From refugee to QA/QC: A journey of opportunity and growthFrom refugee to QA/QC: A journey of opportunity and growth

Sweden-based cell therapy firm Anocca created the BioStart program to collaborate because of an “interest-skills mismatch,” Mark Farmery, chief development officer at Anocca, told BioXconomy.  

As the firm moved into manufacturing, it required a different talent pool and “noticed that the earlier profile hires” differed in what attracted them to the job. This realization sowed the seeds for what became the BioStart program: an initiative where Anocca collaborates with local organizations, such as adult education centers and employment services run through the local council.

“The area has quite a dynamic population and there’s issues with youth unemployment and long-term unemployment,” explained Farmery. “We are neighbors with an organization run by the local council where they employ 18–30-year-olds and put them out on various jobs.”

He described how the company saw a “group of young people turning up to work and we realized that there are motivated young individuals who are disciplined with good work ethic.”

“If we could find people like that and give them the basic introduction to biotechnology,” Anocca could have access to a wider talent pool, Farmery said.

The program is “essentially a five-day course” run over a four-week period where participants are taught basic lab techniques. The course itself is overseen by Anocca staff members who have been selected because they “have the skills to run a training program.” In turn, “this gives staff members motivation and responsibility as the people attending the BioStart program are often coming from no exposure to biotech and probably never thought of a career in biotech.”

Farmery told us the course has been run twice so far, and the firm has “hired ten people across different functions and trained around 15–20 people.”

Starting from scratch

That was the case for Edman, who spoke with BioXconomy about his journey with Anocca’s BioStart program and the impact it’s had on his career. He told us when he arrived in Sweden in 2015, he never imagined he would end up working in a biotechnology lab. In fact, “those kinds of jobs didn’t exist” in his mind.

He had heard that a biotech firm in the area wanted people to work in the lab and curious about this opportunity, Edman “decided to figure out exactly what this is” and got in contact with Anocca. He described the training “as an introduction to what is expected from you.”

Edman said the five days of training included an introduction to different cell lines, lab work, and “all different types of equipment.” While he told the company his main interest wasn’t in biology but instead in physics, he communicated to Anocca about his capabilities of learning and his desire “to figure out how this program works.”

Building skills

He said when he began, the tasks were simple. However, as time went on and once Edman “felt comfortable with how it all works,” his supervisor “started to think of how I can be involved in more stuff, and they figured out that I can do much more than simple workings and move on to become a really important person in the team.”

The skills Edman learnt during his training and then employment at Anocca has meant he has “everything under control” in his work and “can do whatever is required and expected from my team” as a senior process technician.

The importance of the program

Programs such as BioStart have the potential to provide individuals with fulfilling careers they might have never previously considered.

“I personally think having programs like this one is quite important,” said Edman. “Not everybody can figure out in their early stages of life what they want to do career-wise. When opportunities like this come up, sometimes people realize that they are good at something they weren’t aware of. It is also a good opportunity for people that don’t have the chance or have the resources to study at university.”

On one hand, it highlights there are programs where people can come and learn without needing specific qualifications to pursue a career. On the other hand, Edman says, “it also means companies can find a lot of good people that can become [valuable] resources for the company that they did not have access to before.” 

Never a boring day

One of the aspects Edman loves about his job is its unlimited and non-repetitive nature.

“It is not like you have to stay in the lab all of the time, you can improve, you can take on a lot of different things such as procedures, writing protocols, improving lab work, and training other people.”

He defined the program as “a learning process” where you have to continuously improve. As the biotech space is constantly evolving and changing, Edman explained the need to “keep yourself updated all of the time, have the know-how on what is going on, what is the latest news, and what technology has emerged.”

Toward the end of the interview, Edman reflected on his journey as a refugee from Afghanistan to senior process technician in Sweden. Alongside the lab skills he gained during the BioStart program and his employment, he told us that when he first arrived, he “could only really have very basic conversations” in English.

Now, he can speak Swedish and English, which “improved greatly” since his arrival.

Edman was reflective about his winding path to Anocca.

“It is not easy to come all the way here, find a job, and step into a role that is important for the entire world.”