and almost 96 in Mexico. By contrast, Leopoldo Horle, president and country director of this US-based ingredient solutions provider, has been in office for just four months. Despite this, he is not a newcomer – he has been with the company for 30 years, mainly in Brazil – and he has in his DNA the long-term vision necessary in a centenary company. “It is an advantage that allows you not to get caught up in something that happens for a few months or years,” he says, referring to the crisis of the pandemic.
The Brazilian manager points out that the arrival of COVID-19 did not stop the planned investments neither in 2020 nor in 2021, and adds that the company focused its efforts on learning from the new situation – for example, on new ways of working – and seeking growth opportunities. The company closed the 2020 crisis with sales of 19.6 billion pesos in Mexico, only 400 million pesos less than a year earlier.
Expansión: What situation did you find in Mexico upon your arrival in office?
Leopoldo Horle: I took office on February 1, so I’m just starting out and very happy to be here. Mexico is an extremely important operation for Ingredion in the world. In the last five years, we have invested in the country about 130 million dollars, and with some investments that are unique in the world. For example, we have a new ingredient called allulose, which is a very low calorie sugar, produced only in Mexico, to support our plans in all regions.
So I am very happy to be here, in a country with many growth opportunities in the future, with a fairly experienced team, who knows the customers well, and great agricultural allies.
And he maintains this optimism despite the fact that, a month after taking office, the pandemic broke out …
We had the advantage of having operations in China and other Asian countries, and when COVID-19 reached Latin America, we already brought a lot of knowledge about their experiences in Asia and how to go about having a controlled operation, taking care of people’s health . And another priority was our clients, who are mainly in the food sector, but there are also some in pharmaceuticals, in personal care, and our role with them is fundamental. Without our ingredients, the food industry does not work.
It has been a year of many learnings, of considerable growth, where we have found new opportunities in ways of working, and our investment plans for the future have not changed at all. And there are always opportunities in crises. When it was not possible to be physically close, we managed to be closer than ever to our clients and this has been recognized and valued by them. This is reflected in the satisfaction indicators that we have, which were already good and improved due to the agile way in which we moved in this period. It’s a good thing that we’ve gotten out of all this.
How did you achieve this closeness with customers?
For example, we have specific events for a client where we prepare a series of prototypes, using our ingredients, and we send it to the home of the people who work in this company to do tastings and discuss if it seems right, how to improve it, how to do it. otherwise. And we do them often, with 20 or 30 people, including the technicians, the marketers and sometimes the directors, and that’s where good opportunities came from.
We also had a series of webinars to talk, for example, about plant proteins, where we invited the whole industry and talked about new products and how we are preparing to get on top of the trends. There were virtually many meetings with our clients. Before we had access with a few people, and now we had one of these events with 300.
What are these trends that will soon dominate the sector?
When one looks at the food industry, the trends are very similar in the world. There is the concern everywhere about how to eat healthier in the future. And the opportunity is to lower the sugars, but always trying to maintain the flavor and texture that consumers are looking for. People are looking for a healthier diet, but they also want that indulgence, that possibility of having a tasty food. Ingredion bets a lot on this trend, which is very clear and is going to grow.
What are your growth focuses for the next few years?
The great focus of the company is two areas. The first is the vegetable protein and sugar reduction part, for which we had the investment I mentioned from the allulose plant in Mexico, and we also bought a company called PureCircle, which produces stevia sweeteners. And the other is the existing business, which is very important and has to do with the texture, the taste, the energy that food brings, and it is our base. More than anything, we seek to find with clients a way to bring the most varied options to the final consumer. If you are looking for a candy or something with more sugar, you can find it; if you are looking for vegetable protein, the same. The important thing is to have options, and we are here to work with our clients in all these areas.
In addition, in Mexico they have a program focused on yellow corn. What does it consist of?
Together with the Coca-Cola Mexico companies, we accept the challenge of finding ways to increase the production of yellow corn in Jalisco. It is a sustainable production scheme, with quality control, from our side, of the corn that is being planted, and we are already discussing how to do it in other states of Mexico.
