Biorasi: Year One

As Head of Operations for Biorasi in India, I recently completed my first year in the organization, and I wanted to share my experience. It’s amazing how time flies so quickly.

I joined Biorasi because I always wanted to work with an emerging CRO and be a part of their journey to scale new heights. Looking back at the year and how far we have come, it seems like I have been with this organization for years – such has been the support and encouragement on this extraordinary one-year journey.

New Office Space

My first assignment was to look for a new office space – one which was “just right” for us but could also accommodate our future expansion needs. The experience was exciting and at times very exhausting. My team and I were very clear in our minds as to what we wanted and finally we found an extremely nice office in a corporate building which was very well furnished. I really appreciated my team’s support helping me to find the right space. Their support was important since they were going to occupy the space, and I wanted them to feel comfortable, safe, and motivated working there. It was an excellent example of teamwork, which is a core value for all of us here at Biorasi.

Setting up Operations

Once we had our office, it was time to streamline our administrative operations. We always strive to be a compliant organization, therefore, our first step was to look for a compatible partner to help us maintain our forward progress. We found a very experienced partner who was ready to help us with our payroll, accounts, secretarial compliance, company law, etc. This synergistic working relationship helped us in many ways, developing local processes and ensuring administrative compliance. It is very critical to identify areas where we require support early on and then engage the right partners.

Team Expansion

The next step was to grow our office team. With plans of geographic expansion, new departments were established. It was satisfying to know that management always supported recruiting people who were the right fit for the role, and people who understood the requirements of working in an emerging organization. Our endeavour is always to hire the best talent to build an extremely high-class team.

Pandemic Strikes

Just as things seemed to be going smoothly, the COVID-19 pandemic occurred. We had to quickly adapt to the situation, ensuring the safety of our team. The team was asked to work from home while new hires (instead of delaying their start date) started with virtual onboarding. It was also extremely challenging to manage equipment requirements, like laptops, during the pandemic. However, with meticulous planning and some hard negotiations, we were able to manage things just right. The situation required us to be innovative and at the same time think out-of-the-box to ensure business continuity. Though global directions were followed, I was always given the freedom to make decisions based on the local situation.

Our teams – in various functions and with support from global team members – were also able to develop plans to tackle the situation in the best possible way, managing their study targets and keeping all the stakeholders informed. Again, a true reflection of our teamwork as well as being innovative and creative.

End of the Year

To summarize, it was a wonderful first year at Biorasi, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I got the opportunity to work on many new areas and help to stabilize the organization. Thanks to my manager, our leadership team, my India team, and my dear colleagues’ strong support, co-operation and trust, we have been very successful.

I am looking forward to more exciting adventures in the coming years as we aim for healthy, organic growth supporting Biorasi’s Global Operations.