Why building local biotech fund managers matters more than chasing exit track records 
In emerging biotech ecosystems, one question is raised repeatedly: where are the exits?
This concern is understandable, but when exit track record becomes a prerequisite rather than an outcome, it turns into a structural barrier that prevents ecosystems from forming.
Biotech ecosystems are not built by importing experience alone. They are built by developing local capability. Every mature biotech market trusted first-generation fund managers who had no exits.
This is because exits are produced by ecosystems as long as those fund managers had the right subject-matter expertise, and work experience in the industry they are investing in, along with a track record of risk taking, entrepreneurship and private market participation.
In biotechnology, scientific depth and academic literacy are not optional.
“Without them, ecosystems remain dependent on external decision-makers and fail to internalize value creation.”
Fund managers with strong scientific grounding and real market exposure are often better positioned to assess risk, evaluate clinical relevance, and understand development timelines than generalist investors with exits in unrelated sectors.
Exit experience cannot be recycled without context. A successful exit in software or consumer markets does not automatically translate to biotech. This sector demands regulatory fluency, patience, and the ability to separate robust science from speculation.
Trusting local biotech fund managers is not an act of optimism; it is a strategic investment in institutional capability and it can be empowered by global fund managers in partnership with local emerging talents.
When supported properly, these managers build sourcing networks, underwriting discipline, and the foundations required for future exits.
Fund-of-funds structures play a decisive role. Their mandate should not be to wait for proof that can only emerge after years of deployment, but to enable managers with the expertise to generate that proof. Capability must come before track record.
Biotech exits are rare precisely because the sector is complex. That is why developing local managers early matters. Without them, ecosystems remain dependent on external decision-makers and fail to internalize value creation.
Saudi Arabia and similar markets face a clear choice: delay participation until exits appear elsewhere, or empower local fund managers to build the pathway to those exits domestically.
Biotech leadership is not built by importing outcomes. It is built by trusting expertise, backing execution, and allowing track records to form where capability already exists.
• Dr. Huda Alfardus is a businesswoman and biotech investment expert focused on innovation, venture capital, and expanding women’s participation in business and investment markets.
