Meet Jai, one of our business development specialists helping us to support global discovery.
With a masters degree in chemistry, Jai is passionate about supporting vital research and discovery and understands the power it harnesses to change the world. Here he shares more on his background in chemistry, what is involved in his role at Apollo and what he enjoys the most about it...
What is your background in?
My background is in Chemistry, particularly organic chemistry. I received my MChem in 2016 from the University of York. My masters project was in synthetic chemistry and focused on synthesizing novel spirocyclic indolenines, supervised by Prof. Peter O’Brien.
What led you to the role you are in now?
I had always wanted to stay within the chemical industry but not necessarily still in academia or in the lab but I enjoy communicating with people so business development felt like a good fit. Fortunately, Apollo were hiring several Business Development Trainees shortly after my graduation and I was offered the position. My role within the company has evolved over the past few years as I have grown into a senior member of the sales team but my core duties have largely remained the same.
What is involved in your role at Apollo?
Day to day tasks include responding to customer enquiries and processing orders. We aim to respond to all enquiries within 24-48 hours and have all orders processed and released to the warehouse for packing within 15 minutes. These goals mean we always offer excellent service and ensure our customers view Apollo as an efficient and reliable supplier.
Aside from this, my main role is Business Development and trying to increase sales for Apollo through customer meetings, contacting new leads and arranging and attending trade shows/exhibitions. This is usually accompanied by following up with various stakeholders and conducting sales analysis to track the progress of our customers. My role in this sense was focused purely on UK academia until the start of 2022 where it expanded to the UK as a whole which has allowed me to work with a very diverse range of companies. I have also been involved in projects the US and Asia which further diversifies the work.
I am now also responsible for coordinating some projects and distributing day to day work within the team as well as being a point of contact in sales for other departments within Apollo.
What do you enjoy most about what you do?
I most enjoy the business development side of my role because I enjoy meeting new people and building on existing relationships. It can also involve some travel, both within the UK and overseas, providing an opportunity to visit places you ordinarily would not get to see.
What are you most excited for as you look ahead?
Apollo are investing heavily into new software for order processing to make this more efficient and thereby reducing the manpower needed to process orders. This will in turn free up a lot of my time to focus on the part of my role I enjoy the most. We are also excited to be part of several green initiatives and I am looking forward to seeing Apollo transform into a more ecofriendly company in the coming months and years.
What are you passionate about outside of work?
I enjoy watching a variety of sports including football, cricket and basketball; unfortunately, my playing days are largely behind me! I love music, food (I cook the best mac n cheese in the world), a good sitcom and various aspects of geek culture.
