifelong results.
Best known: perseverance and resilience
First ambition: To become a useful and productive person
Favorite book: It’s tough, but recently we’ve been making “water contracts”
Best advice: When you eliminate the noise of the past and delusions of the future and focus on what’s happening right now, you can make surprising discoveries, so give your all to the present and immerse yourself completely.
