In June 2021, the board of directors of BGI appointed Mr. Zhao Lijian as the general manager of the company, and Mr. Yin Ye no longer served as the general manager of BGI and was transferred to the CEO of BGI Group.
According to the 2022 annual report, Zhao Lijian's salary is 24740,000 yuan, and holds 86,300 shares of BGI.
According to public information, Zhao Lijian's first job at BGI was as an intern.
In 1999, China participated in the "Human Genome Project" and BGI was born. Zhao Lijian, who had not yet graduated from university at that time, was one of the first batch of interns at BGI.
Some people compare work to falling in love, and for me, BGI is like my 'first love'. Zhao Lijian said.
With the newly born BGI, Zhao Lijian has completed the transition from school to work, and has gone through spring and autumn one after another, witnessing the growth of BGI step by step.
Zhao Lijian, male, born in 1976, Chinese nationality, no right of abode abroad. Undergraduate. He is currently the director and general manager of BGI. He used to be the chief marketing officer, head of the reproductive health business department, and a member of the operation team of BGI, and was in charge of BGI's business in South China.
Judging from Zhao Lijian's career trajectory, he graduated from a medical university, has a background in preventive medicine, and has participated in a number of scientific research projects at BGI. Later, he managed the operation market, business division, and regional business of the company, integrating technology, marketing, management, and operation. In addition, its excellent performance in the process of fighting the epidemic has won the trust and support of the board of directors.
As the soul of BGI, Chairman Wang Jian has rarely appeared in the company's official reports in recent years, and has more inspired employees with his own actions during critical periods, such as going to Wuhan to establish a fire eye in the early stage of the anti-epidemic, and diving 10,000 meters deep to explore the ocean code.
Zhao Lijian, who became the general manager in 2021, bears the burden of BGI's stable operation in the post-epidemic era.
From some public reports of Zhao Lijian, we can see some of his ideas and measures.
In 2022, against the backdrop of high uncertainty in the global business environment, we will focus on reproductive health, tumor prevention and control, and infectious disease prevention and control, and realize the iteration and upgrading of related products, focusing on our own medium and long-term development.
In 2023, we will maintain strategic focus, promote the construction of the global public health system, and lead the innovation and development of genomics in the field of precision medicine with new models, new ideas, new technologies, and new scenarios.
Regarding centralized procurement, Zhao Lijian said that for enterprises with self-innovation capabilities, centralized procurement is more of a promoting role, which is a good thing for the entire industry. Through independent and controllable technology, BGI has achieved complete cost control, and reduced the cost of testing under the effect of scale.
How can genetic testing technology benefit more people? Zhao Lijian believes that for technical service enterprises, the core lies in "independent innovation" and "cost control".
Regarding going overseas, Zhao Lijian said that expanding overseas markets is the only way for BGI to practice innovation and independence and continue to maintain its leading advantages. BGI has established cooperation and provided precision medical testing services in Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Thailand, Brunei, Uruguay and other countries along the "Belt and Road".
Regarding social responsibility, Zhao Lijian said that BGI adheres to "promoting the inclusiveness of precision medicine", and the application cost is constantly decreasing; Carry out livelihood projects and health care programs such as birth defect prevention and control in many places, starting with prevention, and moving the threshold of disease screening forward; BGI, together with public welfare organizations, has successively launched public welfare projects such as "Hua**", "No Tang in the World", "No Poverty in the World", and "No Blindness in the World" to promote an inclusive disease screening, prevention and control model.
In January 2024, at the award ceremony of the "VB-Focus 2023 Medical and Health Technology Innovation Award", Zhao Lijian, CEO of BGI, won the annual CEO of science and technology influence.
Since its establishment, BGI has also had some controversy with flowers and applause. It is undeniable that it is the efforts of BGI that have promoted the cultivation of a complete genetic testing industry chain in China, the birth of large and small "BGI series" enterprises, the cultivation of a large number of genetic talents, and the breaking of the monopoly of foreign gene technology.
Today's Huada Group has grown into a genetic giant covering all aspects.
Source: 2019 BGI official website, MGI has been listed in 2022).
BGI went public in 2017 and had a market value of over 100 billion yuan. With the in-depth participation in the global fight against the epidemic in recent years, the performance has soared. Judging from the performance data over the years, BGI has maintained stable growth.
BGI's 2023 annual performance forecast shows that it is expected to achieve an operating income of nearly 4.5 billion yuan and a net profit of 80 million yuan to 110 million yuan. Among them, the business revenue of reproductive health and multi-omics increased slightly year-on-year, the tumor prevention and control business achieved outstanding results, and the barriers to overseas channels continued to break through.
From the ebb of the epidemic to the normalization of the recovery, BGI's transition is relatively smooth, and the capital and channels accumulated during the epidemic will lay a good foundation for future development.
At present, BGI's focus is to adhere to the working policy of "reducing birth defects, strengthening tumor prevention and control, accurately improving infection, and helping precision medicine". Actively expand overseas business and expand the advantages of birth defect prevention and control; Carry out precise prevention and treatment around multiple types of tumors; into the layout of difficult and critical infection business; Promote domestic sequencing platforms; "low-cost benefit" to create a new infrastructure for precision medicine; R&D and innovation to accelerate technology transformation and product iteration.
Of course, BGI also faces a lot of challenges. Specifically, the genetic testing market has entered full competition and market share differentiation; The industry's R&D and education costs are high, profitability is challenged, and investors are looking forward to it; Changes in the international political situation affect international business development; Patent wars are emerging at any time, and intellectual property rights are being tested; Data security and privacy are prone to public opinion and challenges to public and customer trust.
For the majority of IVD workers, the growth experience of the general manager of BGI may have some references.
1. Join at the beginning of the company's establishment and stay in the company for a long enough time.
2. Have a professional background and participate in a number of scientific research projects of the company.
3. Experienced in multiple positions such as marketing, business department, and regional management, and demonstrated strong ability in important events such as anti-epidemic.
4. Joined BGI upon graduation, and the founder personally led the company and had a close relationship. At the same time, the founder has a broad mind and gives young people ample opportunities for development.
The information in this article is based on public information.