“Every morning, I get up knowing for certain that I am helping patients to have a better quality of life and to spend more time with their families.”
A biochemist by training, Zineb Guerdoud studied at the University of Science and Technology in Algeria. Drawn to the marketing sector, she then decided to do an MBA in that field. “You should know that I came into pharmaceuticals by chance. After my university studies, I wanted to do a postgraduate course abroad. That was my dream at the time. Fate decided otherwise. After the loss of a loved one, I decided to stay, and this new path proved decisive in my career,” she explains.
More determined than ever to move forward, Zineb Guerdoud began her career after being offered a position as a medical representative. Despite her reserved nature, Zineb Guerdoud managed to rise to this challenge. “I told myself it wasn’t for me. I couldn’t see myself making conversation all day long, but I was determined to give it a go and, with the help of a friend, I tried my luck”, recalls the current Country Group President of Novartis Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria. In the end she stayed in that position in infant nutrition for two years, before joining Novartis. A start to her career that allowed her to change the way she saw herself. “Working as a medical representative allowed me to get to know myself better and to realise that, in the end, in life we set our own limits. I also learned that I took enormous pleasure in interacting with others and that it is an extremely noble profession.” It was at that time that Zineb Guerdoud began to discover just how much she could contribute to patients’ access to therapeutic care.
Her beginnings at Novartis…
At Novartis in Algeria, Zineb Guerdoud learned a great deal and grew.“I reached the first level of my career after three years, as a product manager; then I gradually began to take on more and more responsibilities”, she recalls. She crossed paths with several leaders who supported her throughout her career and helped her believe in herself. After eight years at Novartis, she joined the American group Pfizer as Business Unit Director and then the French group Sanofi as Consumer Health Care General Manager. “These experiences allowed me to broaden my knowledge of the pharmaceutical industry and to strengthen my skills in industrial business across different sectors of activity,” explains Zineb Guerdoud.
Four years later, she returned to Novartis once again, first as General Manager of Oncology before being appointed Innovative Medecine Country Group President for the Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia region: “I spent two years working in oncology in Algeria, and in 2022, when Novartis was restructured with the merger of oncology and the pharmaceutical business, I was fortunate enough to find myself at the head of Novartis innovative medecine for Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria.”
Her passion and commitment to her work
For Zineb Guerdoud, this profession is a true passion. “Staying so long in this field is the sign of a real love for what you do. Passion is an essential driving force. And I consider myself lucky to be in Morocco, because I love this country enormously; I don’t feel out of place. The people are extremely pleasant and welcoming. It is an opportunity for me to arrive at a time when I have the chance to make an impact and to support change within Novartis, but also with the healthcare reform in Morocco, driven by the High Royal Guidelines, which represents a historic turning point that we welcome and will support,” she stresses.
A woman of challenges…
Throughout her professional and personal journey, Zineb Guerdoud has always pushed herself to meet the challenges before her. “Today, the biggest challenge lies in managing the complexity of the environment. Every day I make sure to carry out the missions entrusted to me as well as possible and to support our teams in this momentum. And every morning, I get up knowing for certain that I am helping patients to have a better quality of life and to spend more time with their families,” she adds. A mission she carries out brilliantly by placing people at the heart of everything. “You start out in this field thinking that the most important thing is to achieve financial results, but the leaders who inspired me are those who showed me that, beyond results, people are our primary capital. That is the kind of leadership I aspire to. The kind that shows empathy and demonstrates that when you put people at the heart of your concerns, everything else follows,” she concludes.
To relieve the pressure of everyday life, Zineb Guerdoud does not hesitate to head to the sea or the forest to reconnect with nature. Her motto in life is “what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger”. Full of resilience, she is proud and grateful to have got where she is within the great Novartis family.
If you were…
A colour, which would you be? Red
A country, which would you be? Scotland
A personality…? Winston Churchill
An animal…? The tiger
A connected object? A watch
A superpower? Going into the future
A book…? Multipliers, by Liz Wiseman
A song…? Heal the world by Michael Jackson
A quality…? Honesty and empathy
A flaw…? Impassiveness.