C Balagopal studied Economics at Loyola College and later joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1977 and worked in various posts in Manipur and Kerala. He resigned from the IAS in 1983, to set up a company using know-how developed at SCTIMST, Trivandrum with the support of the National Research & Development Corporation and KSIDC to manufacture indigenously developed biomedical devices for the first time in the country. This came to be known as Terumo Penpol Ltd. and is today one of the biggest manufacturers and exporters of hi-tech blood bag systems in the world. He is also the founder of ANAHA Trust, set up to support social entrepreneurship in the fields of primary education and public health with a focus on rural areas. He is a Charter member and first President of TiE Kerala and is a member of the Ethics Committee of Rajiv Gandhi Center for Biotechnology, member of the Board of Directors of India’s first medical devices incubator TIMed set up by SCTIMST, and an independent director on the Board of the Federal Bank Ltd. He has won many awards and accolades including the National R&D Award for successful commercialization of Indigenous Technology by Ministry of Science & Technology, Apart from that, he has published three books about his experiences as an IAS officer in Manipur and Kerala namely — “On A Clear Day You Can See India” in 2013, and “The View From Kollam: A Day In The Life Of A Sub-Collector” in 2015. The third book ‘Maveli and Markets’ was published by D C Books. He is currently working on other books on subjects as diverse as governance, public services, and entrepreneurship.