Brigitte Dias Ferreira

Born in South Africa, Brigitte Dias Ferreira moved around constantly with her family as a child, living in London, Strasbourg, Rome, and the South of France. "I went to school in Antibes, but it was a neighborhood school, and I had a different, cosmopolitan experience," she says. After earning a master's degree in law from the University of Nice-Sophia-Antipolis, she knew she needed more. So she went to Montpellier to specialize in intellectual property law, but she still missed that global aspect. "That's how I ended up at George Washington University, where I earned a 3^e Master's degree in international trade. Today, I bring this American side to Novax Pharma. I envision myself as a large company. I want my contracts to be impeccable, to know my subjects inside and out; so, we do training with my teams. Some resist, but I tell them that we don't have all the answers and that failure is educational. We must be able to move from one solution to another in a minute, I've seen that in many businessmen," she explains calmly.

With experience, find your place

At first, however, working at Novax Pharma wasn't a given. "After my studies, I wanted to come back and live in Europe. I sent my CV everywhere, I think, except Greenland!" says this polyglot, who is difficult to pigeonhole. After a job in Rome, Brigitte worked for seventeen years in the United States in law firms and companies, then in Luxembourg. "My father had created Novax Pharma in the meantime, and my sister Natacha joined him; the company had grown. He asked me to come, but I refused, saying it wasn't easy working with family. Then my mother's death called everything into question, which is when I joined the company in 2022," continues Brigitte, who overhauled everything after her arrival: contracts, human resources, and business strategy. "I think my greatest passion is finding solutions to complex situations; I get a real sense of joy from that." I played a lot of video games as a child, I love challenges and, thanks to Monaco and its support, we benefit from a favorable environment."

Novax Pharma

Founded in 2008 by Victor Dias Ferreira in Monaco, now a board member, Novax Pharma specializes in the formulation, production, marketing, and distribution of ophthalmic medical devices. The company offers around twenty solutions, produced in Italy and distributed primarily in Europe, the Middle East, but also in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, in 40 countries. "These are solutions for eyes that are to be operated on or have already been operated on, irritated or red eyes, for conjunctivitis, blepharitis, keratitis, as well as dietary supplements and cosmetic products," explains Brigitte, Managing Director, who is working hard to obtain new patents and negotiate commercial agreements with distributors.