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| Nguyen My Lan – Basic director of AkzoNobel Ornamental Paints Vietnam |
Your transfer to the paints and coatings trade has taken many unexpectedly. May you share what stands behind your choice to enterprise into a brand new area?
What impresses me probably the most about GE and now AkzoNobel is their achievements and tradition. If a model cannot show its price to prospects and staff, it has no future. AkzoNobel’s greater than 200-year historical past is considered one of fixed improvement, from its items to its folks.
It has additionally made nice contributions to the expansion of communities and whole societies throughout the globe. AkzoNobel’s philosophy of doing enterprise for a greater life is one thing that resonates on a primal stage with me.
These shared values and the respect for the corporate gave me the arrogance to I embark on this new journey.
Did the COVID-19 pandemic not make this choice tougher?
To be trustworthy, it was not a straightforward choice to go away my consolation zone and enterprise into a totally new area, particularly in such an unsure world. There was vital strain and quite a bit spoke in opposition to the transfer.
Vietnam has been fast to regulate to the pandemic and mitigate the harm, however the penalties of COVID-19 can nonetheless be felt. Nonetheless, I don’t imagine it’s a trigger for concern on the long run.
What helped me resolve on the finish of the day is that I’m at all times on the lookout for new challenges and private progress. On the identical time, I do not set overly bold targets that I won’t be capable of obtain – success for me is overcoming my present self.
Executives are dealing with huge uncertainties at present. What new path will AkzoNobel take beneath your path?
The COVID-19 pandemic has immediately impacted provide chains, uncooked materials provides, and raised costs. In lots of nations, inflation is changing into a urgent drawback. Companies throughout industries and nations are dealing with these points. We have to formulate options and motion plans. We are going to must be proactive to answer the uncertainty of the world.
I joined AkzoNobel due to its folks – the corporate has constructed a crew of devoted, energetic, and visionary people in Vietnam. My topmost accountability is to create beneficial situations and an setting that facilitates their progress. To answer market modifications in such a tough interval, we’ve got adopted a spirit of self-discipline, creativity, and preparation.
Our largest benefit is our conviction to pursue sustainable improvement. It’s the guiding star for all actions at AkzoNobel. As a provider of floor options for all constructions, we carry to the market merchandise which might be aesthetically pleasing whereas guaranteeing the well being of customers with the proper unstable solids content material.
The technique of AkzoNobel’s sustainable improvement is timeless because it helps cut back environmental air pollution, minimize greenhouse fuel emissions, and lower your expenses. Dulux Skilled, AkzoNobel’s flagship sustainable product, we use KeepCool expertise which may mirror UV rays and cut back wall temperature by as much as 5 levels Celsius in comparison with conventional paint, in addition to cut back the electrical energy invoice by 10 to fifteen per cent.
Take into account how a lot electrical energy might be saved if KeepCool expertise was used to guard 100 high-rise buildings. Our merchandise not solely lower your expenses through the life cycle of the constructing, in addition they assist clear up the issue of saving vitality in at present’s cities and, extra importantly, minimize carbon emissions.
How are your merchandise serving to cut back customers’ environmental footprint?
Dulux Skilled provides premium safety for as much as 10 years. Customers don’t have to resume the paint floor throughout this time, saving cash and supplies. Other than lowering consumption, AkzoNobel’s options additionally carry financial benefits to the buildings.
As an illustration, we’ve got 2-in-1 merchandise corresponding to Dulux Skilled Weathershield Specific which wants solely two coatings as a substitute of three, serving to traders by saving prices, labour, and rushing up development time.
AkzoNobel tailors our options to the wants of every buyer group. For lodge and resort tasks, we provide moisture and salt resistance. For hospitals and faculties, we’ve got merchandise with antibacterial options which might be simple to wash. Our sustainability story is a mix of values, enriching everybody – the setting, producers, development items, and traders, together with finish customers.
What are the group’s company sustainability accountability (CSR) actions?
AkzoNobel is pleased with our CSR initiatives to protect and renew architectural works of historic and creative worth all over the world. A few of our works in Vietnam embody Dai Lanh Lighthouse, Vung Tau Lighthouse, Ho Chi Minh Metropolis Museum of Wonderful Arts, and the Ho Chi Minh Metropolis Folks’s Committee constructing. We’re lucky to be able to accomplice with others and protect these buildings.
After a two-year hiatus because of the pandemic, we’ll proceed this journey together with many different CSR actions. We at AkzoNobel don’t take group actions as only a social accountability however as a chance to precise our gratitude for the nice issues in life.