Ecuador, in the sights of the innovations of the new owner of Grupo Familia

The Multinational Essity acquired a few weeks ago the control of the company that emerged in Colombia and has a presence in the country more than 25 years ago.

Injecting the family group High doses of innovation and sustainability, with investment plans in technology for digital transformation, and the strengthening of their brands of personal, family and corporate hygiene products are the benefits that will bring to this Latin American company the purchase of most of its actions by the Swedish multinational Essity.

This is explained by Andrés Gómez, general manager of Grupo Familia, who emerged in Colombia more than 60 years ago and has a presence in Ecuador more than 25.

Essity acquired a few weeks ago the control of the company. Originally it had 50 % of the shares, it now stayed with 95.8 % in an operation that amounted to more than $ 1.5 billion, as indicated in a statement from the organization.

According to the magazineForbes, the multinational operates in all countries in the region, except Venezuela, which represents 13 % of the total sales today, as well as an annual growth that ranges between 5 % and 10 %. In the case of the Family Group, it covers 6 % of its businesses worldwide, a figure that represents half of its activity in Latin America.

Gómez points out that this “long -term commitment” of both companies will favor consumers from the 150 countries of the world in which they have a presence, including Ecuador, where new products and new sustainable practices have already been introduced in recent years “reading consumer and market transformations”.

For example, the executive tells, attending to women looking for intimate products more friendly to the environment, the company recently launched several of the brands made with organic cotton; It also presented the Green family line, which is manufactured from recycled material and then the brand delivers a percentage of sales to recyclers; And you are also developing plastic free products on the small babies line.

Although it does not give figures of its future investments or its growth prospects in the country, Gómez points out that, after the vaccination campaign promoted by the government of Guillermo Lasso, there are already reactivation signs in all sectors. And this is good for your business.

• The family manager says that, in the days prior to the confinement decreed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the sales of their products grew unusually because people supplied them; But when people were already locked there was a demand contraction in, for example, soft papers and diaper absorbent for older adults, since consumption habits changed.

"It was a challenge for the company and its suppliers and suppliers networks that our portfolio was always available," says Gómez, who emphasizes that digital sales channels had growth above 30 % or 35 % due to pandemic.

"We had been working rapidly in the development of platforms to bring our products directly to families," he says.

The Executive says that, currently, 5 % of the sales of the entire company is done in that way. The expectation is to reach 10 % in about ten years.

According to the Superintendence of Companies, in the 2020 Ecuador Familia had sales for sales for $ 99.4 million and paid $ 16.5 million for Income Tax (IR).

Details

* Grupo Familia arrived in Ecuador at the end of the 90s, when it acquired the Tecnopapel company, located in Latacunga, Cotopaxi, and in 2018 it bought another in Babahoyo, Los Ríos.

* Its main brands are family, little, petys, us, pomys, ten and institutional family.

* Net sales of ESSITY in 2020 amounted to 11.6 billion euros.