MEA July 2017

36 MEA MARKETS / July 2017 , launch the new ingredient. For sure, DP Supply BV are quick and flexible but a development can take up to 12 or 18 months, indeed it always depends on the application and the raw materials used.” Sierk is keen to reveal DP Supply BV’s overall mission and what differentiates them from their competitors. “When we consider the firm’s history, DP Supply BV has their genes in trading. We started to manufacture in our own production plant only in 2009! The trading genes are positive; indeed, we do have good sales people who are very motivated and can attract clients! We are flexible and react within a short timeline to market requests. What we are changing is the product portfolio. In the past, we were trading as Coffee Creamers. “Today, DP Supply BV is a full portfolio supplier, with our focus on Europe and the MEA Region. Our business is separated into five segments: bakery, savoury, sweets, beverages and health. Within these segments, we have a standard portfolio and we work on typical food trends such as non-palm, sugar free, low carb or dietetic functional ingredients. “Comparing DP Supply BV to their competitors - we have to consider the organization is much smaller - but faster and more flexible. For us not only the key accounts but also the medium and smaller clients are important business partners! From my point of view, we are much closer to our clients, because we know about their strategy and problems in production plus their demands. When it comes to developments, we are faster and I guess we do things that our competitors would not even think about. “Also, we are very lean in terms of our work, so the firm’s philosophy in this respect is, ‘you know the MD and the door is always open!’ So, communication between the company and the departments within it, is important, so that decisions can be made at very short notice.” Sierk proceeds to highlight the internal culture present at DP Supply BV, as well as their approach to hiring staff. “All our sales people have a technical background. DP Supply BV do have professional bakers and even a butcher within our sales team. A very important factor of our success is that the client feels comfortable and well- informed in their dealings with us. Our sales team can respond quickly to any client queries and provide a proper answer when it is about technical questions posed such as to raw material developments. This is very important for both sides and we often find ourselves in situation with very volatile price changes, on daily basis. “All our distributors and agents are trained by our R&D division, related to new application or new products. We do special clients days as well! For us, it is important that there is always good communication in place and a flow of information permeating the staff of our company. “Our target is to build up our own existing talent. DP Supply BV do have young people in our organisation, who want to reach the next step. The young talent here were trained by senior positioned employees, who visit clients, exhibitions and suppliers. When we do hire outside the organisation, it is important for us that their character matches well with the existing team and that they have experience in the food industry, plus the skill of being a strong communicator is an essential quality DP Supply BV looks for. Even when we are in a very digital focussed world, business is still done by people and therefore, communication, trust and the relation to the decision-making units, are our most important values.” In closing, Sierk is eager to give a brief overview of the wider industry and what the future holds for the company. “DMK products are sold in the MEA markets for many years!! Within the consumer markets we do big steps ‘Oldenburger’ branded products and ‘Rose’ are growing in sales figures. This is also supporting our business at DP Supply. We have developed a new range of products for the milk replacer markets which can be used in Joghurt and Cheese apllication as well as a main product for the growing powdered milk market! The communication with the colleagues from the consumer devision is fantastic and gives us a lot of backwinds! DP Supply BV’s ingredients division is present in all countries, with our standard portfolio in place as well as specialities. “Soon, we aim to have more distributor agents and offices arising in emerging market countries, indeed we do want to go global in terms of the scope of our work, For the mid-term, we do see production locations staying close to meet the clients’ needs, as this is part of our international strategy.”