By Sharina Ahmad
THE country’s largest pharmaceutical company, Pharmaniaga Bhd, has announced the completion of service of its managing director Datuk Farshila Emran after nine years at the helm.
When contacted by FocusM, Farshila said: “Yes, I have completed my contract of service and it is about time a new person takes over. I also want to focus on my Doctor of Philosophy (PhD in technology, operations and logistics management). This is my second semester studying.
“I want to go back to lecturing in the university. I am tired, it has been so long I have been working. Tan Sri Abdul Wahid Omar (former group chairman of Permodalan Nasional Bhd) has also advised me to not stay beyond nine years.”
The company said via a Bursa Malaysia filing on Jan 21 that Farshila has completed her service contract and she will no longer be the MD from March 31. The 54-year-old was appointed to the board of directors of Pharmaniaga on March 25, 2011, and became the MD on April 1, 2011.
With effect from April 1, Mohamed lqbal Abdul Rahman, who is the chief operating officer, will assume the role of acting MD of Pharmaniaga, until such a time an MD is appointed.
“Pharmaniaga assures that it will be business as usual and there will be seamless transition across its group of companies until an MD is appointed,” the company said in a statement.
Farshila began her career as a tutor in Universiti Teknologi Mara before she became the assistant representative of SEVES Sediver France, a French public listed high voltage transmission equipment company in Malaysia, in 1990.
Then she was promoted as the Malaysian representative of the successful company until 2001. Within the same year, she established Idaman Pharma Sdn Bhd and started her venture in the highly-regulated pharmaceutical industry.
In 2005, she took the bold step of taking over a pharmaceutical plant in Sungai Petani, Kedah and established Idaman Pharma Manufacturing Sdn Bhd (IPMSB).
Subsequently, she acquired another plant in Seri Iskandar, Perak. Under her leadership, IPMSB developed a synergistic partnership with Boustead Holdings Bhd and facilitated the acquisition of Pharmaniaga by Boustead in 2011.
Pharmaniaga shares closed up two sen or 0.97% to RM2.09 on Jan 21, bringing it a market capitalisation of RM545.97 mil. – Jan 21, 2020
