About

In 2014, Novartis established a group-wide task force in response to the Ebola virus, bringing together expertise and resources from across the business.

A ‘dedicated’, ‘mature’ and ‘motivated’ professional, Mohamed Afir heads all North African legal support for the global pharmaceutical brand. The African business has faced a number of challenges in recent years and Afir has been at the forefront of strategic decision-making.

‘Working in-house, you have to be much more practical’, he says. ‘You see the business from the inside’.

Afir has made efforts to bring a lot more work in house, he says, in order to save costs and increase efficiency. ‘Communicating with outside counsel to get them to understand the issues can be very time-consuming and costly, so better to do myself unless it’s a big topic where a deep look is needed or where there are high risks’, Afir explains, adding: ‘When this is the case I have some very good relationships with law firms for collaboration’.