Leaders on a Mission - Patrice Selles, CEO Biotalys, Episode 5

In todays episode I was joined by Patrice Selles, CEO of Biotalys, an innovative
Biotech based out of Ghent, Belgium, developing sustainable novel crop
protection solutions that are better for the planet.

Patrice talks about his early passion for science, and the reasons why he
moved from drug discovery to more industrial applications, and how he was
seduced by the opportunity for innovation and impact within the agricultural
industry at Syngenta. He speaks about how he broadened out his interest and
experience, with a career shaping move to Boston, that gave him much
broader exposure to the challenges and solutions within agriculture, working in
the VC world and establishing Syngenta’s corporate venturing group. He
speaks about the risks, him and his 8 months pregnant wife took moving to
Boston in 2008 at the time of the global financial crisis.

He reflects on the impact development  programmes that he was part of at
Syngenta, that honed his love of collaboration, and allowed him to extend his
network across the agricultural ecosystem. He speaks about the move from
Syngenta to Biotalys; embracing the risk and challenge of leading a company
driven by a really exciting mission to improving the tools for farmers, impacting
right across the food chain.

He speaks about the vision, mission for Biotalys’, and the alternative
sustainable solutions and products it is commercializing. He outlines the
hurdles and challenges that are in front of the company, and the challenges in
moving from a start up to a revenue generating organization, as well as  the
progress to date on their first bio fungicide product. He talks openly about the
challenges he didn’t expect as a first time CEO, and about how the support of
the board has been critical in helping him make this transition successfully.