CEO interview 11 We have shown once again our A With the shift to more flexible and hybrid ways of working ability to deliver industry leading, as a result of the pandemic, what is Givaudan’s approach? GA The pandemic has brought many opportunities to do purpose-led growth with a things differently, and we’ve wanted to take the learnings and long-term perspective. experiences and turn them into positives for the future. One area is flexible working. Like many businesses, we’ve seen proof of the benefits of having more flexibility while also Throughout 2021, we made a number of strategic acquisitions continuing to balance the needs of the business. The new which fully align to these key drivers. They include DDW, The ways of working adopted during the pandemic increased Color House, a US-based natural colour company. The acquisition touchpoints with colleagues and customers and helped us to enables us to become the number two global player in natural be even more inclusive. colours and continue our expansion into adjacent spaces. In support of our People purpose goal to be a place where we To expand our presence with local and regional customers, as all love to be and grow, and taking the learnings from the well as grow our capabilities in natural perfumes, we acquired pandemic, we have developed a Flexible Working Framework Custom Essence, a US-based fragrance creation house. We also and toolkit to support local HR and sites to implement locally. acquired 25% of b.kolormakeup & skincare’s shares, aligned We will continue to build on the experience and learnings of with our 2025 ambitions to keep expanding in skin care and this period to take forward with us. make-up. This builds on the other acquisitions we have made to support our local and regional strategy including Expressions A How is Givaudan approaching leadership development Parfumées, Fragrance Oils and drom, which have proven and succession planning? to be successful additions to the portfolio. Finally, we agreed GA We have a well-established leadership development a joint venture with Privi India to further strengthen our programme to nurture talent from within the Company, which manufacturing footprint in India and bolster production has been redesigned to reflect our changing business and capabilities for our global speciality fragrance ingredients. ensure we develop leaders with the right skills and behaviours for the future workplace. We also continued to make good progress with our programme to fully integrate acquired companies with Givaudan systems, With our strong focus on succession planning and the quality of processes and organisation. our leaders, where we’ve evolved our senior leadership teams in Fragrance & Beauty and Taste & Wellbeing in 2021, we’ve A We’ve identified digital innovation as a key enabler for our been able to do this from within the Company. 2025 strategy. What were some of the investments made here? GA Yes, we see digital innovation as a key enabler to keep our A Looking ahead to 2022, what will the year bring? customers at the centre of everything we do and support the GA I am excited for the year ahead as we continue to business to meet our ambitious mid- and long-term goals. implement our 2025 strategy and make progress on our purpose targets. While we anticipate further disruptions from the We acquired Myrissi to strengthen our artificial intelligence (AI) pandemic and other supply chains that are not distinct to our capabilities, so we now have an exciting AI tool capable of industry, we have robust plans in place to adapt accordingly. translating fragrances into consumer-relevant colour patterns and images as well as predicting the end consumer’s emotional We take confidence from how we have managed through the response. Helping us to capture digital opportunities for fragrance last two years in continuing to be a resilient business. We have creation in China, we entered into a partnership with Tmall, the a clear plan in place and, combined with the talent and passion Alibaba group’s open business-to-consumer (B2C) platform. of our fantastic colleagues around the world, we remain positive about the year ahead. We also opened a new Digital Space in China, one of the most digitalised of markets, allowing us to leverage transformation opportunities and to support growth with local and regional customers. The dedicated space will enable our digital innovation teams, working alongside regional and local business teams, to identify opportunities and leverage technologies to co-create the products and services of tomorrow. Givaudan – 2021 In a Nutshell