Interviews & Features

An Interview with Elsa Markova, CEO of Bella Bulgaria, for Logistics Magazine

She has received many awards - for successful management, and active social engagement. She believes that the general rule which employees in the food industry must comply is to have constant contact with customers. And do not chase short-term wins, because success in the long run is the most important for each company. She is Elsa Markova, the woman who more than 11 years is at the head of Bella Bulgaria.

– Mrs Markova, you were honoured with the Mrs Economy Award 2012. This was the year when you celebrated ten years of managing Bella Bulgaria. What practical lessons have you learned during these years?

– I found the best field for development and expression in Bella Bulgaria. I am not the type of managers who think that once they have reached a certain level in their career, there is nothing more to learn. Every day the company puts me in situations that require quick reactions, courage and analytical thinking. The need to take measured decisions holds my curiosity consistently awaken. The most important lesson that I want to convey to the company's employees is to invest not only skills in their work, but and heart too. When you are fully devoted, success is coming easily and the rewards are indescribable.

– On what basis do the individual holding companies work?

– Their control is based on the strategic link between the strengths of each company with those of the other participants in the synergy mix. The main activities are structured by divisions, the people in them have professional knowledge and work in correspondence with the international state-of-the-art know-how in their areas of business and corporate management.

– What is the role of the logistics structures in your holding?

– For our logistics operations we rely entirely on our longstanding partner Fresh Logic.

– How do employees in your company grow to senior positions?

– Employees’ advance is a top priority of ours. An internal system assesses employees and based on the their results the best of them are being offered promotions. The development of our employees is directly related to enhancing their competences and professionalism. We support this process through an advanced training system. Our 'Bella Academy' project, which won the annual prize of the Bulgarian Association for People Management in the category 'Learning and Development', was very successful, and has recently opened its doors for external companies. Moreover, a good base for career development for our employees is the opportunity they get entering our offices - to have highly qualified experts with international experience as mentors.

– What kind of a person would you hire immediately?

– A professional and determined person who is ready to face the challenges, a person motivated by the dynamics of the environment, who is prepared for taking responsibility and initiative. Today's businesses standards require new character traits, such as entrepreneurship, innovative thinking, almost encyclopedic competence, etc. Therefore the employees, whom I would choose, have to show readyness to be constantly developing and improving their skills, not liking the feel ‘at home with routine’, and have passion to solve difficult problems.

– In recent years your company found new markets among which is the USA. How did your company win the American market, and the Turkish one as well. The last one is very strong in the dough production?

– We win foreign markets with good and constant quality regardless of where in the world they are. The secret is in the recipes that we develop according to the preferences of the relevant markets. We stepped on the American market with doughy products on special Greek recipe created by our technologists. This proved to be a very good solution. In Greece, where we have our own distribution network, doughy products sector is also highly developed, but there our products are welcomed by consumers too. Not to mention Romania, where for years we have a trade office and leading positions in the category of frozen snacks. When you have a quality product, good technologists, an energetic export team and a desire to conquer new territories, you receive the hospitality of the foreign markets.

– What is the ratio between the Bulgarian and the foreign markets in your sales?

– The trend is to increase the share of exports, which in 2012 grew by 50%. We have ambitious plans in this direction. We expect double-digit growth in our export markets, and in 2013 we are planning a serious entry into the Middle and Far East - Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, the Ukraine. These plans are already underway. We also are an established exporter of food products in other traditional for us export destinations such as Germany, Spain, Cyprus, the USA, Australia, England, Lebanon, Netherlands, Turkey. In recent years, we have being having a constant presence in these countries, and even in a severe crisis, in most of them we grow based on our constantly expanding portfolio.

– How a company could retain market shares in low levels of demand?

– To be stable in terms of reduced consumption, a company must be flexible and to plan in correspondence with the realities of the markets, to be results-oriented and focused on consumers needs. It has to work with excellent professionals, to be perfect - to the tax and the supervisory authorities, and to its partners and the public as a whole. We do everything to pursue this business philosophy. We work at the rate of time and it is dynamic. We constantly face new challenges. We are open to changes on the market, the needs of partners and constantly rising expectations of consumers. Although our business is among the leaders in the country, the profit is not the main we are striving for. What is important for us is the success in the long-termed plan.

– What is your prognosis for sales in 2013?

– We are optimistic. According to the latest data, the negative trend in food consumption in Bulgaria settled and even slight growth is saw. The crisis gave us its lessons and businesses made respectively conclusions. Things are getting better. It seems to me that people are overcoming stress and start to have more positive view of the future. Firms are more open for business. Until recently, there was a serious deadlock because no one could say for sure what would happen. This led to a reduction of investments. There are various hypotheses whether the peak of the crisis has been overcome. My observations show that the fears are already outlasted and we are moving confidently to the future. Although the country's economy is recovering slowly, I do not expect major disruptions in the food industry in 2013. In this situation, I foresee growth in our sales, including foreign markets which are more profitable for us because there we offer our products to users who have high free income.

– What is the definition of ‘innovative product’ in your branch?

– Innovative is this product that brings new benefits to consumers and meets their new needs. Our leading brand BELLA is a symbol of an innovative brand with its frozen bakery products prepared with different flavors and fillings which offer the ad-value to consumers - fast and easy to prepare at home food.

– Your company is constantly investing in different regions of the country. What is their value at that time? Are you planning new investments?

– For the last 20 years of active development and activities we have invested hundreds of millions in building businesses and their surrounding infrastructures. We also have realized many projects that benefit local communities. Traditionally, the focus of our business investments is on constant modernization of the production and the activities related with new products introduction and modern packaging. We also invest in training and development of our employees, and exports activities as well.

– What is the impact of these investments?

– Bella Bulgaria is one step ahead of competitors. It has proved to be a strong company which is steadily moving forward despite twists and turns, and wants to please customers with its products.

– In connection with the crisis the media have started to talk about the greater sensitivity of women in managerial positions. What is the role of this women's trait in the food industry?

– I guess you mean the female intuition and the widespread opinion that women manage better in difficult environments? I make no connection between sex and managerial skills. Above all, a good manager is a leader and this does not depend on gender. Women and men are equally represented in the senior management of Bella Bulgaria, and veryone of them is an outstanding professional in their fields.

– What is the role of the General Manager in determining the policy of corporate social responsibility?

– We have always been interested in social issues and themes, thus taking our obligation to help with whatever we can for resolving some of them. One of our key commitments is caring for environment. Using special treatment facilities and products for the purification of waste water from our factory, we make possible to pour out in nature only water that does not damage the natural flora and fauna. We also work on projects to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, increase energy efficiency in the production and deployment of clean technologies. Our company participates in a campaign of planting burned forests, such as those under the peak Perelik. Bulgarian Food Bank is onother project in which creation we took part last year. The aim of the organization is to provide long-lasting and effective nutritional support to the people in need on a large scale. For the first year of its operation the food bank received and distributed 130,000 kg food in over ten cities in Bulgaria. The organization is already a member of the European Federation of Food Banks and the Global Food Banking Network.

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