GETTING PAST CLOSED DOORS

Raymund T. Azurin, Chief Executive, Zuellig-Pharma Corporation

He  is currently at the helm of a PhP 65 billion business with over 1,800 employees.  As head of Zuellig Pharma, Inc.-- the biggest pharmaceutical distribution and healthcare services company in the Philippines-- Raymund T. Azurin has taken upon himself a personal advocacy to  collaborate with industry players in  expanding healthcare  access to the lower income and younger segments of the population.

The beginnings of such advocacy could be traced to his high school days at Ateneo de Manila, when he aspired to follow the steps of his father, who was an illustrious lawyer. Raymund wanted a career in which he too can help protect and defend people’s rights. 

He took  up A.B. Economics as a pre-law course  at the University of the Philippines.  Upon graduation,  Raymund  enrolled in the evening classes of UP College of Law, while working full-time in a law firm in Makati. After 2 years, he shifted directions, he wanted to go corporate. He eyed the pharmaceutical industry, drawn by its stable and sustainable business.  

Raymund distinctly remembers his first  day as a pharmaceutical rep trainee.  The bus he was taking  to Makati  broke down, and consequently,  he reached the training room just about when the door was closing.   That pharmaceutical company had a strict policy on tardiness-- anyone late for training was automatically  eliminated from the program.   Raymund then found himself jobless on the day he thought he would begin a career.

Undaunted, Raymund applied to other pharmaceutical companies.  His first break came at Natterman Philippines, where he started in 1985 as a medical rep.   Four years later, an opportunity came for him and his family to move as immigrants to Sydney, Australia. There,  he was hired by Astra Pharmaceuticals.   In his first year, Raymund was awarded Med Rep of the Year -- receiving over half  of all the awards given out that year.   Looking back, Raymund  attributes his early success  to his  going the extra mile.  For instance,when the company average for calls or visits to doctors’ clinics was  less than 6 calls a day, he was doing an average of 10 calls daily.

In 1995, he got a big break and was hired as Sales and Marketing Manager to help set up Solvay Australia— a global company based in Belgium. A few years after the successful launch of Solvay, he was hired by Merck Sharpe & Dohme (MSD), one of the top three largest pharma companies in Australia. During his tenure with MSD, Raymund was appointed to lead the integration of a $150 M biotech company that MSD acquired, a process that he successfully completed in only 100 work days. He considers that career milestone  as a competency building exercise on change management -- an experience that he would capitalize on  in his succeeding posts.

In 2002, Pharmalink, a subsidiary of Zuellig Pharma, Inc,  offered him a post back in Manila to serve as  Country Manager.  And in 2008, he was appointed as Executive VP and Chief Operating Officer of Zuellig Pharma Inc. and then promoted to CEO after just a few years.

Today, Raymund discloses that he wakes up each morning looking forward to come to his office, not to work but to pursue a passion-- to give greater access to medical products and services to as many people as possible. He knows only  too well how it is like, literally and figuratively speaking, for an important door to close right before him.  He is now on a mission to open doors;  he wants to  help  our countrymen exercise the right to  adequate and affordable healthcare. 

In  "Pointers for New College Graduates,"  Raymund shares the following pieces of advice:

·       Find your passion.  Search for the industry and role that will allow you to  maximize our strengths as individual. Do not follow the crowd.     While others go for what is trendy, or for what their parents tell them, or simply follow where the money is -- go where you know you will excel and be happy in the process.

·      Seek leadership.  Some  people  may think that if they do things  alone they can do better. From my experience, those who succeed and achieve their potential are those  who can connect effectively with others.  They are able  to harness the strengths of others, and in the process, they learn more rapidly and comprehensively, and are able to excel in tasks that require  depth and perspective.  That connectedness is, in essence, leadership.

·       Build competencies.  This is what my father would tell me, and what I would share with my own children:  Build competencies early on in your career. Take on  roles that bring out the best in you as your experience from these will serve as strong foundation for more challenging tasks.  

Read more about Raymund's pointers for new college graduates, specifically those aspiring to join the pharmaceutical industry.

"Pointers for New College Graduates," by Gerry P. Siquijor. Available at Fully Booked,  St. Pauls, Pauline Bookstores and branches of Catholic Book Center