IN
BRIEF
MANAGEMENT CHANGES
This autumn Mr. L. van Limburg Stirum was appointed
director of our Dreher operating company in Italy. He
succeeded Mr. A. Oostra who had been in charge of that
business for many years.
Mr. Van Limburg Stirum is a Dutchman and a newcomer to
our concern. Before joining us he had held management
posts in various building projects in Chad, Lebanon, West
Germany, Algeria and Argentina. In the past 2xh years he
worked in Canada in the energy sector. He studied for a
business-related law degree in Holland. He spent two years
in the Royal Dutch Navy in the rank of officer.
He is married and became a father for the first time this
year. He and his wife are now the proud parents of a baby
boy.
Mr. Oostra in turn took over the helm of Heineken
Nederland B.V. He succeeded Mr. P.P. Snoep, who
assumed responsibility for the coordination of Heineken's
European activities.
Spain
Cameroun
Burundi
Exceptional
Assistants
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the same interes ()f the
collector in Engusn,
SMALL BUT PLUCKY
Spain's leading brewing group is
El Aguila with a 20% share of the
market. Its total capacity is about
four and a half million hecto
litres. The group owns 7
breweries and 2 malting plants.
Heineken has acquired a
substantial minority holding in
El Aguila at a cost of
approximately 100 million
guilders. As from September
management responsibility has
been in our hands.
Heineken has acquired a 34%
interest in the share capital of
International Brasserie S.A. in
Cameroun (Africa). This
brewery is currently under
construction. Heineken is
providing technical assistance.
Our Amstel and Mützig brands
will be brewed there under
licence. They should be on the
market by around the end of the
year. This investment involves
capital expenditure of 5.7
million guilders.
April 1985 will see the comple
tion of building work on a
brewery in Gitenga, in Burundi
(Africa)As soon as the brewery
is ready to start operations,
Heineken will obtain a sizeable
interest in it. The plans are to
start brewing Amstel beer under
licence in the Gitenga brewery.
Heineken Import S.A. is the
name of the firm that sells our
beer in Switzerland. The office
consists merely of two simple rooms
above a warehouse. Four people are
employed throughout the country, but
those four certainly know how to roll
their sleeves up. In Switzerland beer
consumption is not increasing. The
laws there are very strict and the
country's 32 breweries work very
closely together. So you have to be
plucky if you want to put a new brand
on the market.
René Wiirster, in his mid-fifties, took
up that challenge in 1976. He's not just
plucky. He's more.
Until 1976 he was director of a beer
sales company of a Swiss brewery. He
had a staff of 60 under him. The strict
arrangements and the official policy in
Switzerland were an obstacle to the
free trade in beer. That was what
annoyed Mr. Wiirster, who happens to
be a supporter of such freedom. So, at
the age of 46, he left his comfortable
job to come and work for Heineken.
He is an idealist and one who is willing
to do something to achieve his ideals.
That's exceptional.
Cartoon by Henk Visser, assistant technologist in our Amsterdam brewery.
With infinite patience he set out on a
very difficult task. "In those first few
years my former customers looked on
me as a traitor. After a while, though,
they started to respect me and the
Heineken policy. The Swiss breweries
also started to see me in a different
light. Then our sales started to get
moving."
But the most difficult time was yet to
come. Partners had to be found in the
wholesale trade. "That was in 1980.1
really had to work hard then."
We can believe him, as he's since
succeeded in finding those partners.
We have never been received by
someone with so many facts and
figures at his fingertips. Not only about
his sales, but about his country as well.
He had written them out by hand and
had had them typed out for us. He also
had hundreds of charts for information
meetings with representatives of
distributors. He can find each detail
immediately. "Does he ever do
anything else but work?" we asked
ourselves. Yes, he has a camping van.
And he travels in it through the
beautiful Swiss scenery whenever he
takes some time off.
for Mr. Wiirster.
Heineken Import S.A. was run by one
man in its initial years. And that man in
turn was driven by an ideal: freedom in
the trade. It's difficult to imagine how
much work he shifted then, and how
much he still gets through today. Sales
have constantly shown an upward
trend and there is every reason to be
optimistic about the future. An
exceptional performance by a friendly,
very precise man, whom you cannot
but respect.
René Wiirsterdirector of our Swiss sales
office, Heineken Import S.A.
Mr. Mario Ramildi, doing his utmost for
Heineken sales in the German-speaking
part of Switzerland.
same age as her colleague. In her spare
time she does a lot of reading.
In complete contrast, Corinne enjoys
water-skiing and is not afraid of riding a
medium-sized motorbike either. Mario
Ramildi has not been a member of the
team for all that long. His home is in
Zürich. He has a difficult job, as the
people in the German-speaking part of
the country, where he has to do his
selling, are very chauvinistic. So much
so, in fact, that they almost always
drink Swiss beers. He also deputises
Corinne Buensoz, a French-speaking i
Swiss girl, does the book-keeping and I
other administrative tasks. In her
twenties, still single, she drives by car
each day to the office which is situated
Murielle Dutoit, secretary.
CONTACT
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Corinne Buensoz, book-keeper at A
Heineken S.A., near Lausanne.
in a green, peaceful country setting just
outside Lausanne. Her colleague,
Murielle Dutoit, acts as secretary. She
was on holiday when we visited our
Swiss office, but we had spoken to her
over the phone before we arrived. She
too is French-speaking and about the
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