Swapnil Ballal
Swapnil Ballal, a quality and processes leader in India’s pharma and biopharma sectors has joined CRAMbridge as partner, effective March 2019. As the head of biopharma quality assurance and manufacturing, Swapnil Ballal has left a mark in quality teams, processes, and culture at India’s largest enterprises such as Biocon, Intas, and most recently, at Dr Reddy’s. Swapnil is intimately familiar with the promise and challenges faced by companies in meeting their full growth and revenue potential. More importantly, he understands that there are no shortcuts to good quality products, and that a culture of transparency and ethics flows from the top down.
The following is Swapnil in his own words:
Passion Meets Purpose: Finding My Ikigai
In 2017, I got introduced to the Japanese concept of IKIGAI as part of Dr Reddy’s leadership program. I’d been focused on delivery, performances, timelines, and strategies in the biopharma industry for more than 22 years. I’d also been a person who prioritized tangible results and delivery, over emotions and philosophy. But the concept of ikigai hit me straight in the gut. So much so, that it made me give up my job security, good salary, and a path up the corporate ladder which I had painstakingly put together at India’s largest biopharma enterprises, and go after my ikigai. Put simply, Iki= life + gai= worth. Ergo: ikigai = life’s worth Or even more simply, ikigai is: “a reason to get up in the morning”.
Image courtesy: Tim Tamashiro, TEDxYYC https://youtu.be/pk-PcJS2QaU
It’s the zone of intersection of “What I love doing”, “Doing what I am good at”, “Doing what I can be rewarded for”, and “Doing what the world needs”. With a sense of the above, I went with my heart and decided to follow my calling – to do what I think I am good at and what I love: “Guiding, teaching, mentoring, and improving the skills of people working in drug manufacturing and allied areas; to ultimately contribute in some small way to a higher quality and more affordable medication.” Over the last decade or so, I’ve been sold on the potential of eLearning to make a difference on my life mission stated above. A young workforce, deep internet penetration, and omnipresent connected devices bode well for its potential. This needs to be wedded with thorough, state-of-the-art content developed from decades of wide and deep industry experience. My friend and former colleague, Anjali Panakkat, has been doing exactly this through CRAMbridge for the past several years. When Anjali presented an opportunity to work with her, to scale CRAMbridge offerings, it brought all the circles of Ikigai together for me The decision to accept the offer did not take long and already I have a great reason to wake up in the morning. Through CRAMbridge, we hope to empower pharma industry’s most vital asset – it’s workforce – to produce higher quality and more affordable life saving products.
About: CRAMbridge provides e-learning modules and computer based training for the full range of pharma operations: R&D, QC/QA, RA, Manufacturing, and Management. Our courses are cutting edge, affordable, and easily integrates with Learning Management Systems (LMS). We are working with the largest drug companies and CRO/CMO to bring about a marked improvement in their talent retention, audit preparedness, GMP, and overall quality. www.crambridge.in
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