Ana Ugidos

You were experimenting the imposter syndrome…

Yes. I thought to myself, what am I doing here? Why do I deserve to be surrounded by such good people? I’m going to be the dumb entrepreneur at the bottom of the class. And I had never gone to an English school in my life. I had studied French and other languages, but I had never ever in my life gone to an English school. I’m a self-learner. I moved to the UK when I finished my major, I was there for a year and then came back. And I love English. I read in English, watch movies, work in English… all my English comes from self-learning. But anyway, I had never had an exam and I thought my English was not good enough. So, the first thing I did was apologize. I said “my name is Ana Ugidos, and first of all I want to apologize because of my English, which is going to be very poor compared to yours, and because I’m just an entrepreneur. I’m managing my own company of 20 people…” And everybody was looking at me like “an apology? what for?” And I actually was quite different had different opinions compared with the rest of the class, I was some sort of a black sheep. Everybody had their opinions and I had my own, mainly because of the self-learning and because I was managing a company, I was investing my own money, and I was doing things that they had never done. And I probably had more power to make my own decisions and my own movements than they would have ever had. So, in the end it was an asset to the course, and I actually learnt that I was there for a reason. And it’s something that I learnt in my life, that when you're doing something and you are somewhere and some people ask you to do something, you should never not trust yourself or think you’re not capable enough.

Those are very encouraging words, especially for young graduates.

Yes. They will feel insecure, and they will have low self-esteem because they think they don’t have experience, they don't have industry knowledge, they’ve only learnt subjects, they've never worked, they don't know how to work, and they don't know how to dress when they have to go to an office—that’s a true fact! And all those things make you feel insecure. My message to them is to not to feel bad about feeling insecure, I still feel insecure today. When I was asked to do a graduation speech the first thing I thought was, “wow, what an honour!” But then, I thought “why me?” “Are you sure that you want me?” “I must be the last in line, everyone must have said no before me.” But it doesn't matter, if they called me, if I’m here today it's for a reason. Recent graduates are here for a reason, and they have their own purpose, and they will make it, and they’re going to do amazing things and I can't wait to see them succeed in the professional world. 

It can also happen that the lack of knowledge of what you’re going to face in the future makes you more secure than anybody else. I remember an interview with a master of violin—I love classical music—and during the interview he mentioned he wasn't a good composer. And they asked him “why?” “You are a virtuoso, and the music lives in you.” He replied, “yes, but I know so much music that every time a note comes to my brain and I try to write a new piece with it, I remember one or many of the existing masterpieces created by the great composers of all times, and I know that whatever I do won’t be as good as those masterpieces.” He knew so many masterpieces that he was afraid to do anything, because he thought anything he’d create was never going to be good enough. So, probably when you know nothing…

Ignorance is bliss…

Yes! And it makes you look more confident than other people. The same happened to me when my facilities went on fire. It was the year before COVID hit. Because it took me one year to create a new facility, I had to move to a temporary one in a week time, something unthinkable. It's one of those things that you just do; probably if somebody asked me if I’d do it again, I’d say I wouldn’t. But at that moment I thought “we are going to get through this, it's in our hands. Let's do it and we are going to make it, there is no plan B.” And everybody was feeling like “wow!” “Yes Ana, we will follow you!” because I was looking at them in a very confident way. But I was just ignorant of what I was going to face. In the end, trusting that I could make it was already half of the way. The other half was, of course, hard work. 

Are entrepreneurs born or made?

Made. Made by circumstances, opportunities, people that they meet… We all have an entrepreneur inside, it's just that you haven’t found the right circumstances to come out. I think you are made.

But it's difficult to get there, right? As you said, it takes courage and hard work.

Yes. But I also think it's difficult to be a member of the board of a major bank—I  think that’s even more difficult. In any case you have to find your place and show your value. When you buy a bottle of water, especially in the movies, they charge you five euros, which is quite expensive. But you are inside the cinema, what else can you do? You can’t get out and you’re thirsty, so you pay five euros. And on a plane, you pay ten. And it’s really worth it because you are on a plane up somewhere and you're thirsty. So, the difference is the place, you have to find your own.

What's the most difficult part of being a CEO?

The people. The best part of my job is to work with people, and the worst part of my job is to work with people. Sometimes it's great. When you have a team and they respond and they give you new ideas and new perspectives, and you learn from them, nothing compares to that. But other times you put so much effort in some people, and you give them opportunities, and you see that they waste these opportunites, and they use you and abuse you. And that’s the worst feeling. Same thing with customers, when a customer calls you saying, “oh wow, I'm so impressed with your company and your work, it's amazing”, you feel great. But when somebody calls you saying, “your product is crap, you've been cheating me for years, I don't want to use that crap anymore”, you feel really bad. 

How challenging has it been to be a female leader in the biotechnology sector?

It’s a real challenge, in any sector. Small details really count. I've suffered a lot because of this, being a woman can be a handicap, especially if you are a scientist and you don't look like a suffragist. I have to put limits all the time, people take liberties because you're a woman. And I’m not talking about personal liberties, I'm talking about professional liberties. Talking you down and other things only because you’re a woman.

What can be done to help reduce this professional gap between male and female talent?

We need to educate people. And it’s something that doesn’t end in school, companies need to still educate their employees. It’s not only men, but there are also women reducing the role of females in business, do you know what I mean? Many women are sexist, too. 

Can it be because of their mental structures? Having grown up in male-dominated societies could make them think or act in a sexist way, even unconsciously.

Yes, definitely. But then, they’re the first ones going to demonstrations and screaming the world “we're feminists!” No, you’re not! it's a question of mindset. And the mindset is a question of education. Education since you are born, and the focus should be on respect and treating everybody equally. It doesn't matter if it's a man or a woman, respect is crucial.

How is the Ana of today different from the Ana who graduated from IE?

I’m not much different. I think differently. When I first started at IE the first thing that I did was apologizing. I was feeling that way. By the time I finished my masters I thought, “okay, I was here for a reason, so I'm capable of doing anything.” It doesn’t matter if I come from Astorga, a small city of Leon, or if I went to a public school in Astorga or a public university in Madrid. I know what I know, and I'm able to do what I'm able to, I don't need a diploma to prove that I can speak English. I still feel insecure, but that doesn't stop me. And that was the learning I got at IE. That, and the openness to things happening in the world. And the passion about entrepreneurship, it was a completely different perspective to mine. No one in my family was an entrepreneur before me, and I also was the first woman in my family from both my mother's and father's side to have a university degree. So, for my father it was like “wow, my daughter has got a degree!” He was very proud about that. But when I started my own company, he was disappointed at me, he thought I was starting a business because I couldn't find a job. I was a huge disappointment for my father. He died 17 years ago, after I completed the degree at IE, thinking that I had failed, thinking I had created my own company because I couldn't find a proper job. 

But studying at IE only reinforced your entrepreneurial spirit…

The course made an inflection point. To study here, with people from any other country, all in English, any other nationalities…It was a very particular course because it was done in partnership with the University of Chicago, half the time we spent in Madrid and the other half we were at the University of Chicago campus in London. We lived there for a few months, having classes every day, even Saturdays and Sundays, mornings and afternoons. The whole experience was great, it was like going back to being a student but with a golden visa, you know? I loved it. And then it was such a different thing, I trusted myself more than ever before in my life. I found myself that I could accomplish anything in the intellectual level. 

I suppose that by the end of the course everyone, you and all your classmates, were remembering that apology from your introduction.

Oh yes! They were all remembering that the last day. “Why did you apologize?” Even the professor was like “I had never heard an introduction like yours, making an apology… My name is Ana and I have to apologize...” 

If you had a billboard that you could display to the world, what would you write on it?

Don't start with an apology. 

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