Nail NIZAMUTDINOV: “We help millions of patients — it’s incredibly inspiring!”
Vechernyaya Ufa, November 14, 2025
Nail Zinurovich Nizamutdinov began his career more than 30 years ago at the Ufa Vitamin Plant and rose through the ranks, from shop foreman to general director. His inspiring passion for manufacturing instils an unwavering belief that working in the pharmaceutical industry is awesome!
– Please tell us about the beginning of your career...
– I graduated from Bashkir State University with a degree in chemistry. By that time, the system of job placement had been abolished, and I had to find work on my own during a very difficult period for the country. I was lucky — I received a recommendation for the plant from one of the professors. I remember it as if it were yesterday — it was 3 August 1992. Thanks to my higher education, I was immediately appointed as a shift supervisor. I started an internship and later worked in ascorbic acid production. With my knowledge of chemistry, I quickly grasped the technological features, understood how the process works, and identified its weak points.
– In a year and a half, you went from being a foreman to being a shop manager. How did you manage to make such a leap?
– I learned to communicate with people. It was difficult, of course: A 22-year-old man managed a team of more than 35 people, including adult men and women with extensive experience in production. Gaining their respect proved to be quite challenging. I knew everyone by name and was interested not just in their work, but also in their lives. Attention to people is extremely important! We communicated closely, and this also contributed to achieving the result. A year later, I was appointed as a head of a section, and then entrusted with a workshop — more than 250 people! The recipe for success is knowledge, patience, initiative, and the qualities cultivated through a sports background.
– What did you do in that sports background? How did it shape you?
– I am a Master of Sports of the USSR in fencing, and was the Russian champion among young men in the team competition. Regular exercise since the fifth form has played a certain role. What is sport? It’s daily work, self-discipline, self-confidence, achieving goals, analysing mistakes... A good foundation that I have relied on throughout my working life.
– How did you learn the art of management? Through mentors? In courses, in practice?
– The plant has accumulated a lot of materials — regulations, technological instructions. By that time, organisations offering additional training also began to emerge. I began to attend lectures by cleanroom engineers; they told us what GMP was and showed us videos of beautiful plants. It was a dream! I also wanted to have such wonderful modern production facilities!
Over the course of 30 years, 19 sections of the plant were built and reconstructed, completely transforming the plant, making it modern and in line with GMP standards. New buildings were constructed, departments were established, new medicinal products were developed, the technical infrastructure—specifically, the gas boiler room—was modernised, and wastewater treatment facilities were commissioned. No routine for these 30 years!
– It turns out that now you are in your usual habitat, when everything is being built, built, built again...
- Absolutely right! I can’t even imagine it any other way! We are constructing a 48,000-square-metre building, approximately 25,000 square metres of which will be dedicated to production area. This expansion will nearly double our current production area. We will expand workforce, equip workshops with modern equipment, and launch projects to develop new medicinal products. Huge prospects!
– You started out managing 35 people you knew personally, now you have almost 2,000 people under your wing. How does that scale feel to you?
– Size matters! But you should continue to treat people as you would want to be treated. 1,700 people make 1,700 movements every moment, it is a very complex mechanism. I have 15 people reporting directly to me, and they monitor their areas of responsibility to ensure the mechanism runs smoothly.
– How important is it to be a strong leader? Or is it enough to become a strong manager?
– A strong, effective manager is inherently a leader. The leader determines the future, he is full of initiative and new ideas. Being a leader comes with a high level of responsibility: you are responsible for both successes and failures. Leadership is flexibility. And a certain resistance to stress.
– What helps you relax after a hard day’s work as a manager?
– There should be a person nearby who understands you and who helps you. The rear must be reliable! This year will mark 33 years of my work experience at the plant and my life together with my wife! I’m lucky to have my significant other — she takes care of me, inspires me, and calms me down.
– Have you kept sports in your life?
– Of course, I’ve carried my friendship with sports throughout my life — I’m actively involved in it, go to the gym, swim in the pool, go skiing in the winter, and on weekends we never sit at home — we explore the sights of the republic. It helps to restore energy.
– Why do you think working in the pharmaceutical industry is, in modern terms, cool?
– First, the idea: we are making medicines that are much needed on a global scale, helping millions of patients — this is incredibly inspiring! And if you do it from good raw materials, on good equipment, in good premises, with a high level of quality, it is doubly inspiring. In 2023, we launched production of Coagulation Factor VIII for the treatment of haemophilia. There are no more than 15,000 such people in Russia—which might seem like a small number, but every single life is important!” Previously, they depended on products from abroad, but now they don’t! Isn’t it cool?
– Please give some more examples of the challenges of the times...
– A clear example is that it was necessary to build a wastewater treatment plant. The plant is located in the city centre, and environmental issues have become a pressing issue. What does it mean to build a treatment plant? It was necessary to examine all waste streams, identify methods for their decontamination, develop a project, and then implement it, taking into account the small territory. We didn’t have the opportunity to grow in width — we “grew” in depth. The pits were dug 11 metres deep — a little less than a five-storey building. It was a very complex engineering job.
- Tell us about your work with universities...
- We actively cooperate with three leading universities in our region. Every year we involve more and more students in our corporate life. In just two years, we have collaborated with 1,140 students. They came to us for excursions, practical training, internships, and participated in various events. During this period, 236 young specialists were employed at our plant.
Earlier this year, in collaboration with Ufa University of Science and Technology, we officially opened the Pharmstandard brand zone. The students themselves approached the university administration, requesting a comfortable space for socializing and relaxation.
Two years ago, in collaboration with the Bashkir State Medical University, we established a basic department of “Industrial Pharmacy,” which offers training to both university students and our employees for advanced training. This summer, fifteen employees from our factory brilliantly defended their final projects and were formally awarded their diplomas in a special ceremony. This is the first, honorary, graduation of the department.
– What advice would you give to a young professional dreaming of making a career?
– First, you need to believe in yourself. Second, don’t be afraid of responsibility. Third, take initiative.
– Good advice, but isn’t the fear of taking responsibility often just the fear of making a mistake?
– If you are given a chance, then you decide how to use this chance. You can realise it 100 percent, or you can realise it zero. Despite your fears, never despair. There is always a way out. It is important, of course, to have people around you who are on your side. But with a team, anything is possible! And we have a team!
Interviewed by Yana KHARINA
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