”Thank you, Mr Ránky!”

After more than 40 successful years in foreign and domestic trade, László Ránky, managing director of SCA Hygiene Products, the world citizen of the FMCG sector retires. Former sales director Zoltán Venter is the new head of the division that is hallmarked by brands like Libero, Libresse and Zewa. About the beginnings: R.L. – I have always been interested in languages. I graduated at the foreign trade department of the University of Economics. I started working at TerImpex as an assistant in 1967 and left the company from the position of CEO 25 years later. I learned a lot form my older colleagues and business trips to foreign countries taught us what marketing or distribution was. From1992 I was the CEO of Nestlé, one of the first multinational companies to enter Hungary. This was the time when the Hungarian FMCG market developed. I experienced the ins and outs of FMCG retail when I was appointed managing director of SCA (back then Mölnlycke) in 1999. V.Z. – I graduated at the Faculty of Architecture in Budapest. After graduating in 1991, I could not find work in Békéscsaba, so I decided to work at the marketplace. It was hard work but I learned a lot and in 1992 I applied for a sales representative post at Sancella (the predecessor of SCA). This summer on my 40th birthday, I was appointed division manager. They both think the past ten years was a success. All the big SCA brands are present in Hungary, the Tena incontinence pad, Tork hygiene products and Libero diapers, Libress feminine care and Zewa have all contributed to catapulting SCA to the top 5 of chemical companies in Hungary. The Scandinavian model of leadership, the freedom in decision making, team spirit, minimising red tape, effective communication and individual initiatives made the company what it is today. According to László Ránky and Zoltán Venter, one of the biggest results in the past ten years was multiplying by six the volume sales of Zewa household and hygiene paper products. Both of them played vital roles in this by improving partnership cooperation and shaping a reasonable pricing policy. It was László Ránky’s idea to organise the Zewa toilet exhibition and he was the driving force behind Hungarian ECR initiative, in the past two years acting as co-chair. V.Z. – We have to keep the company on this successful track. In the past ten years I have learned from László Ránky that his motivating and inspiring leadership method is the most suitable to achieve this goal. We need to be pro-active in adapting to a changing market, retail and consumer habits – these are the challenges ahead of me in the next five years. In my personal life, I would like to be as balanced and active as my predecessor, with time spared for family life, sports and fishing. R.L. – My recipe is simple: 1 wife, 2 children, 3 jobs, 4 grandchildren and 5 languages. I passed the torch to my son András, he is retail director at OBI in Romania. I love being a grandfather, I swim, play tennis, travel and make wine. What is his secret? He gets on with everyone. He has been to more than 120 countries. He is about to write a book on Chatrix, a term he coined, explaining the theory of the chaotic matrix. He swims across Lake Balaton every year. He is vice-president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hungary. Four official farewell parties, a film made about him, a piano concert by Ádám Fellegi and regular phone calls from colleagues all indicate that the profession does not want this great man to leave. Thank you, Mr Ránky, we are counting on you!