def split_column_to_dict(run_manifest, column="countries", sep=";"):
    """Splits a column in csv format into a dictionary"""
    for index, row in run_manifest.iterrows():
        countries = {
            x.strip('" '): True 
            for x in row[column].strip().split(";")
        }
        countries.pop('', None)
        run_manifest.loc[index, column] = [countries]  # Listed as data frame tries to unpack otherwise
    return run_manifest