Yanbal Colombia He gives a piece of the victory he has achieved resumption of growth I haven’t seen him since 2018. Janine Belmont, CEO of Winbel International, He explains how they did it and announces, in an interview with Portfolio, that the trend will continue this year.
(See: What’s the Biggest Problem Businesses May Face?).
how have you been
To comment on 2022, it is important to refer to previous years. Before the pandemic in Colombia, we had some internal difficulties and devoted ourselves to finding how to achieve normal growth through 2018. The pandemic comes and hits us hard because we were not prepared in the digital part and our business was face-to-face, as our strength.
On the one hand, I made decisions to push digitization and our sales force was not willing to accept changes in such a sudden way. Many moments came together and the wind was not very favorable for Yenbel. So we hit 2020 hard in Colombia, in 2021 we’re no longer down, and at the end of the year we started designing a strategic plan that we internally called Yanbal 4.0, with a focus on the Andean region. The fact is, we changed the date in 2022, which is the breaking point for the company.
What were the results?
The company grew more than 20% in dollar terms last year, and Columbia has been doing well and is growing more than 30% in local currency terms. Behind growing back there is a lot of work. For us, the most important thing is life changing and we had to rebuild our business with them. We’ve created very nice synergies between Andean and our sales force.
Another indicator of this growth relates to year-to-year mergers and data is more than 50% of consultants vs. a year before they met. This indicates the strength that Yanbal is regaining in the region and in Colombia, where growth has reached more than 60%.
(See: Women’s Economic Independence).
How many consultants do you have?
In 9 countries we have approximately 500,000 consultants and in the country there are 150,000. The important thing about growing up is that we change these people’s lives. Many people are entering and investing, our ladder is becoming more dynamic. Women are the ones who grow up with us.
What strategies did they apply?
A lot, but we’re focusing first on the Andean markets to regain traction. Then we fix the pillars. One of them was to reinforce the theme of the brand by talking about the quality of our products, working hard on our entrepreneurship and empowering women. Likewise, we return to those we deal with, who are women between 30 and 50 years old.
On the commercial excellence front, the work involved delivering a better value promise to our advisors and clients and not losing sight of the fact that channel is our strength.
Likewise, savings have been achieved and shortcomings have been eliminated, while we have strengthened the institutional part with a unified strategy in the Andean region.
In addition, face-to-face encounters have brought us a lot of momentum.
Unbel is a recognized brand of direct sales.
private file
And what will the year 2023 look like when the future prospects are not the best for countries?
Today, there is a gap between what Nabel can continue to grow compared to what is happening to the economy. We are in a kind of bubble, which we feel and expected for this year. There is a lot to do with optimism.
Are there specific goals?
Globally, in dollars, we want to get to 25% and in Colombia we maintain 30% in local currency.
(See: Direct Sales: Another Income for Millions in a Pandemic.)
Will they make investments?
We have to continue to invest in different things. A lot in technology and infrastructure improvement, not because of what we need today but in the future in plant infrastructure. It’s a topic that we have to develop and prepare for three years from now. Today we have the power.
How are the prices?
One could say our sales costs have increased, especially in Colombia. What we’ve done to counter this to some extent is efficiencies work. Colombia was affected by the devaluation of the currency.
Is the business climate suitable?
I think those who have lived, been born and had a legacy in the area know its ups and downs. Our spirit is to keep pushing. Colombia and Peru are countries that have been hit hard and we are still here. I think the entrepreneur’s Latin American spirit is still running, and that’s not waning. They can make us wonder at certain times, but in the end, here we are. We in the region are affected but for my part, as a businesswoman, I still believe in and aim to give back to the region and Latin America as we have done over 50 years ago.
(See: “Latin soul,” the concept with which Yenbel enters the all-encompassing channel.)
Have you thought about developing Venezuela from Colombia?
It’s something we’ve discussed but now we don’t have on our big projects. Just as in 2022 we strengthened the Andean region, this year we want to resume growth in Mexico.
Constance Gomez Guasca
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