Abiola Joseph
Strategic Healthcare Leader
Ifako-Gbagada
Summary
Strategic Healthcare Leader with over 19 years of experience driving operational and commercial excellence, market access initiatives, and organizational transformation across the pharmaceutical and social enterprise sectors.
Expertise in driving cross-sectoral collaborations, stakeholder advocacy, managing multicountry programmes, and delivering impactful health initiatives. Adept at leveraging agile methodologies, transformative leadership, and data-driven strategies to achieve sustainable outcomes.
Former Roche leader with a proven track record in commercial excellence, agile transformation, and high-level stakeholder advocacy within the Nigerian healthcare ecosystem. Experienced at navigating complex regulatory environments and building cross-sectoral consortia to improve and strengthen healthcare ecosystems with patient outcomes improvement.
Overview
15
15
years of professional experience
11
11
Certifications
2
2
Languages
Work History
Global Program Manager
VisionSpring
10.2023 - Current
- Strategic Expansion: Leading multi-country teams in a refractive error (hyperopia, myopia, astigmatism and presbyopia) correction access programs across Nigeria, Ghana, Zambia, India and Bangladesh, targeting the underserved population, and providing 337k+ individuals with access in 2025 alone.
- Global Strategic Leadership: Providing global strategic guidance to country operational teams in alignment with the organization's vision and mission, while handling polarities emanating from implementing global standards versus tweaking approach based on local context.
- Business Development: Secured multi-year donor funding for market-shaping and behavioral change programs in West Africa and Asia.
- Stakeholder Advocacy: Engagement of the Ministry of Health agency in charge of eye health and other mission-driven organizations to engender collaboration and alignment in driving policy objectives.
Personalized Healthcare & Transformation Lead
Roche
01.2022 - 09.2023
- Ecosystem Innovation: Orchestrated a first-of-its-kind PHC Consortium in Nigeria, uniting pharma, insurers, and labs to revolutionize cancer care and genomic profiling.
- Evidence-Based Strategy: Led critical cost-of-illness and genomic studies to inform local treatment strategies and policy advocacy for liver, lung, and breast cancers.
Agile Transformation Lead
Roche
07.2021 - 09.2023
- Operational Transformation: Spearheaded the agile transformation of the Nigerian and Ivorian affiliates, shifting the culture from product-centric to value-driven engagement through coaching and VACC leadership.
- Led the Change Management Process onboarding colleagues in new roles through a combination of self-learning and other group learnings (Outcomes- Based Planning, Healthcare Compliance, Local Healthcare System, Therapeutic Area knowledge, Event- Driven Planning/ Forecasting, etc.)
- Coached teams on VACC leadership (Visionary, Architect, Catalyst, Coach) and outcomes-based planning to enhance healthcare delivery.
Global Integrated Insights Lead (Rotation with GPS)
Roche
09.2020 - 03.2021
- Provided Insights for market access strategies for gene therapy (Elevidys) through a DMD Patient Journey Research across six countries (Germany, Canada, France, Spain, China & Brazil), contributing to its global commercialization.
- Collaborated and contributed to the development and updating of the target product promise for SRP-9001, laying the foundation for its strategic market positioning.
- Formulated and executed a cross-functional integrated insights plan to bolster the commercialization of Elevidys to enhance market readiness and adoption potential.
Chief of Staff
Roche, Sub-Saharan Africa MC
07.2017 - 12.2019
- Led the process of annual strategic objectives setting for Sub-Saharan Africa, driving market expansion and operational excellence.
- Led launch readiness plans for new products, collaborating with cross-functional team members to develop a roadmap.
- Country Teams Motivation: Led the development of a motivating performance incentives structure for country sales teams across sub-Sahara Africa.
Business Support & Analytics Manager
Roche, Nigeria
01.2016 - 06.2017
- Led the Annual Brand & Marketing Planning Process, transforming it into a crossfunctional and integrated operation, while mentoring Product Managers, enhancing strategic alignment and operational efficiency.
- Conducted Primary Market Research that identified new business opportunities in the private sector, leading to an approximately 45% increase in market penetration.
- Guided the organization towards business success with distributors through timely insights generation, KPIs tracking, directing commercial operations, and reporting.
- Innovated from the ground up, cross-functional dashboards to monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) for sales force effectiveness and market access, providing critical insights that informed strategic decision-making and improved business outcomes.
- Managed the development of go-to-market strategies for different franchises within the organization.
Regional Head - South-West Nigeria
Roche, Nigeria
01.2015 - 12.2015
- Achieved with my team, exclusivity for our biggest brand in Key Tertiary Hospitals.
- Grew Key products by strong double-digits over the previous year.
- Developed and executed with my team (internal & distributor's team), a successful regional redistribution and business development strategy for a key brand, from wholesalers to private and public hospitals.
- Developed a direct report in Key Accounts Management & planning.
- Accountability for the P&L of the Region.
Franchise Manager - Virology/Specialty Care
Roche, Nigeria
10.2013 - 12.2014
- Achieved, with my team, In-Market and Import Sales targets for our Key Product.
- Managed and coached direct reports - Sales Manager, Product Manager & Sales Representatives.
- Led advocacy engagements with a State government for a Hepatitis Access Program.
Senior Product Manager
Roche, Nigeria
01.2013 - 09.2013
- Developed Brand & Marketing Plan for Rocephin, unveiling innovative strategic business opportunities in Community-Acquired Pneumonia.
- Ran successful marketing campaigns in Medicine and Paediatrics, resulting in a market share of 52% in institutions responsible for 70% of our hospital sales of our Value-Driver Product in 2013.
- Empowered sales team with campaign materials and product training for effective customer engagement.
Franchise Manager - Nephrology
Roche, Nigeria
01.2011 - 12.2012
- Grew the renal portfolio by 56% in 2011 over 2010.
- Achieved, with my team, renal business exclusivity in 60% of Institutions with dialysis centres.
- Developed, in collaboration with my line manager and team members, the Renal Franchise Annual Brand Plan for 2011 and 2012.
- Coached Sales Representatives to achieve and exceed set objectives.
Education
Executive MBA -
Obafemi Awolowo University
01.2012
Bachelor of Pharmacy - undefined
University of Ibadan
01.2004
Skills
Strategic Leadership
Program P&L Management
Stakeholders Advocacy
People Leadership
Country Operations
Annual Strategic Planning
Global Program Leadership
Market Access
Market Penetration
Brand Strategy
Patient Journey Mapping
Organizational Transformation
Certification
NJIA Leadership Development Programme, 2022
Timeline
Global Program Manager
VisionSpring
10.2023 - Current
Personalized Healthcare & Transformation Lead
Roche
01.2022 - 09.2023
Agile Transformation Lead
Roche
07.2021 - 09.2023
Global Integrated Insights Lead (Rotation with GPS)
Roche
09.2020 - 03.2021
Chief of Staff
Roche, Sub-Saharan Africa MC
07.2017 - 12.2019
Business Support & Analytics Manager
Roche, Nigeria
01.2016 - 06.2017
Regional Head - South-West Nigeria
Roche, Nigeria
01.2015 - 12.2015
Franchise Manager - Virology/Specialty Care
Roche, Nigeria
10.2013 - 12.2014
Senior Product Manager
Roche, Nigeria
01.2013 - 09.2013
Franchise Manager - Nephrology
Roche, Nigeria
01.2011 - 12.2012
Bachelor of Pharmacy - undefined
University of Ibadan
Executive MBA -
Obafemi Awolowo University