Big Plans For Onderstepoort

The CEO of Onderstepoort Biological Products, Dr Baptiste Dungu, spoke to Glenneis Kriel about the repositioning of the state-owned veterinary company as an international player.

- Dr Baptiste Dungu

The position of CEO of Onderstepoort Biological Products (OBP) was vacant for over two years until your appointment in March 2019. Why did you decide to take the job?

Onderstepoort is like home to me. It’s the place where I started my career and I’m one of only a handful of people who have been privileged to work under the highly talented professionals in all the institutions of the complex, namely Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute (OVI), Onderstepoort Biological Services (OBP), and Onderstepoort Foot-and-Mouth (FMD) Laboratory and Veterinary Faculty.

When I was asked to rejoin the organization, I knew that my expertise, subject-specific knowledge and international network in veterinary vaccinology were what it needed. I’m now 56 years old and see the position as a way to give something back before I retire. I want OBP to be restored to its former glory and become more involved in alleviating poverty by supporting all farmers, including small-scale farmers.

Please tell us more about your career.

I qualified as a veterinarian in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1988, and later did a master’s and a doctorate in vaccinology at the University of Pretoria. I was employed at OVI in 1992, where I worked in different research capacities, and was later employed as the head of FMD Development and Manufacturing and executive in charge of Operations, Vaccine Production, and Research and Development at OBP.

In 2008, I was appointed as a senior director of the Global Alliance for Veterinary Medicines, based in Edinburgh, Scotland, where I was in charge of program development and the scientific strategic direction of the organization. The position gave me an opportunity to interact with major animal health companies across the globe.