FAREWELL TO 'MR EXPORT'
New and challenging role
for Frans van der Minne
"Export is Frans and Frans
is Export". "A man with a
nose for Export". This year
Frans van der Minne
swapped his position at
Export for the post of
Cluster Director Europe at
Heineken head office.
During his farewell
reception the words of
praise were numerous and
heartwarming. "Those fine
words were very precious to
me. An occasion of
emotional feelings, saying
farewell to Export after
seventeen years".
It comes as no surprise,
therefore, that several
months after his departure
Frans van der Minne still
refers to Export as 'we'.
The 1990s will go down in the annals
of Export as the Frans van der Minne
years. As Export Director, Mr Van der
Minne was a strong advocate of a
market approach that proved highly
successful. The magic words were
'export offices'. Under his leadership
many new export offices were open
ed. A brief selection: Hong Kong,
Taiwan, Portugal, Germany, Poland,
Canary Isles, Russia, four offices in
China, Croatia, Argentina. Thanks to
that focused market approach ('stay
close to the market, then you know
what's going on') and the efforts
made by distributors, Heineken
Export's turnover grew steadily, with
sales records being broken year after
year from 1993 onwards.
"I left Export with a feeling of
pride. We've indeed achieved quite a
lot over the past nine years.
Profitability has increased, the orga
nisation has grown in stature and
become more professional and the
number of export offices has been
considerably expanded, enabling us
to bring together all the know-how
from those markets. That is good for
Heineken Export, but certainly
also for other departments within
Heineken. As I see it, Heineken
Export has taken on a different type
of role. It used to be a bit of an isola
ted island within the company. But
that's no longer possible; coopera
tion with the other parts of the busi
ness is now essential. A very good
illustration is South Africa, where
Heineken has set up a joint venture
with South African Breweries. The
Heineken input is a cooperative
effort between the Cluster Africa and
Heineken Export. We respect each
others' competencies and use them
to the best possible effect."
SCHIPHOL
Mr Van der Minne was also a strong
supporter of a Heineken Export that
could operate more independently.
Export's relocation to the top six
floors of the World Trade Centre at
Schiphol Airport turned out to be a
brilliant move. Much more than in
the past, Heineken Export clearly
profiled itself as a Heineken opera
ting company based in a strategical
ly attractive location. "Basically, the
whole Heineken organisation benefi
ted from our move to Schiphol. If you
see how many meetings of all sorts
of Heineken people and customers
now take place at Schiphol, then you
have to admit that the location is
perfect. Visitors can simply fly in for
