About Flash Franchisee

By Ilayda Yazlak & Jan Schüller

On January 18-19-20, a Franchise Event was held in Istanbul. Particularly interesting when we consider the last edition of this seminar was organised in 2019, prior to the Covid pandemic. During Covid new Franchises were recruited and implemented but often solely digital, via video.  Now we had the opportunity to kick off the new business year 2023 in the presence of all the franchisees.

THURSDAY – Franchise seminar

Jan Schuller & Hakan Ertemel opened the seminar held at Istanbul Hilton Hotel.

During the day-long seminar, the Senior Leadership Team provided an update.  The management was well represented, incl. Philippe Higelin (Redspher Group President), Jean François Collenot (CEO), Antoine Halfmann (CFO), Gianni Maes (CSO) and Roland de Heere (COO). They presented the Group update, Group strategy, Digitalization, Platformization, Clients and Suppliers. Prior to that Philippe Higelin, outlined his story as a son of a local baker in the French Elzas, becoming an entrepreneur achieving to what the group is today.

In the second session of the seminar, Jan Schüller presented the General Franchise Update & the CY2023 plan of approach. Prior to the event, people asked what the secret behind the success of Turkey is and what they do differently.  Hakan Ertemel and his co-speaker Efrah Atacan (recruiting and lead generation specialist from the Franchise Company Turkey) shared their success journey.

Several franchisees shared their story, varying from Onur Atacan from the Ankara Office, to Samir Barmose envisioned Master Franchise for Morocco, and his co-speaker Najoua El Aanquoch. Mourad Abaab & Rania Ben Omrane Concessionaires for Tunisia, Vit Mazdra from Czech Franchise and also Oleksandr Savochkin from Ukraine did a digital video call presentation to the Seminar participants. Ilayda Yazlak, from the Franchise business development team, presented their market & sales approach to sell new Franchise licences in the Nordics, UK, Portugal and Morocco.

Awards

BEST OVER BUDGET PERFORMING 2022 goes to FLASH ANKARA UF in Turkey

BEST FIRST YEAR PERFORMANCE 2022 – goes to FLASH TEKIRDAG UF in Turkey

External speakers

Navlungo ( a pure Turkish freight platform) provided a view on the market and the company. MAN-Turkey Mr. Kaya, spoke about supply chain and the great longstanding collaboration with Flash Turkey.

Inspiring external guest speaker from Navlungo

FRIDAY – Business Speed Dating

At the Business Speed Date event that took place on Friday, our existing franchises had the opportunity to meet with TOP 6 Managers. This event, which was held in order to increase and strengthen our cooperation with existing Franchises , was very successful.

On Friday, there was also a timeslot for the opening celebration of the renewed office in Flash Turkey. Philippe Higelin and Jean François cut the opening ribbon and Redspher handed over a small present for Hakan Ertemel to put on the wall of the new office. Overall it was a successful event which fostered networking, collaboration & sharing best practices.

By Rania Ben Omrane – Franchisee Tunisia

On April the 12th, we received a call from a luxurious perfume brand , the request: they need flowers (orange blossom) in order to produce their latest perfume as their perfume is a success and they run out of the best orange blossoms…

Why was it a critical delivery? The orange blossoms need to be picked-up the latest time possible (to be the freshest possible) as they don’t handle transportation and be delivered as fast as possible to their production plant in extrême south of Italy (700 km from Rome Airport).

Solutions? On-board-courier with the flowers. We had two flights a day to Rome, one in the morning and one at the end of the day. Our very own passenger was used in order to have full control of the shipment.  By taking the first flight out, we would deliver the production plant in Italy late in the evening but the plant would be closed and the flowers would perish if we deliver the next morning.

We decided together with the flowers’ producer and the production plant in Italy to pick-up the flowers at the end of day and take the late flight out from Tunis. The driver will pick-up the goods from Rome Airport around 10 pm and deliver them in the morning.

In order to have full control on the flowers, the passenger took the flight with a carry-on-baggage with the flowers. In order to fulfill the delivery’s quality requested, we kindly asked our Italian colleagues to have a dedicated Italian driver who perfectly knows both Rome Airport and delivery’s area, what they did.

This first delivery for this client was a real success and we look forward to delivering more flowers though the flower season is almost over.

Left to right: Jean François Collenot, Claire Debellefontaine, Jan Schüller, Ilayda Yazlak, Gianni Maes and Nebojša Mandić.

Can you share any plans you have on how to develop the business in Serbia – Belgrade? 

Upon learning through Genius Academy and meeting departmental heads important for the business development, my plan is to review and expand suppliers’ networks, to ensure that we are able to provide reliable Premium Freight and On-Demand Delivery solutions within minutes, with quick pick-up, short transit times and at competitive prices. Then, I plan to focus on customers, establish professional relations with them, and understand their needs as well as possible. Afterward, to grow… grow… grow… suppliers network… and at the same time, customers portfolio. Since of the Top 100 Automotive Suppliers, the majority are already Flash customers and one-third of them are operating in Serbia, my goal is to establish cooperation with one-half of them in Serbia by the end of 2023.

What would you like to learn and need from colleagues within the Redspher Group?

Firstly, I want to meet more colleagues and to better understand the power of the people network Redspher Group has. Then, I would like to learn more about the ecosystem and digital platforms. I see its understanding and proper usage as key to transferring its advantages to the Serbian market.  Migrating from traditional logistics services provision through dispatchers, to service provision based on the powerful platform, with transport experts as support, I see as a revolutionary step forward in the logistics world. Afterward, I see only growth, on the benefit of all sides, but in the first place of our customers.

Get to know Nebojša Mandić – the new Serbia – Belgrade Franchisee

Can you introduce yourself?

I was born in Belgrade where I also live today with my wife and our two sons. After primary and secondary education in Belgrade, I had been attending international studies in the United States and Slovenia where I earned B.B.A. and M.B.A. degrees.

I started my career as a member of the initial DHL team in Belgrade. Since then, I have worked in the logistics industry in vision and strategy development, people management, international standards implementation, service quality, shipment distribution, customs clearance, and customer service. Thus, I built experience of more than 25 years at various “C level” leadership positions. I am also active in the business community, participating in various business associations and at major business conferences. I am a member of the board of the Serbian Association of Managers (SAM), I am one of the lecturers at SAM Academy and I do motivational speeches, coaching, and mentoring. I act as a “status quo” challenger and true “change agent”. I admire sports and a healthy lifestyle.

Have you always been active in the world of Logistics & Supply Chain? 

Yes, I have been working in this world. Understanding customer needs, creating efficient solutions, and doing what was said and agreed upon is what attracts me like a magnet. Meeting new people, learning about new industries, projects, and business ideas, and taking on challenges and responsibility makes me feel that what I do every day, has its purpose. Along with it, I enjoy working with people as team members, being customers, suppliers, colleagues.

How did you get into contact with Flash? 

I have always been seeing myself as a mix of an entrepreneur and a corporate person. The proper mixture is very important for success. You know that at our market there were many periods of volatility and difficult circumstances. Those times required us to think globally but to act locally. Such an entrepreneurial approach enabled the achievement of many, many great results for the corporations I had been representing, but at the same time, it opened many growth and development opportunities for me. After more than 25 years of managing the business through a career within corporations, I wished not only to manage but also to own the business.

I have found initial information about Flash in today’s digital world. Then, I started to explore who Flash is, what kind of services are offered, and how the ecosystem works. Everything I was able to see and read has drawn my attention, I sent a short e-mail, received an immediate response and here I am.

Can you explain how the collaboration started and how you experienced the onboarding process?

In the beginning, I received relevant information through online meetings and initial documents. Then, I experienced that the onboarding process is well designed and structured. From business plan preparation, through permanent guiding, to agreement signing. I can say that from the very beginning, at all Redspher’s and its Flash organizational levels, I felt trust and support. Without a doubt, I realized that business goals are our common targets and that we are together working towards their achievement. It is very important for me and I see it as the best approach for the Flash network expansion and growth.

The FLASH branded franchise community continues to expand.  We welcome another new Unit franchisee in Ljubljana, Slovenia. 

This time, the investors are Miriam Logistika, a company with 15 years of experience in specialized freight solutions with a total of 13 employees.

Miriam Logistika’s has invested in the Flash franchise to broaden its service portfolio and develop a complementary new service next to their historically grown specialism in complex ADR shipments.

Premium freight is all about taking good care of client requirements and to that extent there are similarities with ADR shipments who also require a well-managed shipment on the operational execution level.

Additionally, the Flash Brand  will help the company become a more established global player in their local market. Miriam Logistika has recognized that it would take much longer to achieve their goals alone. The ability to join the Brand of a global player is very much facilitated through a professional partnership, with an already established high-end IT system and service capabilities. 

Nenad Kovacic, owner of Miriam Logistika is enthusiastic about the new venture and believes Flash is the perfect partner for them. Mr. Kovacic: “After 4 weeks of intensive training and integration, we went live this week. To have access to this expertise and systems based on many years of market leadership, can only excite us. On top the level of personal support and commitment strengthen and determine us to go at maximal speed for this development mission”