Hiring for Good is a podcast exploring the transformative power of leadership and what happens when the right person takes the job. Thank you for tuning in to this episode with our guest Biopharma Leader, Ndeye Makalou.
Hiring For Good Website: https://www.hiringforgoodpod.com/
About Ndeye Makalou: As a bold and visionary Pharmacist with over 20 years in the BioPharma industry, Ndeye leads global transformation with courage. Her expertise spans program management, quality control, and global supply chain in both developed and emerging markets, emphasizing Health Equity. Passionate about shaping health systems in Africa, she is passionate about influencing policies for equitable healthcare access. A dynamic leader, she inspires individuals to collaborate seamlessly, fostering a team spirit that achieves exceptional outcomes. As a risk-taker and problem solver, she challenges the status quo, develops innovative solutions, and implements decisive actions for impactful results.
Ndeye Makalou’s Linkedin: / ndeye-makalou
Podcast on Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast…
Tanis Morris: Director of Business Development at Acumen Executive Search Email: tanis@acumenexecutivesearch.com
Suzanne Hanifin: President at Acumen Executive Search Email: suzanne@acumenexecutivesearch.com
Acumen Executive Search Website: https://www.acumenexecutivesearch.com
Acumen Executive Search is the leading certified woman-owned Executive Search and advisory Firm on the West Coast. Acumen sources, attracts, and qualifies world-class executive and management talent for organizations to support them in achieving their organizational goals. Due to their focus and local network, which is both broad and deep, we are able to leverage best practices across a broad range of industries. We employ an equity lens throughout the recruitment process.
Hiring for Good Transcript
0:00 Well hello and welcome to Hiring for Good podcast I am Tanis Morris with
0:05 Acumen Executive Search and as usual I have with me my lovely co-host Suzanne
0:10 Hanafin good morning Tanis good morning we are honored to have with us today Ndeye Makaloua, global Health leader with vast
0:18 experience in the pharmaceutical and Healthcare Industries Ndeye began her career in her home country of Sagal
0:25 where she earned her doctorate a pharmacy degree she moved to the United States to pursue further academic
0:30 achievements and what was meant to be a 2-year course of study turned into over 20 years of clinical research R&D drug
0:37 development Global supply chain solution management and executive level
0:43 strategic in initiatives that drove growth and innovation across Global
0:48 markets and day has spearheaded initiatives that expanded access to vital medicines in sub-Saharan Africa
0:54 turning boardroom strategies into access to life-saving medicines for countless individuals
1:00 she believes leadership is foundational to positive change and her endeavors are rooted in her passion for Global Health
1:06 Equity after years of corporate leadership Ndeye has founded Global Impact Bio Consulting where she supports
1:13 corporations and nonprofits alike in finding solutions that drive sustainable growth and create meaningful impact on
1:20 global health and day is a board member Community volunteer and recent transplant to Oregon where she’s meeting
1:26 with us today and day welcome to hiring for good oh thank you so much good morning I’m
1:32 really super excited to be here and really very honored to be you know with you both oh well we’re so excited
1:39 to have this yes I know just just a little bit about your fascinating and
1:45 incredible journey but we always start by asking our guests to kind of tell us
1:50 their story and I know you have a really interesting diverse and pretty exciting
1:57 story so feel free to tell us everything parts that you want to focus on but just kind of help us understand how you went
2:04 um from your early stages as a as a Pharma student to uh where you are
2:11 now thank you so much uh Tanis you know my career has been a really a
2:16 purposeful journey to really understand medicine and how it is made for patient
2:23 right and also like addressing Global Health so I studied you know after my pharmacy school I studied doing research
2:30 in sexual sexually trans transmitted diseases at the um uh teaching Hospital
2:35 in Sagal and then I wanted to know more I wanted to really like understand because I was working a lot on
2:42 microbiology lab and I wanted to come to the US and learn more about get my degree in
2:48 microbiology and so that I can continue to support patients especially women in
2:53 my home country um to you know to support them and help them with diseases
2:58 that they they were having uh so I came to the US and ended up in Houston Texas and went to Texas Southern
3:04 University that’s when I got my microbiology my master in microbiology and I started working at um Baya College
3:12 of Medicine as a research analyst and working HIV this time then I went to um
3:19 MD Anderson Cancer Center still in Houston doing research and this time was on lung cancer and this is really where
3:26 I get to see patient you know with cancer and that’s where my my drives and
3:31 my passion those were really like very formative years about science and how science can actually help patient uh and
3:39 transform people’s lives then I wanted to get into the industry and how do I use my um my my degree and wanted to
3:46 learn this time like the life cycle of medic Med medications that’s really what I wanted to do and that’s how I found
3:53 Genentech I moved to San Francisco and studied in the lab also but this time
3:59 being in qu to control and I’ve always been driven by curiosity my initial question was like how do we make
4:05 medicine for patient that’s that was the question I wanted to answer so I was in the lab doing also like a quality
4:11 control of final product before it gets to market it has to go through us and working with QA before we say okay it
4:17 can be released now for patient um after doing that for a few years I was curious
4:22 about um okay now how do we get to this final virus that I treat that I test all the time and I found clinical trial
4:28 management learn a lot about clinical studies and uh start doing a cross-functional team leadership then the next
4:35 question in my mind like how do we make it now how do we get to this protocol that I’m executing and that’s where I
4:41 found myself into the research and development part of the organization in portfolio management and this time
4:48 really like leading cross-functional team and everybody was involved into
4:53 developing medicine was there and I did it for different therapeutic areas and
4:59 was just quite fascinating and uh so the next question then is like how do we
5:04 take you to the market and how do we take it to the patient that was a question that I had and at the same time
5:09 I was asking question about what’s happening what’s the company doing in Africa um and I got my answer like they
5:16 were actually doing some access strategy in the continent to enable access to
5:22 breast cancer medicine in sub-Sahara Africa and they needed help so I just raised my hand that’s amazing you know
5:30 journey I just raised my hand and went uh took my entire family with me and started working with our colleagues in
5:37 the continent and you know trying to figure out what’s the barriers to access for the people and along the patient
5:45 journey addressing and working with all the organization you know the hcps the
5:50 Minister of Health you know the wh sometime all the World Bank to address finances issues and the patient you know
5:58 patient organization community leaders coming together looking at what the what
6:03 is the um what are the different gaps in the patient journey and what can we do
6:08 together because we didn’t have all the solution so everybody needed to play a role this is why I strongly believe in
6:15 public and private partnership so I’m always driven by curiosity I always want
6:21 to challenge the status quo and uh you know and stepping outside of my comfort
6:26 zone and you know did that for 4 years I did two years in the western part of the continent then two years in the eastern
6:33 part of the continent now this time as a commercial head for Rush in its Africa
6:38 in charge of sales marketing and business development and leading expert to do that we came back in early 2019
6:46 before the um the the covid uh and then that’s how I got into Global supply
6:52 chain and uh translating commercial strategy into Global Supply strategy and
6:57 understanding really the manufacturing which is another part of the of a pharma business very very important and uh it
7:05 was amazing you know working together bringing people together different function and solving big problem it’s
7:11 something that I I really enjoy doing and it’s been an amazing journey um and
7:18 so far you know it’s been fantastic uh and I’m so proud and you know really
7:24 honored to continue doing that work and addressing Global Health especially for patient in other of communities this is
7:32 amazing I tell you the journey I love what you said that you just kept asking
7:38 questions and not being satisfied just because the way we’ve done something in the past is the right way to go forward
7:45 that’s right but as you go through your career I think we’ve all as leaders take
7:51 a step back sometimes and go what have been the formative learnings whether it was a mentor whether it was something
7:59 that really has changed your approach to leadership I mean you’re you’re bringing
8:06 drugs to a country managing from idea
8:12 through production but tell share with us some of those formative ideas you
8:18 know um my experience you know leading such a complex initiative in many
8:24 different countries in the in the African continent this is really had shape who I am now as a
8:31 leader um I learn a lot about myself as an individual but also learn a lot about
8:37 leadership during that time you can imagine you come you’re going you’re leaving your comfort zone living in San
8:43 Francisco and just going out there you are managing a huge change in a space
8:49 that you’re not familiar with it’s just like me coming to to Portland KN anything trying to
8:55 never get my exactly the same yeah this one is piece piece of cake
9:02 compared to the one that we had but you know it’s like you’re coming in and you’re managing change not only
9:09 in your family but also managing change in a Contin continent different
9:14 countries as well because the African continent is more than it’s like 54 countries but I had six countries in
9:21 scope and going to different you know cultures are similar things are different so what you learn is like what
9:28 made you successful before where you came from is not what going to make you successful where you are so you really I
9:36 needed to unlearn certain things and relearn in order to be successful it’s
9:43 basically taking a step back slowing down in order to go faster because the way I was working at Genentech at that
9:51 time wasn’t going to be the same in in that part of the world so that’s
9:57 definitely one thing that I to learn as well but also um when you are put in
10:04 situation where you have like limited resources you have to learn to be very
10:09 entrepreneurial right and um solving problem not taking no for an
10:15 answer but also like when you are also with people with different cultures than
10:21 you have both from a personal perspective but also from a career perspective immunity is something that
10:29 one need to have in order to be successful and and for me the the
10:34 formative uh experience is like when I was in my commercial role uh in East
10:41 Africa and uh being put in a situation with I have like a team of expert they
10:47 know the culture they know the company they know the country I don’t know anything but I have that strategic level
10:54 experience and I’m leading them so it’s all about being humble enough
11:00 and servant leadership and I remember one of my great mentor who had a big
11:05 influence on my in my career said love them and I could not understand what you
11:13 mean love them so you need to lead with love and leading with love is something
11:20 like a concept that I had a hard time but as I was going through that Journey building relationship building trust
11:27 listening paying attention and taking care of people right so that servant
11:33 leadership helping them understand what and putting yourself in their shoes because then to better understand what
11:40 challenges they’re facing so that you are able to remove those barriers I had to learn what my role was in that con
11:47 context right so it’s that leadership you know servant leadership is something that I really like always as my approach
11:55 but also understanding people asking the right question and removing barriers
12:02 empowering them and it’s amazing what people do when you actually do take care of them they take care you take care of
12:09 them they take care of the business they take care of you wow that’s definitely something that I have learned and that
12:16 has who I am as a leader today that’s beautiful well and I and it’s
12:21 interesting leading from love that that in itself can mean a lot
12:28 of things because in as a mom you know it’s taking that of
12:34 sometimes you’re hard sometimes you’re forgiving sometime you know it’s it’s all very situational it it is it is very
12:43 situational and sometimes yes you have to be tough but then you can be tough by
12:50 being loving you can be tough because you need to you know teach someone
12:56 something or you want because you want them to you see the potential in a in an
13:03 individual then that tough love is important so that the person can see
13:08 what you’re trying to do for them and then make the change that you need them to make and not giving up right so
13:15 that’s definitely one of the thing that I have experienced you know as a leader yeah and seeing that happening before my
13:21 eyes and not never giving up W and and before we ask another question if this
13:27 is okay you talked to about a partnership also between government and
13:33 private and which I think is interesting as a business leader because you want
13:41 what you’re doing you know is going to help you know is going to be beneficial
13:47 to the end user so talk to us about this partnership too and were you sitting at
13:52 the table H..how did that come come about yeah you know like some time I was
13:59 sitting at the table sometime I wasn’t depending what’s happening because I was working with my general manager at that
14:04 time but then the way it happen is like we all have like this looking at what’s
14:10 our strategy what’s our goal and see where do we have like the same objectives and how do we support each
14:17 other in achieving our object objective like I said earlier when we look at the patient journey there are some gaps you
14:23 know we have a medicine towards the end of the journey when it come to treatment we have the diagnostic at the beginning
14:30 but in this case it was all about breast cancer but then you know in between you
14:35 will see that um you know patient may need chemotherapy patient may need
14:41 radiation therapy and we did not have those capabilities others also wanted to
14:47 bring solution into the continent so why don’t we come together you know I believe that when people collaborate
14:53 amazing thing to happen we we really like have innovative ideas and that’s
14:59 how it happened you know just like okay what what do we do together and enabling and even um when it comes to building
15:06 capabilities for example um seeing our relationship you know within the company
15:13 but also even outside how might we help you know like building some capabilities
15:19 so that those folks that are part of a breast cancer management managing cancer
15:24 um also have the capability to be able to help the patient so it’s like just like providing you know those solution
15:31 and partnership part partnering because we couldn’t do it all but that holistic approach is what was made us successful
15:39 well and I love that that holistic approach is also kind of rooted in that same heart-c..centered approach to um to
15:46 to leadership and collaboration so I’m assuming that um love might be one of
15:52 your kind of core values um if you were to identify other values that are
16:00 defining characteristics of who you are how have you been able to operationalize
16:06 those individual values and kind of transfer them to the organizations or the people that you’re leading yeah
16:13 that’s an interesting question you know for me the other value that my parents always have given me is you know
16:22 integrity having empathy always be honest with people and
16:27 be kind to people and have the courage as well uh so those ones I always bring it
16:36 into wherever I go and leading people whether I’m leading them directly or
16:42 indirectly is something that I carry with me all the time in my career always
16:49 being honest and that’s how you build trust and that’s how you build relationship so I love building
16:54 relationship with individuals getting to understand what’s what’s important according to them and getting to know
17:00 each other learning um what do we need to do how
17:06 how can I help you how can you help me and as long as we have the same understanding of what the objective and
17:12 also listening listening is so important you know sometime we leaders leaders
17:18 need to listen and listen to understand not listen to respond right right can I
17:24 can I follow up a little bit two of the values you mentioned are honesty and courage mmhm have you had to call upon
17:34 those to call out in equity I mean so much of your job was rooted in finding
17:40 equitable solutions for for people that just didn’t have access have you had to call upon those
17:47 values and and like demonstrate them like to call out inequities that were
17:52 hard to I mean like have you had to speak up in a way that was uncomfortable for you ever oh yes I
17:59 I did um I remember 6 months into the
18:06 continent actually 3 months into the continent what I have seen was a
18:12 misalignment between what the objectives were of what
18:17 we wanted to do in Africa versus what individual were incentivized
18:24 to do so there was a misalignment and that create..created a lot of conflict and
18:31 change you know it was a huge change okay completely different from the way
18:37 business was conducted we are bringing new innovation into those countries and
18:42 that’s difficult because people need to learn the medicine you know how do we
18:47 market it all of those things um but there’s misalignment and that create does
18:55 misalignment create conflict and in any change there may be conflict and it was challenging for me
19:03 because at some point all I was doing is managing conflict and that’s not the
19:09 reason why I came so I had to have the conversation with my manager back then like this is
19:16 not working and and mind you I have my family that I’m managing as well
19:22 completely in a new country um and that was really challenging so I that
19:28 conversation with my boss was was tough one but that something that needed to
19:33 happen and at that time he asked me to talk to our sponsor um and that conversation my
19:39 sponsor was quite scary because it could have gone different ways but for me I
19:46 remember a picture that I was shown at when I was in the company of a woman
19:51 with a breast cancer who had gone through m to me and you know it was horrible picture I couldn’t I couldn’t
19:58 remove from my brain and that’s what give me the courage like okay who’s
20:03 going to help are we doing anything right now are we helping this patient
20:08 and so I went to our sponsor and just have a very courageous conversation with
20:13 him and not blaming anybody this is just a huge change and people are afraid and
20:20 when they’re afraid you know people just being becoming they’re just human beings right and I had a conversation with him
20:26 understanding what’s your goal is this what we talked about are we still is it still your objective and you know I I’m
20:34 here I’m still passionate and I want to help you um but you know something needs
20:39 to change I need incentive I need accountability um for this to work and
20:46 he listened to me and didn’t say anything was very quiet so that was
20:52 quite scary so that’s really the courage to go and and talk to him and and I remember you know when I finished
20:59 talking to him he asked me what would you do I was like well I those are the things that I need you decide how you
21:05 want to make this change right but these are the things that needs to happen and I need you to communicate and he said
21:11 thank you very much asked me for my family I went back that was in Switzerland this conversation I went
21:17 back to West Africa in i c and a couple of months later he made the changes and brought somebody was wow fully
21:25 accountable for it and that became my GM and became then that’s how I became the chief of staff of that person and now
21:33 everybody is integrating the project into the businesses of the different countries and we all have the same
21:39 objective now I have incentive I have accountability and we start working and
21:47 make actually making a difference and putting patient on treatment wow so that was that’s an amazing experience because
21:54 a scary one yeah it you know talking with a lot of leaders we all talk about
22:00 accountability and that’s nebulous because you can’t have it unless you know what you’re measuring against or
22:06 setting goals and KPIs and things and and it’s fascinating to me that you’re
22:12 doing it at such a level and scale that you’re talking about a country not a
22:18 company and that influence of Global Community
22:26 Mmhm you know and how you led through that that’s an amazing thing if there was one
22:32 takeaway or one piece of advice on again globally what what would you
22:40 share with us I was challenge to status go and don’t
22:47 take no for an answer yeah I like that good answer I like that a lot so you
22:54 mentioned um working with the GM when you’re build building teams when you’re
23:00 in charge of bringing someone onto the team what skills are you looking for that you know are going to pave the way
23:07 to success for the the mission H you know um we are more and more in
23:17 very complex you know environment is becoming more and more complex and things change
23:24 all the time so adaptability and flexibility are two things really I look into a
23:32 leader I also look for integrity I look for somebody who’s able
23:40 to inspire others and and and and
23:45 servant leadership as well somebody was able to collaborate because in order to make things happen
23:52 we cannot do it alone and is bringing different folks together and being able
23:58 to Inspire them and empowering them to actually get to an
24:03 objective uh so it’s very important for someone to have like what I call like we
24:08 we live in a Vuka environment and Vuka is the v..volatility
24:16 uncertainty complexity and ambiguity we have all of that all the time in
24:23 anywhere we leave it every single day so now that flexibility and being adaptable
24:29 to situation is a key skill I feel like every leader need to have and um being
24:37 able to also bring people together and Having the courage to even when it’s hard when it’s
24:43 challenging and um so those are the things that I look for especially like that servant leadership and you are
24:49 there you’re leading folks you’re leading people they all human beings they want to do the best job they they
24:55 they want to do so it’s for you to be able to listen bring them together and
25:00 removing barriers for them empowering them and it’s beautiful what they can deliver absolutely and what a Incredible
25:08 journey and career so far looking back what advice would you have given your
25:15 20-year-old self the that advice I will give my 20
25:24 year old self well
25:31 um this one is uh is very interesting the first advice I will
25:38 say set boundaries set boundaries for
25:45 yourself and self-care is absolutely important
25:52 because those are the things that allow you to be resilient when challenges happen and
25:59 challenge will challenges will happen in your journey that’s just part
26:04 of it so if you don’t set boundaries and you don’t take care of yourself you won’t be able to build that
26:12 resilience the other thing also I keep coming back to Servant leadership it’s
26:17 something that I would embrace early on right and leading people with love being
26:25 kind I’m not saying be nice be kind because it’s
26:33 different how do you see the difference between nice and kind I think that’s
26:38 again fairly subjective like I have an answer but what’s your answer to me
26:43 being kind mean I can be speaking to you I want to give you
26:49 feedback but because I care about you again is going back to Leading with love
26:56 because if I care about you then there is I have some love for you because I
27:02 want you to do better I want you to improve if I give you that feedback that
27:09 constructive feedback I’m being kind to
27:14 you I can decide and say oh my gosh I don’t know how she’s going to take it so
27:22 I’m just going to be nice then I’m not loving you I’m just being nice powerfully
27:29 stated this is really a master class in leadership thank you you the last
27:35 question that we ask our guests um on each episode is what hiring for good
27:43 means to you we like that the title is subjective and I I’m so curious to hear
27:49 your answer Hiring for
27:54 Good to me hiring for good
28:00 is hiring an individual that can align with the
28:06 mission of your organization but also an individual who can enhance your
28:15 culture in your organization and someone will by by
28:21 enhancing the culture and or strengthening that culture align with the objective then
28:29 what we want to do to solve societal problem that person will be able to to help you solve those societal
28:38 problems so when I think about hiring for good is really like using hiring
28:44 strategies and getting individuals in your organization to achieve the amazing
28:51 thing that you want to do in my case for patients that’s how I think about hiring
28:56 for good I love that you too because again you’re you’re bringing it from the individual to the mission to the
29:04 ultimate outcome and you said that at the very start the objective is the
29:10 patient yes and how how does that flow transcends from one to the other I
29:18 love that that is beautiful yeah thank you for me it’s you know it’s all about the patient and in my journey everything
29:25 that I do that’s what I have in mind and the patient needs somebody to help
29:31 them to advocate for them and especially in underserved communities we need to really bringing
29:39 the people who have that passion and and and get to that objective wow thank you
29:45 what a what a pleasure this has been I am I I just am grateful that you were able to come and share your wisdom with
29:51 us and with our audience and we will share you again your link how people can
29:57 get a hold of you so what are you working on now right now
30:02 I just started my own business yeah the global impact via
30:08 Consulting here in Portland and what I’m trying to do is to help also life science companies here bring my
30:14 experience and then helping them you know with strategy and driving growth so
30:21 that at the end of the day the patient can benefit from the beautiful Innovation that they have that’s well if
30:28 you need to get a hold you’ll know where to get a hold of her thank so much thank you this been an
30:36 absolutely pleasure and an honor for me so thank you so much thanks for joining us today at hiring for good if you
30:42 inspired by our conversation don’t forget to like follow Aand subscribe wherever you get your podcast and if you
30:48 want to learn more about our Executive Search Services check us out at www
30:54 hiring for good.net or our company website Acumen Executive Search thanks
30:59 so much and don’t forget to join us next time for another in-depth conversation about transformational leadership till
31:05 then have fun