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Finding opportunities: From strategy to action – INSIDE NKG | MAG

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Sharing Solutions: How local approaches enable global success

Setting sail for the coffee business of tomorrow: On course to the first ERP rollout for NGUS

Depicting NKG’s growth in Asia: Insights from Mira Yudhawati and Emily Chua

Smart design for a sustainable future: The Ibero Uganda mill project

Behind the scenes

Mail from NG Comms: A personal Update

Virtual Tour: Berindo Jaya

Faces and portraits

Interview with Thomas Silva

Interview with Marcelo de Paula Nogueira

On a Cupping with Maks Mazurkiewicz

A visit with Kayd Whalen

NKG Integrity Champion: Thumbs up for reliable colleagues

NKG Holding who is who: Introducing Legal Department

Breaking the coffee ceiling: Inspiring women at NKG

Out of the box

Three by Three Questions: EUDR challenges and implementation

Time to take action: Neumann Gruppe donates to the promotion of democracy

At a glance

Recap: What happened in half-year one / 2024

It's your turn

Quiz: Spot the Difference

FOCUS

Finding opportunities:
From strategy to action

FOCUS

Finding opportunities:
From strategy to action

In the last issues, we have introduced you to a lot of strategic topics. One was of course the goal 20/200, which explains the importance of growth for us at NKG to be sustainably successful. Another focus was on the changes happening right now and how past and current challenges are mirrored in our values and have strengthened the commitment for them for us as a group. Now, we would like to get into more detail: Where do we already see opportunities and how do we deal with them? How can we live an open, flexible mindset and implement agile business? A great example we would like to show you is our business in Asia.

Starting operations in Asia 30 years ago was a visionary decision and great opportunity for NKG, and it turned out to be the beginning of a very successful story. With three jubilees, this year marked not only a huge milestone in our history in Asia but also connects us with a new one: once again, welcome to the family, NKG Korea! So, finding opportunities, thinking future-orientedly and staying flexible in our minds and in business is key to driving our success further. We will achieve this by connecting, working together closely and supporting each other as best as we can. How this can be lived in our business can be seen in Asia: Let’s have a look at this great example in the following.

“Our collective knowhow and enthusiasm are the key for our business and success. We all know that we are facing various challenges at the moment in the coffee business; I am deeply convinced and stubbornly optimistic that together, we can work out how to turn these challenges into opportunities for NKG. We have everything we need in our group to support each other, build on what we have already achieved and take on what is to come in the next months and years.”

David M. Neumann, Group CEO, Neumann Gruppe

Entering a new market: NKG Korea

Over the past decades, NKG has achieved a lot in Asia, and we are now up to new topics to get excited about in the future, one of them clearly being the start of operations in Korea in August 2022. With regards to the population of 51.7 million people, South Korea has a huge amount of coffee shops: more than 83,000, which means 1 shop for 620 people. Koreans also consume 50 million cups of coffee every day. “Korea is a very sophisticated coffee drinking country with a wide range of potential clients from the instant manufacturing industry roaster to the specialty micro roaster and even final consumers with small roasting facilities at home”, says Ruben Scholz, Managing Director Bero Coffee Singapore. “Through our new setup with NKG Korea, we can access this widespread clientele, and this offers us a huge potential to grow our business and client reach”, he adds. For NKG, this means a lot of potential to establish our group companies in the coffee producing countries and to develop partnerships, which will lead NKG to gaining market share. It is not only about business opportunities but also about our love for the product: in Korea, there is a fun coffee scene. David M. Neumann is inspired by the enthusiasm: “People enjoy the product a lot, and the market is open to any kinds of crazy coffee innovation.” It is also a comparatively stable market in the region.

Ruben Scholz, Managing Director Bero Coffee Singapore

“A cupping room is an essential element for marketing events and client interaction. Therefore, we will set this up, combined with meeting and collaboration facilities.”

Changsu Woo, COO NKG Korea

Our new company NKG Korea will serve as one single entry point and marketplace for the Korean coffee market, providing high-quality information and enabling direct communication to our clients. NKG Korea is a fully integrated company into the NKG Asia Hub with the core focus of marketing, distribution, inventory management and client communication. The office is located in the Mapo-gu district in the western part of Seoul, which is a rather industrial area attracting especially younger people. This is a benefit, as it is close to some of the company’s main and other potential new customers. Changsu Woo, COO of NKG Korea (we will portray him in our Human touch section, so have a look at his input and the pictures of his lovely family here), gives us some further insights: “A cupping room is an essential element for marketing events and client interaction. Therefore, we will set this up, combined with meeting and collaboration facilities.” There are plans to partner with local warehouse operators and to establish a country-wide distribution to serve all types of clients across Korea in the future. “We are taking a long-term approach and we are building up a range of products and services that our customers can rely on”, says Changsu Woo.

Jubilees in Asia

We are very proud to look back on 30 years of successful and growing coffee business in Asia; 30 years of Bero Coffee Singapore and Rep Office Vietnam, 25 years of Berindo Jaya in Indonesia. Together with other colleagues from Hamburg, David M. Neumann joined the celebrations in Asia to congratulate personally and is impressed: “The team spirit here at the Asia Hub is exceptional, and I especially like the positive, constructive and creative mindset lived by everyone here.”

Creating synergies: our NKG Asia Hub

With our NKG Asia Hub, we have a unique setting in Asia. Though our group companies Bero Coffee Singapore, NG Vietnam and Berindo Jaya are legally independent entities, they have one commercial position and strategy. Through joining forces and enhancing exchange, the companies are better able to participate in the hugely complex market situation in Asia with its different countries, cultures, consumer behaviours and streams of distribution. With the excitement for the product and a constantly growing demand, there is also a lot happening in the region. The ambitious goal for 2023 set by Ruben Scholz, Willem Otten and Sok Keng Tang: “We will be the leading green coffee service provider and business partner of first choice in our core markets, delivering mainstream and specialty coffee, value added products and supply chain services. We achieved sustainable and organic growth, along with innovative and digital solutions to support our business.”

There are some key projects the companies in Asia are currently working on, while some have already been achieved: First, the entry to the Korean market has successfully been implemented with establishing NKG Korea in August. Another focus will be on China: There has been an in-depth study of the Chinese coffee market, and further plans to setup an efficient business to cater mainstream and specialty customers and entry point for sourcing China Arabica coffee have been made. Starting in the beginning of 2023, concrete steps will be taken to find the right place and set-up for NKG in China. Furthermore, similar to the concept in Singapore, warehouse operations have been established in Jakarta with PT NKG Indonesia. Bero Coffee Singapore also has grown their reach in the Specialty Coffee segment in Asia with warehouse stocks in strategic locations outside Singapore like Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. One more important project that has to be mentioned: NG Asia will be called “NG Asia Pacific” in the future.

NKG Asia Hub

“The goal is to provide high quality, non-core, but mission-critical services to NKG companies in the Asia-Pacific region at a lower cost and more efficiently than the business could otherwise provide for itself.”
Sok Keng Tang, CFO Bero Coffee Singapore &
David Koh, Regional Financial Officer NG Asia

At the beginning, these services will be Accounting (treasury, monthly reporting and other related functions), IT support and maintenance and customer/trade support & risk monitoring. As part of the new global HR structure, there will be a regional Head of HR at NG Asia Pacific (and there is a whole article on Maren Uzarek and global HR projects for you here if you want to learn more). Further services will be provided at a later stage.

So, our Asia Hub is only one example of how our strategic approach is lived and implemented in business. In this issue of NKG Connected, we want to have a closer look at more upcoming opportunities and try to answer questions like: what does it need to successfully realize transformation processes? Furthermore, we had a special announcement in October: Maren Uzarek joined the NKG Board of Management, and she will tell us something about her work and the focus of her new responsibility. Moreover, the Be Together finally took place in Hamburg to bring together many known and new faces, and there are many stories more to tell. So, let’s jump right in and start with our “Three by three questions” – this time it is all about change processes!

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Further Articles

Lively discussions: Be Together and Roaster Day in Hamburg

Traditionally, top management of our NKG group companies worldwide meet every couple of years for a few days full of work meetings and social events, usually at our headquarters in Hamburg. After a long period of online meetings, workshops and webinars, it was finally time to meet again in person! Many of our colleagues from all around the globe followed the invitation and came to Hamburg to connect, discuss current topics and plan how to proceed into the future. Amongst many others, these years topics were NKG’s status quo and plans in Asia & Oceania, an update on the current situation regarding the coffee markets and the ongoing supply chain struggles as well as digitalization within NKG and of our business.

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Establishing and developing global Human Resources: Get to know Maren Uzarek

Many of you have probably heard or read about it by now on one of our communication channels: Maren Uzarek joined NKG’s Board of Management on October 1st! This is not only great news because she is an absolute Human Resources expert with outstanding skills but also because of her way of thinking beyond HR topics. In many of our previous articles, we have emphasized the importance of employees for business success. Thus, it also means committing to this topic and giving it the relevance it needs and deserves. To get to know her better and gain a better understanding of the work she does, Maren kindly answered us some questions.

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Farewell Pablo Garcia C

At the end of this year it is time for a farewell. Our Group COO Pablo Garcias C.  retires after 40 years at NKG! What an accomplishment, what a commitment, and how much NKG history! Since a usual tribute cannot do him and his work justice anyway, we decided to ask a couple of colleagues from around the globe for a few words and wishes on his farewell. We are very honored to be allowed to share their personal words here.
Goodbye, adios, auf Wiedersehen, adeus, au revoir and thank you for everything, Mr. Garcia! Even though we all sincerely wish you a happy retirement, you will be missed!

Read More »

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Neumann Gruppe GmbH
Coffee Plaza • Am Sandtorpark 4
20457 Hamburg • Germany 

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PRIVACY POLICY

Neumann Gruppe GmbH
Coffee Plaza
Am Sandtorpark 4
20457 Hamburg • Germany

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