In January this year in London, Sharon Cunningham an MBA graduate of UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School won the award for MBA Entrepreneurial Venture at the AMBA & BGA Excellence Awards. David Woods-Hale spoke to Sharon to find out more about her and what the award means to her and her business
Can you start off with telling us a little bit about yourself and your career to date?
I live in a coastal village in the south of Ireland. Both my parents have their own businesses, so finance was a natural choice after school, sort of in my DNA, so to speak. I did a BSc in finance at University College Cork here in Ireland, followed by a training contract with PwC in the audit department there.
I was lucky because that took me on international assignments to Chicago and London and a secondment to New York City. I then joined a relatively early stage company called EirGen Pharma in Ireland. The two co-founders of that company had actually done an MBA at the University of Limerick in Ireland and that had been their inspiration, they had actually prepared a business plan as part of one of their modules, and put it into practice and founded the company.
During my time at EirGen Pharma I welcomed my three little boys and I also decided to do an executive MBA at UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School in Dublin. I did that over two years and graduated in 2015.
That was the same year that the company I was working for, EirGen Pharma, was sold to a large multinational company. So myself and my colleague who had a complimentary skill set, decided that we would set up our own company. We worked on the business plan at nights and weekends and then left our jobs in December 2017 to start Shorla Pharma in January 2018.
Why did you sort of make the decision to move in pharmaceuticals after working in consultancy and more finance roles?
I wanted to go into industry and then eventually start up my own company. I was very conscious that I wanted to spend time educating myself as best as I could and grow my network in order to maximise my credibility so that eventually when I could have my own company, I could hit the ground running.
Earlier this year, you were awarded the AMBA Entrepreneurial Venture Award for private sector, which is an amazing achievement. Congratulations. How did it feel to win this award? And how do you think it might make a difference to you and your career going for?
Thank you very much, David. I was truly humbled and honoured to accept such a prestigious award on behalf of my co-founder Orlaith Ryan and I and Shorla Pharma.
I know the competition was extremely high for the award. It was really special and it was an absolute privilege to represent UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School. The award is further validation of our business plan and has provided national and international exposure that further enhances our credibility as a globally focused pharmaceutical company.
You mention that you completed your MBA at UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School. What really appealed about it to you?
So first of all, the reason I wanted to do an MBA was because I witnessed a real-life example of an MBA being put into practice and that was truly inspirational. When I was choosing what School to go to, to be honest the choice was really simple for me. UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School has a fantastic reputation in Ireland. I would have heard people talk about it and in particular their MBA programme.
They are globally focused, and they are actually the only School in Ireland and one of a niche of Schools globally to hold the triple crown of accreditation.
To me that was a signal of quality from international, independent peers. It was a guarantee to me that I would receive a top quality, internationally recognised MBA.
It’s also a beautiful campus in Ireland, it was a really easy choice and I am very pleased with that decision.
Were there a lot of international people on your cohort as well?
I am not sure what the percentages were but there were certainly a lot of international students and there was also the opportunity to do modules internationally. We did an international study trip to China at the time as well. There was an emphasis on making sure we got that broad range of internationally focused experience.
From what you’re saying, you choose to do the MBA to give you a bit of an impetus and some ability to start up your own business. What as part of the MBA really enabled you to go and do that?
I certainly did the MBA with intent, I knew I wanted to start my own business. I had been exposed to an entrepreneurial journey in EirGen Pharma, but I knew I needed something more in order to give me the confidence to be able to do that. The MBA equipped me with the skills and the network which was incredible. That crucial piece of confidence that I was lacking, I got that and I was able to embark on the entrepreneurial journey with much more ease than if I didn’t do it.
Can you tell us a bit more about your business Shorla Pharma?
Shorla Pharma is a speciality pharmaceutical company and we have a pipeline of drugs in the oncology space with a focus on women’s and paediatric health. Myself and my co-founder are like-minded individuals with complementary skill sets and we were motivated to do something meaningful and purposeful and to have a wider impact, to create positive change. Both of us have always had an appetite for risk
The reason we chose the women and children’s area was because we’re both women and we have five little boys between us and it was an area that we felt was sometimes overlooked, within the pharmaceutical sector.
We’re not a large multinational pharmaceutical company with billions of dollars and 20 years to wait for a new ground-breaking drug and equally we are not a generic pharmaceutical company. We position ourselves somewhere in between whereby we take existing active substances that are proven to be safe and efficacious, and we identify problems in the current clinical setting and then we bring Solutions.
The beauty of our products is that we can protect ourselves in two ways. Firstly, with intellectual property associated with patents and also with the market exclusivity that comes with the types of drugs that we develop.
There’s always the debate about purpose versus profit and that’s also something you are very mindful of. What would your message be to other organisations that are trying to develop along those lines?
I think sometimes the problem is that purpose can be overlooked. We aren’t a large pharmaceutical company, we are very purpose-driven and really believe that a lot of these opportunities exist for us because they aren’t commercially attractive to the larger pharmaceutical companies because the population sizes are too small and therefore not attractive enough, so we wanted to do something about that and that’s exactly what we’re doing.
What do you see is the as being the most important future trends in this in this sector, which I imagine moves very quickly?
It absolutely does, and I think what we are seeing in our particular space is a trend away from the generic towards more speciality pharmaceutical products and we think that will continue.
Companies want to add to their portfolios with more niche products, in particular drugs that are in short supply. Those drugs that are in shortage are getting a lot of attention internationally.
Talking about you as an entrepreneur yourself, what would you say would be the biggest challenge that you have had to overcome in order to develop your business?
I think I had to learn very early on in the entrepreneurial journey the importance of having an intimate relationship with the problem, but being emotionally detached from the solution. And that was actually a bigger challenge than I realised it would be because when you spend a lot of money on product development, and then if you have to abandon the project because the product isn’t going to be prescribed by the prescriber or reimbursed by the insurance company, that can be difficult.
I’m learning over time to embrace change and not fear it and having that mindset is really at the core of our product development strategy and our ability to innovate.
What traits do you think that you possess is an individual that are helpful in dealing with the challenges that you faced as an entrepreneur?
I think first and foremost, passion for what we are trying to achieve. Having a strong desire to watch your creation have an impact and create positive change.
Second, an appetite for risk I think is important for any entrepreneurial journey. I love a challenge and I love an opportunity to solve a problem.
Then competitiveness – I’ve always been a competitive person; always striving for better and more, all the time.
Finally and something I wouldn’t have always had: confidence. Confidence, in my own ability and in the team. We have a world-class team of top key opinion leaders, clinicians, scientists, and they have expertise in the area of drug development and commercialisation, and I have my upmost faith in them.
You think that the MBA helped in building that confidence as well as building that network?
It absolutely did and that was one of the main things that I took away, it was one of my main aims in doing the MBA in the first place and I can gladly say that I achieved that goal with the MBA.
A challenge for a lot of entrepreneurs and MBA students is managing the balance between, work, study and personal life. You mention that you have a young family yourself, what would your advice be in striking that balance?
For anybody considering doing an MBA – you really have to want to do it, because it’s a huge commitment and there’s a lot of hard work required.
You need to ensure that your employer is supportive and fully on board because you will need flexibility to enable you to keep all the aspects of your life and work running smoothly. It is very challenging, so I would advise people to do their research and find the programme that best suits them.
The timetable is really important, weekend v’s week? Or what kind of MBA programme? I did an executive MBA.
Another piece of advice – and this doesn’t actually apply to me, because I found my co-founder in the company I was working for. But, if you are considering setting up your own company and you are considering doing an MBA, use your MBA as an opportunity to identify a co-founder. It is so much easier to go on that journey with somebody.
You mentioned work-life balance. I don’t always manage it; I am definitely not wholly successful at it and it’s a constant challenge. Growing up, both my parents had their own businesses and basically the kitchen table was their office, and the books were always on the table. That’s no different to how it is at my house now and I see it as a work life integration. My sons are very much exposed to that. Myself and my husband both have very demanding jobs, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. We find ways to make it work, we get plenty of time off and we love spending time together in the outdoors and traveling as much as we can so it’s not all work!
Why do you think it’s important that Business Schools should try and maintain a long-standing relationship with MBA students and graduates. And how do you think that can be the most productive relationship that it could be?
I do think it’s really important and I think that UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School are very good at it. There’s a lot of emphasis on building great links and keeping those connections alive with their alumni networks, and that’s really important for the future of the programme. It is especially true for me because the school nominated me for the AMBA awards, which I was delighted to win.
So not only has the MBA helped me to achieve my ambitions in terms of the skills and knowledge, but also that support and encouragement is benefiting me now along the way.
This strong relationship with the School has positively exposed Shorla Pharma as a credible and internationally focused pharmaceutical company.
I think that all Business Schools should put a big emphasis on it. But it’s also really important for the students to manage that themselves and make sure that they spend time on that relationship and see it as an important aspect of the whole experience of the MBA.
In the 2021 AMBA & BGA Excellence Awards, there are two categories for entrepreneurs. The MBA Startup of the Year celebrates initiatives launched by MBAs that have been running for less than 18 months and the MBA Entrepreneur of the Year recognises businesses started by MBAs that have been running from 18 months to five years. Find out how your School can nominate you for one of these awards here.
