Field: Pharmaceuticals
Capital raised: $700,000
Personal: 36 | Married with two children | BSc in biology and MBA from the University of Haifa
A treatment to prevent reabsorption of fat after an implant in esthetic procedures
It happened when she was manager of a business unit at Neopharm. Ola Baker Salameh received a telephone call from Dr. Saher Hamed, a specialist in cardiology and founder and CEO of Remedor Biomed, one of the few medical startups in Israel founded and managed by an Arab CEO. "I told them, ‘What are you talking about? I’m not leaving Neopharm. But then I said, ‘Tell me more about it.’ My thinking, and the entire course of my life, suddenly changed."
Baker-Salameh decided to go for an interview with Hamer. "I found a person with insane charisma. The conversation was so full of ambition, enthusiasm and emotion. I sat there in a state of shock. This was in February 2015, and I told him yes only in August."
Sebana Medical is a subsidiary of Remedor. The company was founded in the NGT incubator in Nazareth, and is now at quite an advanced stage – Phase II clinical trials, and the product’s efficacy has already been demonstrated. Dr. Hamed identified material that could also be used in treating diabetes, and Sebana uses the same active ingredient that prevents the reabsorption and disappearance of fat after implants. It can be for the esthetic market: dermal fillers for wrinkles, a buttock lift, a mastectomy, and it can also be used in medicine – an autologous (ie the person's own) fat injection in cases in which such a procedure can treat certain orphan diseases.
"The agreement between me and Saher was that he would be my mentor and teach me everything. Because of my lack of experience, every time an investor promised to put in money and disappeared the next day, I would fall apart. Then Saher told me, ‘Come, I’ll tell you what happened to me at Remedor.’ In a start-up, there has to be someone to encourage you when things go wrong."
How did you develop an enterprise culture suitable for a startup?
"Even before I had employees, I constructed a vision and work rules. I defined jobs and their boundaries, and saw with time that there were things that were not so appropriate for a startup, for example the decision that everyone had to get to work at exactly nine o’clock. People are much happier when they have freedom and are trusted.
"Another element is teamwork. No one says, ‘I did, I wrote’; they only say, ‘we.’ When a new woman employee arrives, she doesn’t have to be told; she learns by herself to say ‘we.’ With men, it was more difficult; there was more ego. With women, managing is easier – they pick you up. When you’re feeling down, they come to help and support."
Do you have red lines in selecting investors?
"We decided not to recruit investors who were only friends and family. I don’t want an investor who doesn’t understand the risk. I also don’t want investors who are criminals. We had offers like that, and we turned them down. The investors in Remedor already hold shares in us through it, while business people in the Arab sector say that they haven’t yet seen big successes of medical companies that came from the sector. They’re right, and that also deterred me at the beginning, but if we don’t try, how will we break through this barrier? As of now, I’m an Arab woman with a company located in northern Israel – each one of these characteristics guarantees that I’ll have a harder time, and in Arab countries, and even in Europe, they don’t want to invest in an Israeli company. They suggested that I blur my LinkedIn identity, so that people will think I’m located in Europe, but I won’t go along with blurring and games: Sebana is an Israeli company.
"The easiest place with all these identities is in the US, so I’m traveling to San Francisco to find a serious investor. I’m focusing on somebody who’s serious about us; I believe that money brings money. That’s how it was with the first $700,000. And when our product is on the market, I’ll be the first to use it on myself."
"Our idea can change the market from top to bottom, but for that, we need money – three million dollars to in order to get to trials, and I’m really afraid right now that the idea will fail because of money. There aren’t many investors in pharma, and those who do invest are deterred by ventures that are in the early stages. I’ve been to all the funds, and they told me, ‘It’s interesting, but early.’ We get support from the Israel Innovation Authority that’s enough to pay the employees, but we have to raise money in the next few months."
