It is one of the most
dynamic companies in the international biostimulants landscape. Its business
model, which is also the basis of the organizational sphere, is focused on
continuous innovation and cross-cutting alliances. Roots anchored in the
community, but capable of spreading everywhere across the world. The company is
present in more than 80 countries in Europe, Africa, Asia and South America.
Giampaolo Colletti interviews Leonardo Valenti, CEO of Biolchim for FARE
INSIEME
of Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
“Where you tend a rose, a thistle cannot grow.
Forgetting how to hoe the ground and take care of the soil means forgetting
yourself”. So tells an old adage, which inevitably recalls the strength of the
earth, its preservation, its well-being and ultimately our own. Well, there is
an Emilia-based company that has been on the scene for 50 years—literally! – to
take care of the land. This is Biolchim, a jewel of Bologna that is engaged in
the production and marketing of specific fertilizers with special
biostimulants. They are high-added-value products that combine agronomic
efficiency and environmental sustainability. It all began in 1972. We are in
Medicina, a town with less than twenty thousand inhabitants in the metropolitan
area of Bologna. A small piece of land that stretches for almost 160 square
kilometers across the Emilian plain, irrigated by the canal that also gives its
name to the historic San Vitale Road. Here we find the plant where the entire
production cycle is carried out, including the final packaging of the products,
which are then shipped around the world. Roots anchored in the community, but
capable of spreading everywhere in the world. The company is present in more
than 80 countries in Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America. Biolchim operates
with its own subsidiaries in Brazil, Germany, Poland, Hungary, China, New
Zealand and Australia, while in Turkey, Lebanon, India and Russia, local
distributors are supported by a network of local technicians. The rest of the
countries rely on established business partnerships and a broad network of
distributors and importers. There has been a
focus on proprietary technologies for producing strategic raw materials and a
solid platform of knowledge and innovation.
In the direction
of continuous innovation. Even today, Biolchim offers its customers a
comprehensive portfolio of safe and effective products that help maximize the
yield of every crop, anywhere in the world. Since 2014, it has led a group of
five companies that rank among the top
players in the industry. “We are celebrating our fiftieth birthday this
year. The companies we have bought are even more historic than we are and
pioneers in their respective industries, but ultimately, like us, they have a
strong drive for innovation. Thus, innovation is strengthened, reinforced and
supported by experience and solid pragmatism. We want to consolidate the sector
by buying suppliers and competitors who then integrate well", said
Leonardo Valenti, CEO at Biolchim. Top-breaking figures for a specialized and
fragmented niche sector: 2021 was closed at €142 million with a team of 420
people, while the forecast for 2022 was €155 million. The group is active in
plant nutrition and care and 90% of its activity is in professional
agriculture. The supply is based on innovative fertilizers, bio-stimulants,
biocontrol solutions and generally on products aimed at sustainable organic or
conventional farming. This requires continued attention to the product, process
and technical service innovation, as well as organizational arrangements that
are best suited to the demand for effective, but also environmentally friendly
solutions.
People first. Of course, we
are talking about hi-tech solutions, but what makes the difference is people,
inside and outside the company. Valenti is convinced of that. “We have had
strong relationships with customers and suppliers for up to thirty years. Our
employee turnover is very low, and we pay close attention to the issues of
inclusion and diversity. After all, the international nature of our activity
makes us a melting pot of cultures. And we also have a lot of women in top
positions. Ours is a niche industry and the quality of people makes the
difference. That is why we tend to hire our employees directly from
universities and then train them internally". Research in the plural.
Biolchim has partnered with dozens of companies and is now involved in more than
one hundred open collaborations with research centers, labs, universities and
industrial partners such as customers and suppliers or spinoffs. In 2012, the
WIN project—an acronym for Worldwide Innovation Network—was launched: It
consists of a platform for scientific and technical cooperation, aimed at
innovation in five areas: product innovation, process innovation, packaging
innovation, technical support for farmers and organizational models. "It's
a new global, reticular and successful research model. Developing the network
means looking for quality, mutually beneficial partnerships and
specializations, even outside our industry. We have worked very hard, for
example, with pharmaceutical botany and we depend on continuous improvement. At
the heart of our corporate mission is
the desire to provide farmers with effective and efficient solutions for their
day-to-day work in the fields. Long years of experience, concreteness and
attention to the needs of the end user are the tools through which we shape our
commercial offer, which is strongly focused on the core themes of product and
service. Our main goal is to ensure that farmers always perceive our company as
a reliable partner that can provide them with winning technical solutions”,
explains Valenti.
For
him and his team, farming is now unthinkable without objective diagnostic
tools, because these are
also going through a phase of profound technological transformation identical
to the one that has already occurred in medicine. The study of symptoms has
given way to objective evidence through analysis. The digital sphere is
essential, and the process is irreversible. But at the heart are and always
will be human beings.
https://podcast.confindustriaemilia.it/
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