Tell us about your journey so far?
I joined Inhouse Consulting US team in 2016. I was fortunate to be part of a newly formed, rapidly growing team which allowed me to have more freedom over my projects. I worked across Biopharma (commercial strategy, market access and pricing) and Life Science (strategy, org. development) projects in the US and Europe. While doing projects, I also got the opportunity to conceptualize new IC offices for Asia Pacific (APAC) with our leadership team. I relocated to Singapore in June 2018 to build new IC-APAC teams in Singapore and China. Looking back, this has been quite a terrific journey so far with a steep learning curve and new challenges along the way.
How did you go about building a new team?
We had a very clear focus on two priorities for the new team: talent and culture. We wanted to hire brilliant people while ensuring that they fit with IC’s strong culture. Globally, IC is a team of extremely smart people who always put the team and the company first. The driving forces are collaborative and structured problem solving, ‘can do’ attitude, teaming, diversity and humility. I am glad that the team in APAC is shaping strongly and befits IC’s DNA.
What are some of the opportunities and challenges you observe in APAC businesses?
Asia offers unparalleled opportunities amidst unique challenges. Three key themes I am observing in APAC are:
- Growth explosion: markets and companies are going through transformational growth, which we don’t encounter in plateauing Western markets
- Digitalization: with rapid and massive digitalization in APAC, we now have access to customers we didn’t have in the past. Businesses are proactively strategizing how to leverage digital ecosystem to acquire new customers and improve service levels for existing customers
- Talent development: APAC offers world class talent which now really has equally good opportunities locally without the need to migrate to more developed markets. Consequently, businesses are focusing on new ways to attract, develop and retain local talents to fuel their leadership pipeline
IC-APAC is deeply engaged in all these topics contributing to our APAC businesses success in rapidly evolving market dynamics
In your APAC gig so far, what are you proud of?
Building a highly talented team from scratch is gratifying. It always brings a sense of fulfilment to realize something that was once just a concept. The team has already established immense credibility across APAC and value added to the business is evident. I feel fortunate and proud to belong to this team.
Which project have you been recently working on?
We are working on various strategy and operations projects across Healthcare and Life Science sectors including 5-year growth strategy for high-potential countries. The immediate impact is generating regional engagement across APAC countries and connecting the dots between countries, region and HQs.
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