If direct selling and network marketing needed a benchmark, Fredrik would have been the one qualifying for that with utter ease. Neha Saraiya of 4Ps B&M on a conversation roll, talks to the man about his life and India journey...
“Aap Kaise Ho?” The shock of the greeting was bigger when we
realised that not only was it being mouthed by a foreigner – well, you know us presumptuous folk – but by the MD of Oriflame India Pvt. Ltd., Fredrik Widell himself! After thanking our lucky stars we had not given away the state’s secrets chatting away sweet nothings in Hindi, we got down to finding out what in heavens was a foreigner doing in India selling ‘stuff’ to Indians?
“When you are as excited about something as I am, then you just work,” states Fredrik. For starters, Fredrik is not genetically related with India – he is actually a native of Sweden. He’s an International Management and Marketing specialist from Schiller International University, London. And how did he end up in India? Fredrik initially underwent a stint in a leading restaurant chain in the UK [as a Manager!]. But in 1998, he returned to Sweden as the Business Development Director of 7-Eleven. 2003 was his big break, when he jumped the Brit ship and joined Oriflame Cosmetics as the Managing Director of Sri Lanka and Vietnam. And having understood a significant part of the South Asian market dynamics, in 2007, he moved over to India – arguably one of the world’s largest consumer markets – as the MD for Oriflame India Pvt. Ltd.
Oriflame – typically a multi level marketing company – is a name many in India already know. Although the global experience of this Swedish cosmetic company is more than four decades long, it entered the Indian soil in 1995 only. If the cliched ‘better late than never’ spin seemed usable somewhere, it would surely rock in the context that Oriflame today proudly boasts a consultant base of one lakh consultants in India, with top earners making as much as Rs.3 lakh per month. Globally also, the numbers are breathtaking as the company recorded a global turnover of 1.2 billion euros for the quarter ending March ‘08.
Perhaps the biggest critical stumbling block for Oriflame is not competition, but the absecnce of stringent government rules and regulations, which make the model of multi-level marketing very difficult to operate. As Fredrik avers, “Legislation provide you the way of how governments want you to operate. But ‘strong’ legislation rules prevent companies to fraud. In any business, you will find certain players coming in and taking advantage. But if you have clear [rather than just ‘strong’] legislative rules, this will not happen.” But the fact also is that in both China and India – the top consumer markets currently – network marketing has not been without its fair share of charlatans. How does Fredrik handle that? He parries, “We don’t find this to be a difficulty! We have a very stringent internal policy of how our people are allowed to operate or what they are not supposed to do; so they don’t cheat.”
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
“Aap Kaise Ho?” The shock of the greeting was bigger when we
realised that not only was it being mouthed by a foreigner – well, you know us presumptuous folk – but by the MD of Oriflame India Pvt. Ltd., Fredrik Widell himself! After thanking our lucky stars we had not given away the state’s secrets chatting away sweet nothings in Hindi, we got down to finding out what in heavens was a foreigner doing in India selling ‘stuff’ to Indians?“When you are as excited about something as I am, then you just work,” states Fredrik. For starters, Fredrik is not genetically related with India – he is actually a native of Sweden. He’s an International Management and Marketing specialist from Schiller International University, London. And how did he end up in India? Fredrik initially underwent a stint in a leading restaurant chain in the UK [as a Manager!]. But in 1998, he returned to Sweden as the Business Development Director of 7-Eleven. 2003 was his big break, when he jumped the Brit ship and joined Oriflame Cosmetics as the Managing Director of Sri Lanka and Vietnam. And having understood a significant part of the South Asian market dynamics, in 2007, he moved over to India – arguably one of the world’s largest consumer markets – as the MD for Oriflame India Pvt. Ltd.
Oriflame – typically a multi level marketing company – is a name many in India already know. Although the global experience of this Swedish cosmetic company is more than four decades long, it entered the Indian soil in 1995 only. If the cliched ‘better late than never’ spin seemed usable somewhere, it would surely rock in the context that Oriflame today proudly boasts a consultant base of one lakh consultants in India, with top earners making as much as Rs.3 lakh per month. Globally also, the numbers are breathtaking as the company recorded a global turnover of 1.2 billion euros for the quarter ending March ‘08.
Perhaps the biggest critical stumbling block for Oriflame is not competition, but the absecnce of stringent government rules and regulations, which make the model of multi-level marketing very difficult to operate. As Fredrik avers, “Legislation provide you the way of how governments want you to operate. But ‘strong’ legislation rules prevent companies to fraud. In any business, you will find certain players coming in and taking advantage. But if you have clear [rather than just ‘strong’] legislative rules, this will not happen.” But the fact also is that in both China and India – the top consumer markets currently – network marketing has not been without its fair share of charlatans. How does Fredrik handle that? He parries, “We don’t find this to be a difficulty! We have a very stringent internal policy of how our people are allowed to operate or what they are not supposed to do; so they don’t cheat.”
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
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