Lana Ghanem: Pushing the Boundaries of Health Care Through Venture Capital

Lana Ghanem, managing director of Hikma Ventures, the corporate venture arm of larger pharmaceutical group Hikma, is considering how to grow the venture arm as well as progress her own career. Over the past few years Hikma's executive team had been pressuring the venture arm to make strategic investments in line with Hikma's strategy, however, Ghanem saw the future of the venture arm as a tool for accessing technologies and areas not currently within Hikma's scope. Ghanem now faced a decision whether she should follow suit with the executive team's vision? Or should she spin off the venture arm into an independent venture firm? In parallel, Ghanem had her own career to worry about. She once had dreams of climbing the executive ladder at Hikma, but would that be possible if she decided to spin out the venture arm? Might she be better off taking on a more operational role within Hikma? Or did it make more sense for Ghanem to pursue other opportunities in the VC space outside of Hikma?