Donald Trump is back in power and has started building his Cabinet ahead of a second term in the White House. In addition to appointing loyalist Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense and hard-line Mike Huckabee as Ambassador to Israel, the US President-elect has also announced a new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). It will be led by none other than tech mogul Elon Musk.
But he is not alone. Mr Trump announced that biotech investor Vivek Ramaswamy, who has ended his presidential bid in January 2024, would be working with Mr Musk on the initiative.
Who is Vivek Ramaswamy?
Born on August 9, 1985, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Vivek Ramaswamy has made a name for himself as a biotech entrepreneur and a political thinker who is not shy of airing anti-social and anti-establishment views. His journey from a humble upbringing in Ohio to a prominent role in conservative circles highlights his drive to shake up traditional structures in both business and government.
Early life and education
Vivek Ramaswamy’s parents moved to the United States from Kerala in the 1970s. His father was an engineer and patent attorney for General Electric, while his mother was an elderly psychiatrist. Mr. Ramaswami was an academically and athletically gifted student, who excelled in tennis and graduated from Jesuit High School in Cincinnati as valedictorian. He studied biology at Harvard University and graduated in 2007. Later, he attended Yale Law School and received the Juris Doctor degree in 2013. It was at Yale that he met his wife, Apoorva Tiwari, a medical student and future surgeon.
Making your mark as an entrepreneur
In 2014, at the age of 29, Vivek Ramaswamy founded Roivant Sciences, a biotech company focused on acquiring underdeveloped pharmaceuticals and advancing them through clinical trials. They identified potentially overlooked drugs and brought them to market faster than the industry standard. Through Roivant, Mr. Ramaswami acquired significant wealth, expanding the company’s portfolio to include several “Vant” subsidiaries such as Myovant and Urovant, each targeting different therapeutic areas. By 2023, he was reported to have earned a personal net worth of over $250 million from his ventures.
A major financial milestone for Roivant came in 2020 when Japanese pharmaceutical firm Sumitomo Dainippon acquired a 10% stake in Roivant and five of its drugs in a $3 billion deal. The transaction reportedly resulted in an estimated $176 million capital gain for Ramaswamy.
Protest against ‘woke capitalism’
Although Vivek Ramaswamy largely avoided politics in his early career, 2020 marked a turning point. He expressed concern about corporate America’s involvement in social and political issues. He criticized corporations in his opinion article in The Wall Street Journal, arguing that they prioritized profit-driven social stances at the expense of public trust and integrity. In 2021, he published his book, ‘Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam’, in which he criticized the ways companies engage with social issues, saying that such involvement is often superficial, profit-motivated, and even That was harmful to democratic values. , He suggested that companies adopting diversity quotas or divesting from environmentally harmful enterprises are simply attempting to attract customers or divert attention from other questionable actions, rather than actually supporting ethical causes.
Vivek Ramaswamy launched Strive Asset Management, an “anti-woke” index fund provider, in 2022 to counter what he saw as the harms of “woke capitalism”. Unlike major asset management firms that promote environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing, Strive aims to keep politics out of its investment principles.
Backed by investors such as Peter Thiel and JD Vance, Strive presented itself as an alternative for those who wanted to support companies without the pressure of social or environmental mandates. The company quickly gained popularity, with assets exceeding $1 billion by September 2023. At the same time Ramaswamy’s net worth was approximately $1 billion.
2024 US presidential race
In February 2023, Vivek Ramaswamy announced that he would run for President, entering the Republican race alongside Donald Trump and Nikki Haley. Throughout his campaign, Ramaswamy took a traditionally conservative stance, supporting abortion restrictions and opposing affirmative action. But he also promoted many unconventional policies. His proposals included raising the standard voting age to 25, curbing birthright citizenship, and deploying the US military to Mexico to destroy drug cartels.
He also promised to significantly reduce the federal workforce by firing over 75 percent of federal employees and eliminating agencies such as the FBI, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the Department of Education, as well as eliminating teachers unions. On climate, he provocatively suggested that Americans should be “proud to live a high-carbon lifestyle,” adding, “More people are dying from bad climate change policies than from actual climate change.”
At the beginning of the campaign, Vivek Ramaswamy gained popularity and emerged as a strong challenger to Mr Trump. By August 2023, he was known for his media blitz, reportedly conducting about 30 interviews in 24 hours and appearing on over 150 podcasts within six months. His debate performance in August received praise from CNN as a “breakout moment” and a Washington Post poll indicated that only Ron DeSantis did better among Republican voters. Donald Trump had stayed away from the debate.
Despite his strong start, Mr. Ramaswamy’s momentum slowed over the following months, as DeSantis and Haley overtook him in the polls. On January 15, 2024, after placing fourth in the Iowa Republican caucuses, he suspended his campaign. That night, he informed supporters of his decision to support Mr. Trump.
Appointment in Government Efficiency Department
Donald Trump has appointed Mr Ramaswamy to co-lead the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency with Musk. The department, a key initiative of Trump 2.0, aims to optimize government spending and increase accountability. Ramaswamy’s involvement in the Trump administration reflects his rise as a prominent figure in conservative political thought. During and after his campaign, he became known for having similar views to Trump. He often described himself as “Trump 2.0”. His campaign speeches praised Trump’s leadership, and he endorsed Trump as “the greatest president” in recent history.
financial success
Beyond his political activities, Vivek Ramaswamy’s business achievements have earned him recognition as one of America’s wealthiest young entrepreneurs. His wealth, primarily derived from his role in biotech and venture capital, is estimated at over $1 billion, earning him a spot on Forbes’ list of the “Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40”.
Mr Ramaswamy’s fortune has also benefited from strategic investments and business moves, including subsidiaries such as Myovant Sciences, which raised $218 million in a high-profile IPO in 2016.
