Santiago Rosero, from Quito and expert in mass consumption issues, who took over the head of Grupo Familie in Ecuador a little over three years ago, explains the challenges facing the company that was born 60 years ago as a family business in Medellín, Colombia, which is now part of the Swedish Essity. The latter company is present in 150 countries, with 48,000 employees worldwide and sales of 14.6 billion dollars. In Ecuador, Familia is present with several leading brands and is focused on sustainability and the environment.

Since when did this company enter Ecuador and what are its top products?

In Ecuador, Familia started by partnering with Tecnapapela, a company founded in Lasso, Cotopaxi. She started to have a stake in this company and since 2000, after some shareholder movements, it has become the Sancela family. Thus, the Family in Ecuador is 22 years old, but has been present in the country for 30 years. Grupo Familia has two factories: Familia Sancela’s, in Lasso, and Impaecsa, in Babahoy. The latter was acquired in 2018. We currently have five leading brands: Familia, which is absorbent paper, toilet paper, facial tissues and Institutional Family (sold to companies); as well as sanitary napkins and intimate soaps Nosotras, Pequeñín wet wipes and diapers of the Tena brand for adult care. We also have the Hada brand, which entered with the acquisition of Impaecsa. We occupy one or two places in all our brands.

How do production and consumption work in Ecuador? Do we consume what we produce, is it imported or exported?

We do both: everything related to toilet paper, a large part of Familie Institutional products, sanitary napkins, we produce here. There are some products that we import, such as wet wipes and incontinence products. 35% of the products we consume are imported, but 65% are of domestic origin. We also export products to the Dominican Republic, Peru and Bolivia.

Since you are a transnational company, how does a person from Quito come to head a company in Ecuador?

A lot of the bosses in the administration were Colombian, but I came into office as part of a series of changes taking place favoring Ecuadorian staff. My career has mainly been with consumer products in Colombian and Ecuadorian companies, with leading brands in the market. There was a competition in which the company chose management, just before the pandemic. I came to replace Gustavo Rubio, who had been with the company for 20 years.

So what were the challenges and lessons you learned during the pandemic?

When the pandemic started, everyone had the same questions. In the case of Familia, we wanted to guarantee the sustainability of the business by taking care of our people and guaranteeing the delivery of solutions for consumers. The first was to take over the protocols that guarantee the health of our associates and continue to deliver solutions for care and hygiene. There were challenges inherent in supply and we had to approach it more effectively through digital media, managing products that were at the consumer’s fingertips.

And what were the results, because there were quite a few who had complications?

There were certain companies that had major disadvantages. Other jobs are modified by natural behavior. For example, in the first months of the pandemic, people were asking for toilet paper for no apparent reason. So, the demand had to be covered, but then wait for all that procured paper to be thrown out; therefore demand has become sluggish. With all that, things went quite well for us, there was no growth, but we managed to maintain the numbers that were expected under these conditions. Being a global company listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, it has some compliance parameters. There is an art to meeting a target, in a changing, challenging market, with a changing consumer, and in addition to workforce issues, it was necessary to proactively respond to the consumer.

What are the new products?

The most successful last year is a three-layer, three-roll product that costs a dollar. This is found in stores and wholesalers, taking into account the type of consumer with lower payment power. We also launched the Green Family of 100% recycled fibers, with 100% recyclable packaging, and 85% of the packaging comes from renewable sources. This product meets the expectations of consumers who like to protect the environment. We also supply 5% of what is obtained to a recycling association in Ecuador. I must point out that Ecuador is a country that has an incredible potential for recycling, but only recycles a tenth of what it could. In our facilities, we recycle 80% of what is recycled in Ecuador.

What new projects are planned for the following years?

All projects or our activity is related to sustainability. The first thing is to guarantee that our technology is aligned to guarantee the reduction of waste, water consumption from non-renewable sources, increase the use of renewable sources, expand our ability to attract the interest of consumers who are interested in different issues, by guaranteeing that in our workplaces there is safety in processes so that they are in perfect health, plans to guarantee equality. We have just signed a contract with Cervecería Nacional: about 500 tons of stickers per year, a little over 40 tons per month, what used to be trash will be the raw material for absorbent paper, it started this month.

How do you see the sustainability of growth and sustainability with political problems in the country creating uncertainty?

Grupo Familia has an optimistic vision, we are far from any negative perception of the development of life and we believe that it is our responsibility to serve the changing consumer with new challenges. Of course, we are concerned about institutional issues, but we devote ourselves to optimistic thinking: what we can do with what we have in our hands. We think that if the world changes, we will not be paralyzed, but will accept the change and walk with it.

Of the 48,000 employees the company has worldwide, how many are in Ecuador?

We have 1000 workers in the country, in two operations: 800 people from Grupo Familia, of these 500 are in Cotopaxi, it is an important company within the contribution to the province, and in the case of Impaecsa it is about 200 people.