It has been said that “Entrepreneurship is about turning what excites you in life into capital, so that you can do more of it and move forward with it”, and Azhar Alavi has spent his life doing just that. Based in one of the tech capitals of the world, Azhar speaks to us from his office in San Francisco and shares his experience of working within the consulting industry and how this has influenced his own career journey, with us.
Azhar Alavi graduated from university with a clear vision of where he was going. Having successfully completed his Masters in Business Administration, Azhar was on track to influence and lead within the healthcare and technology industries.
Starting with Strength
Starting his career journey with Silicon Genetics in the San Francisco - Bay Area, Azhar supported the growth of the company through cross collaboration with a team of statisticians and developers to ensure successful implementation of information management systems with top biotech and research organizations. From the start, Azhar recognised the importance of developing strong and meaningful business relationships with those he worked with and developed a strong network of industry support for the projects he was commissioned for. It was predominantly through his development of corporate partnerships and based on the relationships that he had carefully grown, Azhar supported growth of 35% Y/Y in his region.
Independent Bio-Informatic Advice
Azhar soon realised that his talents and expertise within the biotech and health industries were sought-after as organisations struggled to achieve strong top line growth. He set out to explore opportunities as an independent consultant and co-founded Anubis Bioservices – an advisory company to start-up bio-informatic tech companies in San Francisco, where he provided consulting services around market-deployment, product pricing and customer segmentation strategies.
“With Anubis, I learned about what commercial challenges that many small to medium sized biotech companies faced, and the many value propositions an independent consultant can add to their business. I was challenged with knowing how to price my service and understanding my worth”
Not forgetting the career lessons he’d learnt earlier on in his career, Azhar built on key relationships he’d already developed with his clients, and delivered key strategic consulting services on product and marketing strategies.
Management Consultant going Global
It was clear that many organisations all over the world were attempting to address key information and technical challenges in the healthcare market. Post his MBA, Azhar was snapped up by IMS Consulting Group - a global consulting firm focused exclusively on the healthcare industry, where he lived and worked across multiple geographies building global technical expertise in transaction advisory, brand management, and sales and market strategies within the healthcare industry. It was during his time with IMS Health as a management consultant, that Azhar’s leadership ability, his extensive knowledge of the industry and his expertise as an independent consultant set him up to deliver projects with over 40 pharmaceutical, financial and trade organizations. He also trained consultants globally on consulting fundamentals, forecasting, and decision analysis.
Azhar today
Azhar Alavi is part of the Talmix network and spends his time between London and San Francisco. Through his own personal journey, Azhar regularly calls on his extensive experience within the independent consulting industry to daily enrich the lives of Talmix clients and consultants and drive the adoption of a new way of working in organisations across the globe.
