Bernd Sydow , the new CEO of Arva AG , talks about his goals , the most important fields of action and his vision for the next five years.
At the beginning of July 2016, I took over the position as CEO of Arva’s predecessor MOG AG. I would like to use this issue of our newsletter to introduce myself and report on our current activities and strategic planning.
About me
My name is Bernd Sydow. I am from Berlin, married, and have two adult daughters. I have been a passionate mcontrepreneur for over thirty years and have founded and successfully established numerous internationally active businesses in the fields of infrastructure, alternative energy and health care. Today these companies, in which I am predominantly involved as a majority stockholder, are supervised by professional management teams.
In the autumn of last year, I became involved in the company as an investor. As the financial and operative problems increased, and insolvency seemed imminent, the administrative board asked me to take over restructuring tasks and reestablish the company operatively and strategically. To achieve this, I draw on my experience in dealing with difficult corporate situations and in establishing solid, professional corporate structures.
Main topics
Two topics define our current agenda: We want to generate revenue from our operative business activity as quickly as possible and continue to strengthen our team of experts at the same time.
Fields of operation
To do this we have set clear goals and, over the past weeks, implemented a multitude of measures in all fundamental areas.
1. Finances: Accounting and finance are currently being revised. This will ensure professional controlling and simultaneously prepare the creation and approval of last year’s company balance sheet by an accountancy firm.
2. Sales and distribution: To increase sales of our outstanding technologies and services, we are working intensively on new, efficient distribution channels.
3. Markets: We will first concentrate distribution in European markets. Currently, we are focusing on contracts in Germany.
4. International partnerships: To increase our productivity, we are entering into strategic partnerships with companies in Europe, China and the USA. We aim to develop long-term collaborations in individual countries with selected partners already successfully involved in soil remediation. In the future, two-thirds of our activities will take place in Europe.
Product innovation
Particularly promising is the use of the patented Arvox procedure in the environmentally friendly and cost-efficient remediation of contaminated railway beds. Since the beginning of this year, all European railway companies must adhere to stricter environmental regulations. With our treatment, ravel along railway tracks can be thoroughly decontaminated. This method is unrivalled to date and opens up a new, very attractive area of business for us. A presentation of this innovative procedure to high-ranking representatives of European and international railway companies will take place in Switzerland in the coming weeks.
In addition, we will intensify our efforts in cleaning contaminated properties which, due to the use of Arva’s technologies, will be able to undergo development and thus regain their value. Among the target clients in this area are public real estate companies and real estate developers active nation wide.
Our team
Our team consists of small, highly qualified groups of experts, which includes our sales team for Germany and Europe and our engineering team in the Ukraine, our accounting team in Switzerland and our legal department in Zurich. We intend to remain lean, fast and efficient as long we can.
The vision
We see ourselves in five years as an innovative and internationally operating, market-listed company with excellent expertise and outstanding references in soil remediation.
Until then we already have quite a bit to do. I am highly motivated and very confident that, together the team, we will reach the milestones we have set and establish Arva as a leading player in the market.