SPOKEN – Episode 7

 
In this episode we meet GFG’s Chief Financial Officer V Ashok, we hear about a new elearning initiative from the GFG Foundation and catch up on the latest with our Executive Chairman, Sanjeev Gupta.

 

Show Transcript:

JUSTINE GREENE: Hello and welcome to ‘Spoken’ – the podcast for GFG Alliance colleagues across the world. I’m Justine Greene and on this episode, we’ve the latest news from the business, we’ll be meeting GFG’s Chief Financial Officer – V Ashok, also we’ll be hearing how GFG are connecting with millennials, and of course we have questions from you. As always, we’re all joining the conversation remotely. First, let’s catch up with Sanjeev Gupta, Executive Chairman of the GFG Alliance, Hi Sanjeev, how are you?

SANJEEV GUPTA: Hi Justine, I’m very well, thank you.

JUSTINE: Good to hear it! Now, we’ve all been adapting this year to new ways of interacting online and doing business, how have you personally found the experience of giving presentations, for example, to a remote audience rather than in person?

SANJEEV: Actually, quite weird. I’m used to talking obviously, but it’s that interaction you don’t even realize, that interaction with the audience, which really, sort of, helps you direct and tailor what you’re saying and how you’re saying and so on, not having that audience and talking to cameras, it’s very, very strange. I find it quite, relatively quite difficult I must say.

JUSTINE: And I understand you gave a keynote address to the Hydrogen Forum in Australia recently, remotely!

SANJEEV: Yes, it was a good example of me talking to the camera, which is quite weird. But yeah, obviously it’s a subject I’m very passionate about so it comes easy for me to talk about it so I suppose that helped.

JUSTINE: So, talking of hydrogen then, what’s your view of it’s viability in the industry?

SANJEEV: Oh I think, as I was explaining at the Forum, I think it’s a revolution which has started, it’s only at the very beginning but it’s definitely happening, it’s a question of who will grab it, who will lead and where it will really manifest itself fully. I mean I believe that the era of carbon which has dictated the last 200 and fifty years is now coming to an end and hydrogen will be a key part of our future, replacing carbon.

JUSTINE: OK, moving on, we’re hearing about government’s plans to promote a recovery by investing in infrastructure – are you seeing this coming through to the business?

SANJEEV: I think that infrastructure is going to be a core part of tree balancing, which is needed after this pandemic is over. There is demand globally for steel aluminum for all metals, for all products, is definitely impacted and it will take time for this to normalize again. So, the one area in which governments can definitely have a direct impact on demand is by accelerating infrastructure projects. So, in the UK, we have several infrastructure projects already in the pipeline, two in particular, is something, which is going to consume a lot of steel. We have geared up for this already, we have, in Rotherham, we have quite a long time been working on adapting our production there to be able to make products for the infrastructure demand which is set, so there will be over 10 million tons of steel which will be consumed by HS2 and we will position ourselves to supply that. We have adapted our rolling mills to make rear bar, or green-bar, as we call it, given that it is recycled so greenbar. It will take time for new projects to come through because of course you know by the time you imagine a new project or push a new project and it sort of comes into real production as such, really pulling real tons it takes time but it will be important, it will be a critical part of the recovery, which needs to follow from the pandemic.

JUSTINE: Now, Sanjeev I hear there’s further expansion news, you’ve acquired the Duffel Aluminum Rolling Mill in Belgium – what does this facility bring to the business?

SANJEEV: It was a very proud acquisition, it was a rare opportunity, it’s top tier business, one of the best in the world, one of the best mills certainly in Europe, supplying high end automotive sheet for car bodies, for many models of cars, for Audi, for BMW for many top top, top tier OEMs. It lives very close to Dunkirk, so the synergy between two businesses, Dunkirk being our aluminum smelter, the synergy between the smelter and the duffel which will consume part of the aluminum which Dunkirk makes and actually we hoping to do this in liquid, we are hoping to move the aluminum from Dunkirk to Duffel actually in its liquid form so we don’t have to solidify and re-melt it, which will again save a lot of money. So, from many perspectives, it’s a great acquisition for Alvance, it really puts them now with the best smelter in Europe, the biggest smelter in Europe, UK’s only smelter as well and also now Europe’s best sheet business, which is well synergized and well integrated, it really puts them in a premier position, driving towards that whole integrated value chain and also of course driving towards green aluminum because both Dunkirk and Lochaber are both one of the lowest carbon aluminum producers in the world and Duffel also given that it recycles quite a bit of its input, is very much a green aluminum champion, so all these assets now become very much aligned towards an integrated story and also a green aluminum story.

JUSTINE: OK, thanks for now Sanjeev – and we’re meeting our guest next…

JUSTINE: On the line now from Mumbai is V Ashok, Chief Financial Officer for GFG Alliance, hello and welcome to you…

ASHOK: Hello, hello Justine.

JUSTINE: Nice to have you with us, I understand you’re known as Ashok – does the V in your name stand for anything in particular?

ASHOK: Actually it’s pretty funny. I am .. my name is Ashok, that’s all I am known as, V is for father’s name, for some reason everyone in GFG calls me V Ashok, otherwise my name is just Ashok, V is just full name of my father. In India we have a way of putting the father’s name at the front, and then our name, that’s what V is. So V is a lending name, so V dot Ashok, but people call me Ashok, that’s it.

JUSTINE: Well, before we talk business then Ashok, tell us a bit about yourself – what do you do for pleasure when you’re not working?

ASHOK: Well, I’m trying to find out time to get some pleasure, because nowadays is round the clock work, but if I do get time, I like to watch cricket, I’m a huge cricket buff, I love watching cricket and watching Bollywood movies, those are two biggest passions of mine.

JUSTINE: Any new Bollywood movies you’d recommend?

ASHOK: Recently there’s no releases in the last six months because of the pandemic, but I’ve seen a lot on the Netflix and the OTT platforms, I’ve seen some very good ones. A very good movie, Hindi movie, A star movie, is something called Hitchki, it means hiccup, about a lady who has a problem of… who gets hiccup and how she fights life, very interesting.

JUSTINE: Ok, well thanks for that recommendation. So, turning to the business then, you’ve been with GFG for about a year, previously from similar lines of business – tell us a bit about your background….

ASHOK: Before joining GFG I was 23 years, 24 years in a big conglomerate in India as Group CFO, a group called SR, before that, in a small organization in Mumbai but my whole career has been at SR, I’ve grown exponentially, I mean a fabulous growth joining as a very junior manager to the ranks as Group CFO, it’s been a wonderful journey

JUSTINE: And give us an idea of your responsibilities now as CFO at GFG, what do they encompass?

ASHOK: Largely to ensure that the businesses perform, they are adequately capitalized, their cash flows are monitored, the companies have proper governance in place, they have proper structures, we have a proper organization, with right people to mane these organisations and a performance review to ensure that the targets are met, the company does well, their needs are taken care of, the financial needs are taken care of, and most importantly, follow the GFG practice of ensuring that the company stands committed to ensuring that information’s given, the books of accounts are maintained, that’s the main role which I have right now

JUSTINE: Of course, the COVID 19 pandemic hit about six months into your new role, how did you find remote working in a relatively new job?

ASHOK: Actually I came here in February, came to Mumbai in February for official work and never in my wildest dreams I imagined I’d be staying put in Mumbai for the next 7 months! It’s actually not a very ideal environment to work like this, to work across 5 or 6 time zones, it’s pretty difficult, but at the end of the day you accept life the way it is today. I ensure that you motivate yourself, you motivate the team…luckily technology has played a very big role in terms of reaching out to the people, through all forms of technology which we have today, that has helped a lot, but in this difficult times, where the world has been thrown apart, GFG team and all across all functions have performed, the group has done very well to manage this crisis. Every employee should take credit for this, to work in such difficult times, I think that has been the hallmark of success, and a message to everybody, the work that proper teamwork can do

JUSTINE: Good talking with you Ashok, thanks very much for joining us…

ASHOK: Yes, thank you so much, wonderful getting me on the show, it’s nice talking to all of you, and everyone who listens to me, I would like to catch up with all of you at some point of time of the journey, all of you please stay safe and look forward to seeing each one of you very soon. Thank you so much.

JUSTINE: Thanks again Ashok, and we hope to speak with you again here on the podcast. OK coming next, how GFG are connecting with the next generation, followed by your questions for Sanjeev.

JUSTINE: A pipeline of youthful talent is always important for organisations and GFG is no exception. We gave Georgina Crumpton, GFG’s General Manager, just a minute to explain…

GEORGINA CRUMPTON: Hello, I’m Georgina Crumpton, general manager of the GFG Alliance and the GFG Foundation. The GFG Foundation team recently launched our growing suite of Did You Know videos, with accompanying educational resource pack. This is an e-learning based initiative and it was developed to enable us to build a connection with young people who are interested in our industry. Our first Did You Know video focuses on steel recycling, and the journey products made from recycled steel go on. For example, a tin of tomatoes could end up being part of a plane, a stadium or even your next car. If you haven’t done so already, I’d encourage you to watch the video no matter where you work or which part of the business you work in, it’s a fantastic opportunity to learn a little bit more about other parts of the GFG Alliance. The videos are fun and engaging, and easy to understand, so please feel free to share the video and the resources with your family and friends and look out for more videos in the Did You Know Series.

JUSTINE: Thank you to Georgina Crumpton there. OK finally to our questions for Sanjeev then. Sanjeev is still here and as always this is your chance to speak directly to him and ask a question. I’ll tell you how you can ask your question shortly, but in the meantime let’s get our first one….…

TANGENA SULTANA: Hi Sanjeev, it’s Tangena Sultana, from the Group Compliance Team based in London. What is the role of compliance within a multi jurisdictional business like GFG?

SANJEEV: Let me answer that in two ways; I think standards and making sure that we have common standards and well understood standards across the Group is very important for any Group, and adhering to them and complying to them is obviously important. But, I think it’s even more important when you have a group which is so multi-dimensional, multicultured, has such a wide geographical spread across the world, because standardizing processes and having everybody understand them and complying to them is very important so we don’t fall into any, into any wrong turn. And as we now formed these companies into single entities, i.e. for example Liberty globally as one group, one company, rather than separate investments and separate places all ring fenced so they can have their own processes and compliance, now we must have a global exacting standard which we must hold ourselves to, because transparency and governance we have chosen that they will be our key targets and of course compliance is very much a key focus of that.

JUSTINE: Well thanks for that question Tangena. And here’s our next one…

SOFIE DE BUS: Hi Sanjeev, this is Sofie De Bus, Senior HR Manager from the new Alvance business in Duffel, Belgium. The Duffel business has a long and proud history in the aluminum industry, so do you think it is important for new GFG businesses to retain their own personalities or is there a benefit in changing to a GFG way of doing things?

SANJEEV: There is never one solution for anything in life, and I genuinely believe that local cultures, history is absolutely critical, pride in yourself which basically means pride in your past and your present, is also very important for success in life. I would describe it in a slight different way, I would say values are important to be common, we must have our core values as a group, as a family, to be well understood and for us to adopt them, for us to have homogenous and for us all to pull in the same direction in terms of the future. But, of course every local country, every local region, every local business has a long proud history, we are in the business which by its nature is historic, whether it’s steel or aluminum or energy, any of these businesses often have very, very long histories and generations which have worked one after another in those businesses. So, history is very important, local identity is very important but having common values across is equally important.

JUSTINE: Thanks Sanjeev and thanks Sofie for your question. Now here’s your chance – if you’d like to get in touch with a question for Sanjeev, or a comment about the podcast, it’s easy, just drop us an email to spoken@gfgalliance.com, that’s spoken@gfgalliance.com. Right, last time, in addition to the podcast, there was a competition. The question related to my conversation here on Spoken with Port Adelaide team Captain Tom Jonas. What other game did he describe Aussies Rules Football as being like? Here’s a clip from that interview.

CLIP: The closest comparison I can actually think is, for any Harry Potter fan out there, it’s like Quidditch.

JUSTINE: (laughs). So the answer is Quidditch. And the winner, drawn at random from the correct entries is Peter Marr, from InfraBuild Steel Centre in Spearwood, Western Australia. Congratulations Peter, you’ve won a pair of Powerbeats High-Performance Wireless Earphones – so enjoy listening to the podcast on those!
Well finally Sanjeev, until our next podcast, what will you be up to over the next few weeks?

SANJEEV: I will mostly in Europe as I have been for the last several months since the pandemic started. Within Europe there is an ability to move around, there are of course rules which we follow very strictly and precautions we take but within that you can still get around, so within that, I am going to be quite a bit in Europe, there are several things happening in the Group, things are moving quite quickly and I’m very keen to spend time participating in that.

JUSTINE: Sanjeev, good to catch up again, thanks very much for joining

SANJEEV: Thank you Justine, pleasure as always, look forward to the next one.

JUSTINE: Do join us next month when we’ll have more news and comment from across the business. Until then from me Justine Greene, Sanjeev Gupta and all our guests, it’s goodbye.

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SPOKEN – Episode 7