CEO Monthly December 2017

8 CEO MONTHLY / DECEMBER 2017 Accelerate Biotechnology Company: Batavia Biosciences Contact: Menzo Havenga Contact Email: m.havenga@ bataviabiosciences.com Address: Bioscience Park Leiden Zernikedreef 16 Leiden, 2333CL, Netherlands Phone: 0 88 99 50 600 Website: www.bataviabiosciences.com well mastered or job areas that could need improvement. An integral part of the yearly evaluation cycle is to also mutually set goals for the next year that can include training on for instance core competences that need improvement. This process ensures that employees learn about their job-related strengths and weaknesses and have the opportunity to improve upon them, which in turn makes the company stronger. A win-win situation is hence created. “Essentially, my leadership style can be typified as transparent and no-nonsense with an absolute believe in creating long term relationships by creating win-win opportunities, be it with external clients, vendors, internal resources and other stake holders.” With this in mind, Menzo comments on whether he believes his leadership style works, and how staff have reacted to his leadership, mentioning the happy and honest relationship amongst peers. Menzo sees his staff as vital to his success and as co- workers, embedded four keywords into the culture of company; Drive, Integrity, Passion and Honesty. “Crucially, the projects that Batavia engages in mostly involves the development of effective counter measures or preventive medicines for global health such as low-cost polio vaccine development, HIV vaccine development, or R&D on malaria or tuberculosis vaccines. Working on these types of projects attracts intrinsically motivated R&D staff, always willing to put in an extra effort as they are well aware of the daily death toll taken by these pathogens. It is therefore that Batavia management sometimes needs to protect its employees from structurally working late rather than having to motivate its employees to put in an extra effort. Indeed, one will often find that the lights at Batavia are still on way past office hours. “Subsequently, the culture in the company is adhering to the so-called SMART (Specific-Measured-Acceptable- Reasonable-Timed) principle regarding communication. This culture has been introduced as the market Batavia operates in is highly regulated given the fact that novel medicines need strict testing before they can be used in man. For example, documentation, testing, use of raw materials and infrastructure regulations are all scrutinized on a daily basis and anchored in work instructions and employee training.” Ultimately, Menzo is keen to sign off by talking about his overall aim in charge of Batavia, it is clear that the founders of Batavia Biosciences, using debt financing and re-investment of all surplus cash from operations, have brought the company to a promising position given the restrictions such instruments have. The next stage is to attract external capital to allow the company to further accelerate its growth. With the ambition to become a top-100 CDMO by 2025 and earning gross revenues in excess of 50 million Euros, such growth capital is definitely needed. “Lastly, I build Batavia Biosciences with the aim to bring new medicines quicker to the patients and at affordable pricing. My motivation stems from the firm believe that in our world all who suffer from disease should have access to medicines regardless of where they live. In addition, I firmly believe that we should thrive to create a world that develops affordable medicines not only for the many but also for the few. I am proud that at Batavia we work effortlessly day in day out to make these dreams a reality.”