by Hetal Parikh, President, Rangam Consultants

In February this year, Kathleen Castore of Sanofi and I attended the 6th Annual West Coast Conference of Diversity Alliance for Science. The “Beyond Capable” workshop that we participated in was both fun and engaging. As a supplier, I always appreciate the opportunity to be in the midst of so many buyer-supplier partners, savoring melt-in-the-mouth chocolates while candidly discussing the rules of successful partnerships that yield amazing results. Naturally, my mind wandered back to 2016, when Rangam won the Diversity Alliance for Science Supplier of the Year award. I could easily connect the dots as I looked back at our takeaways from the past Diversity Alliance for Science events. I always felt enriched and honored to be a member and a part of insightful sessions on how to build and sustain relationships through a high level of personal engagement and commitment.

Prior to our involvement with Diversity Alliance for Science, we only had one life sciences client, but in time we acquired another. We did very well on both programs but still had challenges growing our business in this sector. Although we acquired a few more life sciences clients over the next few years, we knew we could do much better because of our excellent track record and scorecards.

It was around 2014 that we started putting effort into making connections and building relationships with supplier diversity representatives from corporate members who attend our organization’s event. We were able to get one more account in late 2014 and strengthen our life sciences portfolio. After two years of tenacious relationship-building and consistent messaging, we were able to build a relationship with Kathy April Rush of AbbVie and get added as a supplier to their contingent labor program. Because we had such a close relationship and proven history, when an opportunity to work with their managed service provider came along, they added us to the Abbott program as well.

As Rangam became more proficient with life sciences staffing, we focused on using new technologies (artificial intelligence, machine learning and data analytics, to name a few) to speed up our recruiting process and sustain the competitive advantage. We hired additional recruiters and account managers to help us identify and hire top-notch talents for our clients. The expansion was a challenge at first, but we put forth a strong effort and were able to do exceptionally well.

Sanofi, too, has extended full collaboration throughout Rangam’s transformative years. I cannot thank Kathleen enough for the support she and her team have provided to us at every step of our journey. We won the Regional Sub-contractor of the Year Award from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) in 2017, and it was Kathleen who, by nominating us for the SBA program, gave us an opportunity to procure government contracts. Thank you, Kathleen. You have been a brilliant partner and a pleasure to work (and tour) with!

We are very proud that our work in life sciences is well established now and we can see the positive results. Not too long ago, we earned a perfect “100 out of 100” score from one of our longtime life sciences partners. There were 74 suppliers competing for the top position and Rangam won by virtue of outstanding performance and dependability. I would like to thank Diversity Alliance for Science for making that possible. Unlike many large diversity expos, Diversity Alliance for Science gives each company an opportunity to stand out.

Thank you, Diversity Alliance for Science!