Dr. K. K. Narayanan is a plant breeder, molecular biologist, and entrepreneur with a distinguished career spanning academia, industry, and social enterprise. He earned his PhD in Plant Breeding and Genetics from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, and completed postdoctoral research at Stanford University under a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship. Dr. Narayanan began his career at SPIC Science Foundation, Chennai, and later led the Crop Transformation and Functional Genomics programme at Monsanto Research Centre, IISc, Bengaluru. In 2002, he co-founded Metahelix Life Sciences, a Bangalore-based Agbiotech company focused on crop improvement, serving as Managing Director until its acquisition by Rallis India Limited in 2016. He also co-founded and chaired Kottaram Agro-Foods, which produces traditional grain-based foods under the brand SOULFULL, recently acquired by TATA Consumer Products Limited. He serves on several government advisory committees, including DBT Task Forces and Karnataka’s Vision Group on Biotechnology, and has held leadership roles in ABLE. Dr. Narayanan mentors startups, contributes to initiatives promoting rural livelihoods through agricultural technologies, and serves on boards of multiple biotech and agri-tech companies.
