Interview with: Ljupco Veleski, PhD – Director of Exports in Vitaminka AD Prilep
Published on: October 19, 2020
- What initiatives has Vitaminka taken in the last few months to be recognized as a company leader in the country?
Many things have changed in the last year and the word ‘change’ is just not sufficient to describe what is happening globally. Not one segment of the economy, business, social living is exempt from these changes and all suffer radical transformations. Communication, which is the essence of every process has changed, and now we have a different world and a life to live. Undoubtedly, changes are part of every process and every company inevitably has to follow them and adapt to them to thrive.
In Vitaminka we treat changes as continuity and on a daily basis. We constantly monitor the developments and appropriately make inside structural changes and in that way, we quickly and easily adapt to every change. The adaptability and acceptance of changes in Vitaminka are furthermore significant taking into consideration that we are a company working on regional, foreign, and overseas markets. So changes here stem from many sides. In this specific situation, from the start, we have monitored the dynamics of changes in every country where we have placed our products, on every market, and we appropriately catch up with the development of such dynamics by fitting in and adapting to the changes there. Therefore it was necessary to intensify the existing contacts, but also to establish new ones. We have recently initiated information exchange regarding current actual changes.
This contributed to even higher intensification of communications with our partners and collaborators, even opened new opportunities that we mutually have been reviewing and developing. We transferred the whole usual activity online and initiated numerous virtual meetings for guidance, consultations, educations, conclusions exchange, problem-solving… In the absence of travel, meetings, trade shows, and many other ways and channels of realizing the understandable obligation of the export department, we have implemented communication which, was and still is virtual, but also it is a communication which is now at a different level, which in turn has reaffirmed and even strengthened the identity and generally the strengths and values of our brands.
2. What was the main motivation for this initiative?
At that moment it was more than necessary, an inevitability, until getting a completely new dimension in possibilities expansion. By the work so far and the ubiquity of our products on numerous markets, we already have the obligation to be there, available and present. In a time when uncertainty loomed everywhere, and the focus was on more fundamental processes, the communication continuation and developing in another direction was key in terms of foreign markets. Actively maintaining these relations was the main motive. But still, the desire to explore the possibilities of our brands and test them to the maximum played a huge motivational role in our transformation for operations continuity. In that period precisely, it proved to be a great opportunity and opened wider perspectives for our brands. It proved that the presence of Vitaminka in some foreign markets for many years has built a reputation for the quality of its products which created a background for all our brands.
3. What is your message to other companies during these uncertain times?
Without any doubt, the changes, new rules, and terms of functioning have opened a new, different perspective for us as a company. So, as much uncertain, hard, complicated as it seemed, or the things that follow, considering the current prognosis, it was and still is challenging. For us as a company and as a department, it was a heavy task and a test that we successfully passed. Every issue in its essence opens new possibilities and the search for the best and the only solution is a process filled with new perspectives. Uncertain times are coming in different forms and are posing sometimes really major challenges for us. But, every company, even in its basic development structure must, it is necessary to possess the element of transformation. Changes in every department are crucial primarily for progress, and adaptability to new conditions, rules, and situations is a value that is gaining in importance.
The past period has confirmed exactly that. Our leading credo-motto, especially in such а hard time is “When the winds of change blow, some people build walls and others build windmills”. We wish this to become a part of the business philosophy of as many Macedonian companies as possible, for their good, but also the good of the whole community.