Henry de Malmanche, our newest mini-MBA graduate!

We recently saw another attendee of our mini-MBA program for scientists pass through, so many congratulations to Henry Frederick De Malmanche! Henry is a Ph.D candidate at my former alma mater, the University of Queensland, which is a top place to be for those involved in biotechnology. Indeed, Henry (shown below) is involved in biotech research aimed at developing novel systems for the production of new molecules using insect cells.

Henry de Malmanche hard at work in the lab at the AIBN.

His research, which is based at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, recently won him accolades at the 15th annual School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences Research Symposium (where I won several awards myself back in 2012 for my Master’s research). He was the winner of the Industry Pitching Event, which was quite impressive given the high calibre of participants! Now Henry has completed the Haggarty-Weir Consulting Mini-MBA Program for Scientists, which has been put together for science students and professionals who want to develop their business acumen. This is of particular importance today, where only around 0.45% of Ph.D graduates will ever get a full-time professorship and only around 1% of graduates will get any full-time, permanent academic position. Therefore, it behooves modern scientists to develop a solid grasp of business, either for improving their academic research and how it’s pitched (especially for funding), to move into industry, or to develop their own businesses.

Of our mini-MBA program, Henry states "The format of the mini-MBA program was very interactive, tailored and flexible. Completing the course considerably deepened my knowledge of business and commercialisation. The insights into intellectual property and entrepreneurship were especially valuable in the context of the global biotechnology industry". This is exactly the sort of outcome we aim for!

Henry has a deep interest in synthetic biology, the branch of science that deals with creating new organisms or components of organisms, and is of vital importance in a plethora of fields, from medicine to agriculture. In fact, it was a synthetic biologist (Prof. Frances Arnold of CalTech) that won the Nobel prize in Chemistry in 2018 for the directed evolution of enzymes. Due to Henry’s scientific discipline, we tailored the mini-MBA program to be focused heavily on scientific companies and their analysis, in addition to providing in-depth training into intellectual property, patent law, and entrepreneurship. This was of particular interest to Henry due to his entrepreneurial aspirations of developing his own biotech company. He states "What I have learnt I will apply towards working on generating my own intellectual property with the ultimate goal being setting up my own biotech company. Since completing the mini-MBA program, I feel more confident in what steps are required to pursue these goals once I complete my PhD". That is great to hear as we love seeing scientific entrepreneurs emerge to tackle the challenges of society!

Prof. Arnold shares the 2018 Nobel Prize with Prof. George Smith and Sir Gregory Winter, who got half the prize for their work in peptides and antibody phage display.

For those interested in our mini-MBA program, get in touch for a prospectus at dr.chris@haggarty-weirconsulting.com (or click here). We offer a range of options including distance and Skype-based learning to be as flexible as you require. Courses include everything from organizational theory and marketing management, to finance and venture capital. Also, this month we are giving 15% off, so come and join the other STEM students and industry professionals who have gone through our mini-MBA!