The Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce (FCCC), with the support of Flanders Investment and Trade, organized an exclusive meeting with the FCCC's New Chairman, Mr. Kurt Vandeputte, during which he introduced himself and shared his China experiences. The webinar took place on September 2, 2021. The webinar was a members' only event.
Ms Gwenn Sonck, Executive Director of the Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce, welcomed the participants to the meeting with the new FCCC Chairman, Mr Kurt Vandeputte, who is also Senior Vice President Government Affairs at Umicore. He took over the post of FCCC Chairman from Mr Stefaan Vanhooren on May 12. The aim of the session was to get to know the Chairman in an informal way. He introduced his experiences with China and also Umicore's activities in China, and shared his view on the role of the FCCC. The Chamber has invested in a new membership platform through which you can see the other Members attending the webinar, improving networking.
Mr. Kurt Vandeputte said he was pleased and proud to be appointed Chairman of the FCCC. In May the FCCC replaced a few people in the Board of Directors. Stefaan Vanhooren (AGFA), Bart de Smet (AGEAS) and Philippe Van der Donckt (Umicore) decided to end their mandate and were replaced by Luc Delagaye (AGFA), Filip Coremans (AGEAS) and Kurt Vandeputte (Umicore).
Mr Kurt Vandeputte is a Belgian national born in 1969, holding a PhD in chemistry from Ghent University. When he was 17 years old, he had to choose between two career paths: either become a pilot or pursuing a career in chemistry.It was the latter. Studying chemistry was all about curiosity: learning how nature works, and in order to do that you need to know chemistry. He was Assistant at Ghent University for six years and started working for a company at that time called Union Minière. By now, Mr Vandeputte has 24 years seniority at Umicore, having worked in quality assurance and control; marketing and sales; strategy and IP; innovation and business incubation; and general management, progressing on the career ladder. Until the middle of 2019 he headed the Battery Materials Division, in which he was extensively exposed to and involved with China. Mr Vandeputte also took up several governance and leadership roles as a board member of Agoria and the Kompetenz Network Li-Ionen Batteries (KLIB) in Germany and as Vice Chairman of the Board of the public-private partnership BATT4EU set up by industry and the European Commission to co-manage €925 million of funding that the European Commission has earmarked for the next six years in battery research. The Commission wants to re-industrialize Europe in terms of battery production.
Mr Vandeputte's first exposure to China was in the lab in Ghent as one of his colleagues was a Chinese PhD student. His involvement really started in 1999 with a collaboration with one of the first Umicore sites in China, called Blue Lotus – the title of a Tintin comic book. A minority joint venture had been set up with a Chinese state-owned company in Shanghai. In 2003 he started the first commercial business with China. It was a very typical Chinese experience. In China the battery business was emerging five or ten years after Japan and Korea, and Mr Vandeputte negotiated a supply agreement for Belgian products sold in China. If the quality and the price are right, things can go very fast in China. He said he had a very positive experience to start and had many travel experiences he will never forget. Buying and selling is a bit easier than dealing with a business partner, which started in about 2007 with a new JV majority-owned by Umicore with a state-of-the art production plant. The partnership is positive and developing well. The golden rule in case there is tension is to be there in person, to talk and to understand the reason for the frustration. Of course, in Covid-times that personal relationship is challenging and needs careful monitoring.
In the period 2009 to 2019, China has been integrated as part of the global strategy for the battery materials business of Umicore and has become important as a market and as a production location. Umicore's strategy is to produce where the market is. The Chinese operations play an important role in the company's global business. Mr Vandeputte has been Chairman of a fast growing JV entity. A trusting relationship with your equity partner is an absolute necessity.
What are Mr Vandeputte's ambitions for the FCCC? As Chairman of an association you need to take care of the house. We have a stable and healthy organization in structure, finances and vision, which has already been built up by the previous leadership under the former Chairman Mr. Vanhooren. Mr Vandeputte also explicitly thanked Ms Gwenn Sonck for her contributions to the Chamber. Being a member does not entail a big expense as you can get a lot of help, service and support thanks to our structural financing partners, not in the least Flanders Investment & Trade. So the FCCC will continue as in the last couple of years. It is not necessary to change for the sake of change. But if there are opportunities or things that can be improved you should be agile. If members feel something is over covered, under covered or not covered at all, members are free to inform the FCCC leadership in order to serve the members in the best possible way. As a Chamber of Commerce you need to create neural networks, to connect people, to factually inform, to facilitate and catalyze, and finally to cross-fertilize. We have members from the industrial side, but also from the more academic side and we hope to integrate them more.
The aim of the Chamber is to be the first point of contact if you have questions on China-Flanders business. Chambers of Commerce usually have two countries or regions in their name, in our case China and Flanders, which means we should be an advocate of bilateral investment and trade. The flow should not only be in one direction. You should be motivated to seek a market in China, the market may be there before you realize it. Moreover, it is not only about doing business but also how to invest there or attract Chinese companies to invest in Flanders. Today the political tone is not the most motivating for global trade, but on a business level the world has become one, there is no product that you can make and market in only one region. Business has become more challenging and less predictable, but it will go on. The ambition of the FCCC is also to capitalize on the EU-China Business Association for which the FCCC is organizing many events. For FCCC it is a fantastic opportunity to be in the center of Europe and have high-level contacts with the European and Chinese sides.
Q&A: What are the main changes that Umicore adopted in its China strategy taking into account that we still cannot travel to China for a while? Mr Vandeputte: We did not really change our strategy due to Covid-19. There are two key areas where China is the core of our strategy: automotive catalysts and battery materials. For automotive catalysts, Umicore has a production plant in Suzhou. China is a huge market for the sales of new cars, and the whole management is local so the impact of Covid was limited. The JV for battery materials is also run by a local team, so there is not much impact from the travel restrictions. Of course use video conferencing much more than before.
What are the main success factors for your company in China and what are your main tips? Mr Vandeputte: The main success factor is to come with a broader service that gives your Chinese partner a distinct advantage for example in costs. In China you need to show your partner that there is something in it for him that he can use. To be very fast is also crucial.
What are the main challenges besides the fact that we cannot go to China? Mr Vandeputte: In my opinion, the two main challenges are that the political and regulatory environments are uncertain, which may make you hesitant to invest; and secondly in terms on innovation power and technology level, China has become very competitive. Years ago you could more easily bring technical added value to China than today. Many successful business models will include the integration at least partly of Chinese innovation power. You need to accept the rules of the game, which are different from those in de U.S. or Europe on certain points, but not integrating China in our strategy is not an option.
