Iavor Todorov (40) was a gifted sprinter with a personal
best time of 10.3 seconds for the 100 metres. He might
possibly have reaped success in the world of international
athletics. But Iavor Todorov said farewell to the world of
athletics and started a business career in tourism, a sector
that is so important for Bulgaria. He was given respon
sibility for the Netherlands and his job was to persuade as
many Dutch tourists as possible to take their holidays on
Bulgaria's Black Sea coast.
During that job Mr Todorov regularly stayed in the
Netherlands, a country he meanwhile regards as his second
homeland. Whilst working in the tourist industry he came
into contact with a number of Dutch products that have an
international reputation for high quality. In the early 1990s
he decided to take the plunge, said goodbye to his job in
tourism and began importing coffee and tea made by the
Dutch business of Douwe Egberts. But he wanted more:
"I felt that a beer brand like Heineken had possibilities in
Bulgaria and so I contacted Heineken Export." Ron Kolle
was the man he got to talk with. Kolle offered Todorov the
chance to prove his selling ability. "I ordered one container
of Heineken Beer and I was almost knocked off my feet to
find that I'd been sent three! A surprise package from Ron
Kolle", says Mr Todorov with a grin. "It took me all of two
months to sell the beer in that first container, so it wasn't
exactly what you would call a promising start. But, as I see
it, once you start on something, you have to see it through
to the end. Then I had the idea of visiting the best outlets
in Sofia. I thought, why not approach the bar owners in
person and hand out lots of give-aways. So I ordered a con
tainer of POS materials from Holland and invited the bar
owners to a meeting so that I could tell them about
Heineken and give them all sorts of materials to take back
and display in their restaurants and bars. That massive
attack bore fruit: sales of Heineken Beer shot up after
wards."
COLLAPSE
The future looked bright for Todorov and the firm he ran
under the name Famous Beers Ltd. The growth in sales of
Heineken Beer was developing favourably, as was consumer
awareness of the brand and its image. Until that black
month of May 1996. Suddenly, the Bulgarian economy nose
dived. The Lev, the Bulgarian currency, went into freefall
and the country ended up in a deep recession. Initially, a
Heineken beer had retailed for 18 Lev. One year later that
price had rocketed to 1500 Lev. Todorov: "That was no reces
sion, it was a total collapse. It all happened within just two
weeks and it led to widespread national panic." The crisis
had an enormous negative impact on the whole of society,
not just on the economy but also on the culture and the
standard of living.
Iavor Todorov, the power-house behind the
success of Heineken in Bulgaria.
18
'mareu, airftiuU oinSri-J
