Training for compliance vs. Training to think
While you read this article, about 60 deviations will be logged within global GMP environments*. Half of them would have been caused by “human error”. Most of these will end with “retraining” as one of the corrective actions. How to deal with deviations caused by human error: Option 1) Classroom Training: with a trainer using a […]
MicroNuggets: efficient counterbalance to long, drawn-out, learning modules
What are learning MicroNuggets? Learning modules frequently try to do too much. They end up being long-winded and laborious, and run the risk of muddying the gist of what is communicated. Long winded coursework is not the most exciting way to welcome new hires, or to refresh the memories of existing team members. How do […]
Why do so many Indian startups seem to be founded by North Indian dudes?
Something jumped out at me in Yourstory magazine’s list of top 100 Indian startups and their founders. There seemed to be more Agarwals, Bansals, and Chadhas on there than in my high school class in Chandigarh. Were north Indians really more likely to start-up than their brothers and sisters down south? Why was the south – in […]
Quality training as the anti-Jugaad
Is India really running pharma and biotech sweatshops? India is the market leader in high quality generic medicine. The drugs that people from Africa to the Americas to Japan rely on to relieve ailment. But you probably haven’t heard of India’s market dominance. Instead, what you’ve likely heard of is quality lapses, squalid facilities, and […]
Lessons learnt from income tax and central excise audits
An unexpected notice on income tax and central excise audits The partnership firm that I run with my husband has been scrutinized by the Income Tax and Central Excise departments in the last couple of years. Our firm provides consulting services in engineering and biotechnology to a plethora of clients – many of them international. […]
Fresh Biotech grads in India are being set up for an epic fail
One of the things I enjoy most is interacting with recent biotech graduates. I still remember how lost I was when I got out of college. Thrust into an Indian employment market with no biotech industry to speak of. But that was before explosive growth catapulted India’s biotech industry to the $11B it sits at […]
A teachable moment in that Zomato guy’s infamous email to his sales team
While browsing the news this morning, I ran into an email that Deepinder Goyal – chief at zomato.com – wrote to his sales team recently. Zomato -which offers an array of value added restaurant services – is one of the shining jewels of India’s nascent start-up boom, with a current reported valuation over $1B. […]
The fallacy of “protecting your turf”
I’ve been getting Indian CROs on CRAMbridge over the last couple of weeks and am amazed by the breadth and depth of scientific talent they have in-house. With the right amount of direction from upper management, this can be leveraged to make these guys truly innovative biotech companies. But there’s one troubling thread that’s common […]