Issue #6

Sharing Smiles

By Glen Willard

An interview with Chafiq Hammadi is both entertaining and interesting. He "speaks with a smile". This is entirely appropriate to his position as General Manager at Shostka/Bel Ukraine and quite natural for the company he runs and its French parent, the worldwide, international, family owned and controlled, Groupe Bel, which has as a prominent slogan, "Sharing Smiles". The self effacing Chafiq talks of the uniqueness of his company. He says it's a fun company and talks of the pleasure of working and learning from consumers.

He talks of values. Indeed, of two prime factors in marketing products, strong values he listed as number two while having clear objectives was number one. It's clear that the order of listing was not so important, just that the two were both necessary and required. On strong values he says he means "our values". By those values he emphasizes ethics and the importance of working as a team. While not a direct quote, Chafiq said something like "If we work as a team, with the team… and ethics is a big element, we will win." Interestingly, Chafiq emphasized that the two factors applied in all markets. This was said in highlighting that his company in Ukraine does not employ "models" as such. That is, not a western, or European or Soviet model but rather operated on the principles of clear objectives, coupled with strong values in all markets.

Chafiq has been in Ukraine since September, 2008. He says he came in with the financial crisis and, jokingly, smilingly, says that he didn't bring it. He says the past year has been tough, but with the company sharing smile concepts there was no stress or panic. He's proud that Shostka/Bel was able to grow business in a shrinking market. Later Chafiq speaks of the crisis, not fondly, but more as opportunity and challenge. He mentions a ship in calm seas with no wind. He talks of the wind that a storm at sea brings…the challenge, the movement that the strong winds allow.

Chafiq says he is a "Mediterranean boy". By this, he says that except for the past year in Ukraine, he has lived all his life in or around the Mediterranean Sea. He is of Algerian descent, born in Morocco and has lived and worked in France, Italy, Spain and Egypt. Now he is on the Dnipro River. And there is no golf to be played in Ukraine. Those last two statements are Chafiq's, but well, not quite in context, or at least as he meant them. Certainly not as complaints. In fact he compared the Ukrainian people to Mediterranean people as both being warmhearted and said he was surprised, pleasantly, to find almost a Mediterranean atmosphere this far north of the Med. He had expected more Nordic cold and instead found openness, friendliness and warmth. As for the golf, it's his avocation and he does miss it, but also discussed was some of the progress currently being made in that area. Hopefully, soon Chafiq will have time and opportunity to return to the links.

Chafiq's wife and his two young boys, 6 and 3 years of age, moved with him to Ukraine. Maltilda, who is French, is enjoying Ukraine and Chafiq proudly talks of how busy she is working with NGOs and charitable organizations.

Chafiq says he currently spends more time in Paris related to company business than he prefers. He lives in Kyiv and spends about a quarter of his time at the plant in Shostka, Sumy region. He says he needs even more time at the plant.

Chafiq's career began, interestingly, as a chemical engineer. Relatively quickly, he switched to marketing. He likes the fact that the discipline of marketing is less structured than some others. It's and area where organization, teamwork and listening to others can produce results. He seems to take great pleasure in working with people, setting goals and motivating people to achieve team objectives.

His marketing philosophy? That was not asked as a direct question, but a large part of the answer lies in the prior discussion about listening to others. This means, in particular, the consumer. Chafiq says the consumer has the answers. He indicated that about eighty percent of marketing answers come from finding out what the consumer wants and needs. He takes pride in and uses as a prime example the company's approach when it first came to the Ukraine market. He and his team went to the homes of housewives, talked to them in the market places, listened carefully to what each person said, noticed what they bought, discussed with them what they wanted, what was important to each of them. These surveys were extensive, results were compiled and from those results marketing plans and strategies were developed. While this may not seem such a unique approach, perhaps even obvious on reflection, it is a continuing activity and permanent approach.

Also, while not marketing approaches, Chafiq mentioned, more than one time, that it "helps to have good products". Clearly, Chafiq believes in those products developed by Bel. The famous cheeses, the transformative packaging, the adaptation of worldwide famous brands into leading local brands; those products, motivating people, organizing his team, listening to the consumer, being willing and challenged by stormy seas, having values and clear objectives seem the essence of Chafiq Hammadi, marketing guru.