The Face Of African Biotech with Adrienne Leussa, Ph.D.

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Adrienne Leussa has become the most visible and prolific advocate , if not the most visible and prolific face , of African biotech . She's also a bit of a Renaissance woman .

She earned her PhD in biochemistry and worked in pharmacy and molecular technology before turning her attention to research and teaching , then drug discovery and development and then business development , and now consulting and podcasting and board membership . I'm Matt Pillar . This is the Business of Biotech and I'm honored that the tireless Dr .

Adrienne Leussa is joining us for today's show . Adrienne welcome .

Because you've done so much , you've done so much in the space and you're doing so much for the space and I want to get into that . I want to get into what you're doing for the space and what's going on over there in Africa . But I want to start with you .

I know , because you and I chatted a few weeks back , i know that your entrepreneurial sort of enterprising spirit took root when you were a young child , right .

And I grew up in a little neighborhood . I was quite good at school so I never really had holiday , so when holidays come I was out of school . There was nothing else keeping me busy .

My mom couldn't really afford extracurricular activities so I really found myself a lot at home And I saw other kids in my neighborhood would assist their parents out of need by going out to sell , sell something , and for me it was intriguing , first of all because I didn't want to spend the whole . I had a working mom so she would go out in the day .

Most of my siblings I'm the fourth or five , so most of my siblings were in boarding school . So I got pretty bored at home And I suggested to my mom that I would like to go out and sell something , like my friends .

She was concerned , but I think my mom is also very entrepreneurial And for her it was good that I initiated the conversation So she encouraged it . We tried a whole lot of things every year .

It was always during the long holidays at the end of the academic year , so every year we had like three months to do something And we did a whole lot of things And I did that from the age of eight right through to when I was getting into university at 16 . So it was quite a good start to the entrepreneurial journey .

To the mindset , what were you selling ? I sold pretty much everything . So I started off with things like peanuts and a whole lot of other nuts . We were in the tropics and there's a lot of nuts And people work at the time . There wasn't really like breaks at work , especially with the civil servants , so I used to take nuts to where the offices are .

My mom was a civil servant with the public service So she introduced me to her colleagues and I'll take stuff to them . On Saturdays I'll go to like stadiums where there was football or handball and I'll sell like ice lollies in a box . So it was fun for me . It was really fun just knowing that I could go out and make money .

And at some point , I had the freedom to go out and buy my own goods , so at the end of the day , when I finished selling , i could go to the market and buy the raw stuff that I need in order to process and make the new goods . So that was quite an interesting upbringing .

At the time it didn't seem so glamorous , but when I look back now , i picked up a whole lot of skill sets that I wouldn't give up for anything right now .

You said that you were working the streets selling peanuts and lollipops up until 16 when you went to university . Is 16 like the standard age of entrance into university in Africa , or were you accelerated Because here in the States 16 , you're still in 10th grade .

So right from kindergarten I never finished any cycle except high school , just because it was a science-based high school And in the final year there were practicals that you had to do to qualify to get into university . So that was the only cycle that I did to the end .

I always had to study double at my final year because I was studying the year in which I was and the year ahead . So I think that also contributes to my personality and work ethic . At that point I did feel like I was being punished a little bit .

You don't feel like you rushing to somewhere , you feel like , okay , you still have a few years that you could navigate where you are at , and I think that's true .

So the way these lawyers I think they were like four or five I wasn't very good at math I wasn't So . Engineer and pilots , those were out through the window . I was good at science . I was good at biology , chemistry , physics . I loved It wasn't my best but I did like it . So I was always thinking what can I do within those professions ?

But also I noticed , growing up , my mom . She was very sick when I was growing up . Nothing chronic , it was more about malaria . Malaria is very endemic in the tropics and camera and where I grew up And for her , when it hit her , i would see my mom very strong , entrepreneurial , very like .

She has this really strong personality , being a single mom and everything . So she always had to have this stand up personality . But when she got sick with malaria she would crawl into bed and she would be in bed for days And for me that really struck me And I always just I think somewhere I resolved that I was going to do something that helped .

Initially it had to be medicine , because that was one of the big five . But I recall when I did get my advanced levels , which is the certificate that we get after high school to get into university , i visited a doctor's office And just at the back of his , where he was sitting , there was a picture of him dissecting something and there were cops .

They were actually in a morgue And I was like what was that ? Oh yeah , that's in first year in med school , that's what we do . Sitting there I made up my mind medicine was not going to be for me . So I did a bit of research and I was like , okay , pharmacy , it sounds very close to medicine , it's drugs , it's meant for health And it's also business .

So it combines the business side that I like and the science . And that's how I decided well , i wanted to do pharmacy . I couldn't get into pharmacy school because they were not in Cameroon at the time And my mom thought I was too young , yeah , to go abroad and study And study .

So I ended up choosing something that was close to medicine , you say mom that's your own fault that I'm not too young at university .

Yes , and I get the sense that Kevin gotten to know you a little bit . I get the sense that the reason , or at least maybe perhaps part of the reason , there have been so many steps along the way is that you have like an unbridled , uncontrollable , unbridled and uncontrollable interests .

So I'm very big on staying fit and healthy as much as I can I can . And then , obviously , getting older , i do know that your well-being is kind of like what helps you or enables you to do and get ahead , you know , with everything else that you want to do .

So I'm very like , yeah , i'm very adamant on set having that foundation of health and well-being and then everything else builds up from there .

It doesn't come by very easily , so it felt very limiting And I still also didn't find like I was fulfilling that business interest , the skill sets that I got it in my earlier , younger years by being a research scientist . So even while I was in academia , i was very unsettled .

I always wanted to do things that engage with people , things that put me out in front of people . So I finally made up my mind around about 2019 that I was going to leave academia and I took up a job as a sales professional . So my entry into industry was not in the research space , it was more in sales .

But I'm also very grateful because that was a great way to enter industry .

Having had the technical background and expertise in science and in drugs , drug discovery , biotechnology , and then combining that with the outreach , engaging people , the influencing people , the language skills also due to my various geographical displacements in Africa , i think , yeah , it all puts together a certain unique place for me in the industry .

When you made that transition industry and you went into business development , was that with , was it 54G , or was there a company prior to that that you were doing business ?

And then that was where I got headhunted into 54G , which was a newly start , a new startup in the biotech help tech space , to join them in their business development , building partnerships across Africa .

So consultancy is sort of an amalgamation of your science background , your sales background and this communication sort of mantle that you've embraced . Correct , correct , so tell us about it , like what do you just tell us what you're doing now ?

You know , biotech company , africa , forecast business development . Those are some of the things that drive me . I have a passion for those things And I also thought , ok , surely there are , there are many that could , you know , use the experience and networks , the skill sets that I've built over the years .

However , we are in a , in a poly crisis , and Africa is not left behind , So it's very tough to get into the job market right now . However , the skill set is something that people told me We would . We would be able to hire you for contract work , freelance work , if you , if you , were a consultant .

So then I took the leap and I said , ok , i'll register , i'll start a company , i'll put myself out there to . You know , support businesses as much as I can in in their business development . But , most specifically , we all know that nowadays , the complexity of the world , the business world , the interconnectedness of everything , and people have to collaborate .

People have to work together , even competitors , and that is not something that most companies , especially science companies , still very the work in silos . So we , we are scientists I'm not sure how it is in the US , but we are scientists are kind of trained to be very niche , very focused on what we do .

We do not easily share information or share resources , and I thought , with the work I did at 54 , jean , the skill set I picked up as an alliance professional , having been trained professionally for that , could really benefit a lot of companies that are looking to grow , looking to for ways to innovate , looking for ways to overcome certain huddles in this business

or macroeconomic environment that we currently in in today . And so that's really where I focus . It's enabling collaboration , enabling partnerships And , even if it's not for partnerships per se , just having a really good working relationship with your key , key stakeholders . You know there's a lot that goes into that . There's someone that needs to focus on that .

Most of the times we assume that you know the machine would just oil itself , the relationships will build themselves , the communication will happen at some level , but there's actually tools and techniques and skills that are required to , you know , reduce the failure rate for collaboration and partnerships to be successful .

So that's that's kind of where I fit myself at this point .

Yeah , it was a little bit scary , but super rewarding , super rewarding . So congratulations to you for taking that leap . Thank , you . On the flip side of that . I look at what's going on in Africa from a biotech standpoint And I think it's you know , it's probably early it's sort of nascent .

I mean people don't think of Africa as necessarily a bustling hub like San Francisco or Boston of biotech . But the fertility of the ground for the biotech need in Africa has got to be in mess , because beyond medicine , i mean obviously there's very specific medicinal needs in Africa .

but agriculture , right , i mean you , you're , you're your work now sort of bleeds beyond like biologic drug discovery , right Medicine .

You know that rich , that rich biodiversity , because it hasn't really been studied in an in-depth and focused manner . Luckily , there are groups now , for example the Africa Biogenome Project that just launched I think last year or so that are now focusing on that , on really uncovering and showing what is available in Africa's biodiversity .

But you also talk about , or we can also talk about , the genomics , which is a big deal because people of African descent are very diverse genetically and that is proving to be a very rich resource for the biopharma space .

So in as much as infrastructure and a few other things are not abundant yet in Africa , we have this natural resources And also we have the population the youth Africa is now ranking among the highest . The percentage of the population that is young in Africa is really impressive , and this young population now has access to technology .

They now have access to things that other generations didn't have . So they can innovate , they can really focus and create mind-blowing innovations , and that is happening . So there's this buzz of okay , we have the resources , we now have the people , we have the drive , so let's get things done .

So let's get things done feeling in Africa , and that is very exciting Yeah .

anyway , like when we picture Africa , we picture this giant continent , and we picture , we picture that there's like civilization in Southern and South Africa And then like the rest of the continent is just like desert jungle , you know , like Yeah yeah , yeah , yeah .

Now I don't wanna make it like a two in depth geography lesson , but give us a lay of the land for like where biotech innovation is occurring . I mean , i can imagine that South Africa is probably the sort of the hub of it , but where else in Africa ?

So a lot of the people in Africa do move to South Africa to get , you know , educated , like myself , and so it turns out that it turns , and the government also has a few policies that enable people to stay and contribute to innovation in South Africa . So , yes , in South Africa leads in that space . but you also have Kenya , which is in East Africa .

you have a very good ecosystem that is building up there . You also have Rwanda . Rwanda is positioning itself to be the technology hub in Africa . You have really great government incentives that are attracting startups , attracting foreign investment in Rwanda . And you have Egypt .

Egypt has long been , you know , associated more with , maybe , the Middle East because of , you know , cultural , sociocultural reasons . but there's also a lot of innovation in the biotech space , biopharma , happening in Egypt . And then Nigeria , for the population size , again , for the young people that are very entrepreneurial .

And where else , i mean in North Africa , you also have quite a few Tunisia , algeria , morocco , that are also , you know , doing great strides in biopharma space .

So I think in every region of Africa you do find at least a country or two that are really driving the momentum , and we do know that that will probably change in the next few years because we have now the Africa Free Trade Agreement , that is , you know , wanting to create a unified African market , putting down a whole lot of regulatory issues that will allow ,

you know , free circulation of goods and people , and so , yeah , those you know hubs will probably expand in the next couple of years .

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The Free Trade Agreement and sort of international commingling or international integration with the African biotech scene is interesting to me because you mentioned earlier you were talking about the genetic diversity that's present in Africa And that has got to be like that's got to be a profound interest to researchers specifically in drug development globally , right , like

the access to those populations has got to be extremely valuable , right ?

But in the recent years , and especially , you know , post COVID , the COVID pandemic , at the height of the COVID pandemic , where you know things couldn't circulate , there was , you know , a collapse of the supply chain and it revealed Africa's dependency on , you know , the West , for healthcare , for example .

So now there's a lot of initiatives , a lot of attention to build capacity in Africa , because even it is of interest to these bigger multinational companies to have , for example , packaging plants in Africa . It will make it easier And for now they can see the value . The market is growing .

You know the young people , the standard of living is improving , so people can afford some of these previously unaffordable goods . So there is definitely motivation and I do see that a lot of companies are taking advantage of this . I was reading , i think yesterday or today , a news headline . I think it's Merck that is just signed an agreement .

No , i might be wrong , I might be quoting it wrong , but there was one of these big names that has just signed an agreement with the Kenyan , the Kenyan government to set up an MRNA hub in Kenya . So , yeah , those are some of the things that we see on the continent .

What are you seeing and again , we probably can't go state by state , but what are you seeing in terms of sort of , i guess , the levels of support that are coming from African governments for this kind of growth And I guess what is Africa doing to sort of stabilize the opportunity for biotech growth ?

We do see that governments are now supporting more and more African entrepreneurs , but even investors from beyond Africa to come and invest in Africa In the biotech space maybe less than in other verticals , but the attention is getting there , especially again like I would refer back again to COVID that really revealed the need , revealed the gaps , and so we have

organizations like the Africa CDC . That is really rallying support , really rallying funding , really rallying capabilities , building skills across Africa , and so it's trying to distribute .

So there is this trend now , or maybe tendency , for Africa to unite , to not deal with some of these challenges in isolated pockets and regions , but to rather look at how do we unite our forces , how do we unite our capabilities and tackle some of the big , big challenges like health or climate and things like that .

So , yes , there is that trend and it's happening . In terms of policy . It's happening in terms of even just enabling more stable governments and governance . On the political front , That is also . We also seeing some changes happening in previously problematic governments and countries .

Some still need work , obviously , but Africa is not unique to that , as the recent years have shown that .

And that's also part of the reason why I started my podcast to be able to showcase those beyond the normal headlines about Africa , what is also happening in Africa .

I should say , too , to say that you're a prolific and perhaps , like you're , fast becoming sort of the face right or advocate of biotech in Africa . What inspired you to say you know what ? I'm going to be the person who sticks that flag on the ground . I'm going to launch a podcast and also be a very frequent guest on other podcasts .

If you Google Adrian Lusa , there's going to be more video and podcast results than anything else . Right ?

The business of biotech was one of those podcasts that I listened to And I really I mean I loved the conversations that you were having around biotech because it wasn't just the science , it wasn't just , you know , talking about the scientific research , the breakthroughs , but it was actually understanding the business of running a biotech , a biopharma company , and for

me that was very interesting . It was a nice spin to it . I mean , i love the science , but if I'm going to get into industry , if I'm going to tackle business problems with biotech or trying to use biotech as a solution in a business setting , i should know what business is about right And we . I speak for myself .

I didn't get that as part of my curriculum as a scientist . So I think your podcast there's also the Life Science radio with Chris Corner Those were some of the podcasts that I really enjoyed listening to And I thought why is there nothing like that about Africa ?

So maybe , if I go back a few steps , when I was , i had left academia and I was now starting my journey in industry as a sales professional , there was a lot of time on the road . There was a lot of time on the road driving between cities And I love information . I've always been that curious person . I love to read .

I couldn't get enough reading time So I started listening to audiobooks . And then I stumbled on podcasts on Audible And I thought this is really fantastic . Like in 30 minutes to an hour I can get a whole idea , you know , fully developed , and these are actually leaving breeding people most of the time .

We're telling you about what is actually happening And you can follow on , you know , on specific topics and things like that . So I got really inspired by folks like you doing podcasting in the biotech space And it took me some time . Chris Corner would tell you . It took a long time before I actually said , okay , i'm going to be the one doing it .

I hesitated , i was like , but somebody should be doing this . I remember asking to talk to Chris and just understand why he did it . And then I put it again on the backburn And then at some point , with my coach , we decided that I was going to launch a podcast on my daughter's birthday . That was .

We actually put that date to push me to actually pull the plug on it , and so that's what happened on the 27th of . Actually , it launched the next day on the 27th of September , we will in 2021, . We launched the podcast And it's been really great taking our people .

People have been curious about Africa and you know , beyond the politics , beyond the needs , the war and all of that , people once know what else is happening in Africa And there hasn't been in the past people talking about that , especially from a biotech business point of view .

So I'm really glad that we took that journey And it's still ongoing And I'm glad that it was really the right time because there's so much .

I mean , there's been a slow growth curve in biotech , biopharma space in Africa And just in the recent years again , i think thanks to COVID in a way But there's been now a whole lot of invested interest in developing the biotech space in Africa .

So in the next couple of years we will really be hearing great , great stories coming out of Africa in this industry .

You talk about like getting started and taking on that mantle And , if anything , i think that the business of biotech podcast has proven like , like when we started , like we didn't have a studio , we had like pretty I mean , this was only a few years ago but we had like pretty rudimentary audio equipment And I'm you know , you don't necessarily have to be good ,

you just have to get after it right And try to get better as you go . You know what I mean .

And for me it's also a learning space where I get to talk to smart people who have done it before , learn about all the support that is available . And I think what is also really important about the choice of going into the podcast was getting into biotech .

I had very , very narrow perspective about the possible career parts that I could pursue , but I think , going talking about these , one of the other things I do wanna share on the podcast is to give younger graduates , people aspiring for careers in the biotech space in Africa , to see what is available And even if it doesn't exist yet , they could then take on the

mandate to create it . So it's giving that awareness of , first of all , the value of biotech in solving big , big challenges and problems in Africa , making it more accessible to people to say , yeah , it can be done .

There's now lots of support and technology that can really fast track things in this industry And anyone anywhere can get innovative , get an idea and pursue it , but it really matters to see other people like you that are doing it or doing something similar .

I think it helps to overcome those self limitations that you spoke about When you see someone within your context your similar story doing something that you think you would like to do . So I think that's also something that motivates me going with the podcast .

So I want to talk about some of the support infrastructure that's there for this budding scene and for even the individuals Like to your point . there are a lot of enterprising students coming out of school and it'd be great to keep them there , right .

They have a strong , they have strong divisions , departments in , you know , microbiology , biotechnology , drug discovery . You can Google maybe the H3D hub in the in use city that is developing . You know drugs .

They're very strong in drug discovery and medicinal chemistry And they started even to , you know , they started a foundation trying to build capacity and enable other institutions across Africa to , you know , follow suit and have the same , the same sort of success that they've had in the recent years .

But you also have Witt's University of Witt's , water's RAN very good university . You have Northwest University , which has one of the the only really accredited centers for preclinical drug discovery and drug development in Africa , really on par .

They do a lot of work with both academics and even industry in that space And just across board I think there's quite a few .

I think what I want to say is , or what I want to maybe highlight here , is recent years we've seen a lot of technology transfer , a lot of efforts put into technology transfer , where in the past , a lot of the research has really been just for academic purposes .

But now there's a drive that's really a push to translate this discoveries and research innovations from the universities to commercializing them .

I was recently speaking to one of the companies here in South Africa where they started off by attending a talk a TED talk about one of the professors at University of Cape Town , and they were able to out license one of his innovations and then they started and built their company based on that .

So you have you have such such stories , but it's not limited to South Africa . We also seeing some of that coming out of Nigeria , some of that coming out of out of Kenya . I even recently was speaking to a group in Cameroon that are developing enzymes for PCR reagents . So you have these little pockets , Senegal .

There's a lot of work happening also in the biopharma space . So academically I'll say yes . And one other place I haven't mentioned is Mauritius , to keep an eye on in the in the biotech scene in Africa , Mauritius is also coming up as one of the hubs for startups for pharmaceutical , as one of the pharmaceutical hubs in Africa .

Like if you , you know , i mean even here in the States , you know , you ask where's , where's , where's all the activities , Like well , it's in Boston , it's in Francisco , Philadelphia , There's not a whole lot more to say you know of course all these little cities would clamor for attention , right Like we're seeing right here and there , but you know that's terrific

. I mean , it's just a testament to the fact that there is so much going on there . What about ? what about like industry organizations , you know , sort of public-private partnership type organizations ? I look at like , here in the States we have Bio and all of its affiliate Bio organizations that are that are state-specific .

You know , we have you know , at more academic institutions like Nimble , I mean they're just a you know a whole ecosystem of sort of organizations and institutions that support growth . Are there organizations like that there as well ?

To , you know , have a space in all the conversations around biotechnology and they're supporting a lot of startups , organizing , for example , we have a big convention that happens annually in Durban here in South Africa called Bio Africa Convention . It's also affiliated to to bio , the bigger umbrella organization , but it happens every year also in South Africa .

You have the Innovation Hub . We have a lot of hubs , mostly state state state paracetam organizations that enable , you know , you know , startups to incubate at the very early stages , supporting them with lab space and initial grant funding to , you know , get to that minimum viable product stage and raise , raise other rounds .

So , yeah , you have , you have , you do have other support systems . I'm also thinking there are a few investors , venture funds , that are beginning to focus on biotech in Africa .

I'm thinking here of , for example , one bio based also here in South Africa , that is raising funds and they've got quite a good portfolio of companies that are going through them , trying to groom , you know , the next startups , hopefully unicorns in the space .

You have BioCity , which is also a parasitical or , let's say , a public-private enabled organization that offers lab space to , to biotech focused startups , and they also do a lot of skills , skill building and capacity building , and they're looking to expand across Africa .

So I mean , i'm probably biased by being in South Africa , but I do see similar not probably at the same at the same you know pace as South Africa , but it's also coming up in other other countries across Africa , the ones I previously mentioned . Yeah , but you do get those same support systems happening .

I also want to maybe say that you also get international companies that you know are looking now to Africa to support the ecosystem with either funding or skills that you know are creating these partnerships and collaborations to to grow the ecosystem , because , at the end of the day , if Africa has a strong biotech ecosystem , everyone , everyone wins , because then we

can better , you know , use the resources that are available for for the good of everyone , yeah , yeah .

there's a lot of really good work happening there . But they're sort of , you know , less enthusiastic about the the investor community there . you know they're still heavily reliant on , on US investors , so it's nice to it's nice to hear that there's some investment activity sort of budding there as well .

And the one thing he told me was caution is we can't hooky , cut and paste what is happening in other hubs for Africa , because there's a whole lot of other nuances that are unique to the African scene that cannot be replicated . I mean , we can just replicate other models . We have to like adapt them to the African scene .

So I think there's a need for people who are more , first of all , they understand biotech , they understand the science and then they understand business so that they can best craft successful working business models for biotech in Africa , successful collaboration models for Africa . So I think there's a whole lot of that that needs to still be done .

But then another thing that he mentioned was a lot of the companies in biotech biopharma are still in the early stages pre-seed , maybe seed at the most . But they now need space to grow . They now need space to evolve and really take up market share .

But now the infrastructure is also something that needs more attention , because they've gone through the stage where they could do with co-locating in a university lab or just using a bench top space At one of these incubation hubs . They now need to get into maybe some initial manufacturing .

So there is a lot that needs to be done in the manufacturing bioprocessing space And the capacity , obviously , building skills for people that work in those companies . I think those will be my take on what is immediately needed , and maybe also as a support to all of that is enabling regulatory environment .

So there's a whole lot more that needs to be done at the government the policies that facilitate bio-entrepreneurship in Africa , that facilitate movement of data , and that's a big deal in having people access the data , access samples , because even electronic medical records it's not yet mainstream And that will continue to be a bottleneck for a lot of things If most

things are done manually and there's not circulation of information as it should be . So , yeah , those will be some of the things I'll highlight as where the needs are .

I mean , it's just , it's honorable , it's outstanding . I can't give you enough praise .

So what's on your sort of near term agenda ?

one thing I am unapologetic about is my belief in Africa , my belief in the opportunities that are in Africa . I think it's just having people that have a vested interest and the skills to really harness that to the potential that it can be , and I'm trying to be one of those .

But in the meantime , yeah , in the meantime , i want the audience to know here that it's Adrienne Lusa L E U S S A . So you look her up , you look up Africa biotech conversations . Added to your your , your your cue . Added to your . Subscribe to that one . Added to your cue .

And you know , you never know you may stumble on an opportunity that will change the trajectory of your , your business , your life . So yeah tune in .

If you like listening to conversations with biopharma leaders like Adrienne , subscribe to the business of biotech podcast and sign up for our newsletter at bioprocessonlinecom backslash bob . Also , be sure to leave us a review , let us know how we're doing And , as always , thank you for listening .