As part of its initiative to grow and nurture an inclusive and diverse team, FA Bio introduced a ‘Culture Champion’ award, which recognises and celebrates those who have made significant contributions to the team by living the company values. Each quarter, the team votes are cast to nominate those individuals worthy of receiving the award, giving recognition for their contributions to the company culture and innovation.
The latest recipient of ‘FA Bio’s Culture Champion’ award is Natália Franco Taketani, with well deserving tied runners up Wallace Rafael De Souza and Tanaka Marongwe coming in close second. The commitment shown by the team at FA Bio makes it a hard and close decision every time. As Process and Quality Manager at FA Bio, Natalia manages the SporSenZ sensor sample campaigns and the microbial library collection, including the microbial collection team. She is a specialist in developing technologies for sustainability in soil management with a strong skillset in industrial quality management practices. She utilises her experience to help FA Bio improve its processes and standardisation.
As well as maintaining her role and responsibilities in the FA Bio lab, Natalia has also taken on a leadership role, managing the microbial collection team. In addition to setting up laboratory quality management systems, she also plans and manages the team workflow according to skillsets and experience, mentors and coaches her team to help them improve the quality of their processes and achieve the company’s objectives.
Collaboration and quality are the two most important core values to Natalia in her role at FA Bio. She believes in creating a great team environment to inspire innovation and creative thinking, with the key being strong communication amongst peers. Natalia has evolved team communications systems to help them develop both individually and collaboratively to ensure everyone feels valued and invested in their role at the company. Within her team, she instils an open channel for communication to create space for everyone and help others meet their expectations.
Natalia’s background in agricultural soils and passion for sustainable agriculture drive the continued development of FA Bio’s team and processes as it remains focused on revolutionising sustainable agriculture with the discovery of superior microbes.
Natália Franco Taketani said: “I feel very proud to have received this quarter’s Culture Champion award and to be recognised by my colleagues for making significant contributions to the team. When I first joined FA Bio as a microbiologist, my role was very much lab-focused as I assisted with the company’s SporSenZ campaigns. I still love being a part of the lab team and contributing towards the campaigns and processes, but I have really enjoyed taking on the management of the microbial collection team in the last year, helping them to develop and grow as individuals and together. Supporting the team and encouraging collaboration helps improve quality, which is a core value of the company and something I am very passionate about.”
Angela de Manzanos-Guinot, CEO at FA Bio, comments: “Natalia is a champion of quality and is driven by excellence, utilising every opportunity to improve processes and communications. She is a natural team leader and mentor, nurturing the development of both her team and the company. Since taking on her role as Process and Quality Manager, Natalia has introduced and overseen some great improvements to our processes, making them more effective and efficient. Natalia is a joy to work with and is a great ambassador for the company and its values.”
