“We want to reinforce our presence in the country”

Salim Mokhtari is the face of Kenvue in Portugal. Oversees all aspects of the organization’s operations, including strategic development, growth initiatives, and joint business partnerships with clients. The manager who holds a master’s degree in Marketing and Sales Operations from the National School of Management at Ibn Tofail University, in Morocco, and a specialization in Strategic Thinking and Leadership at the Wharton School, tells Jornal Económico that the objective is to reinforce the investment and presence in Portugal, where it employs a hundred people, who are part of the Southern Europe team. In this region, the multinational has more than 2,000 employees, corresponding to 10% of its global workforce.

Kenvue, a former Johnson & Johnson business area from which it was separated in August 2023 (the IPO on the New York Stock Exchange was completed on May 4, 2023), is the largest personal care and consumer health company in the world. world, in recipes, owner of centuries-old and iconic brands such as Johnson’s, Listerine, Neutrogena, Piz Buin and Tylenol. It operates in around 165 countries and in fiscal year 2023 recorded net sales of US$15.4 billion.

Kenvue announced its full separation from Johnson & Johnson in August 2023, creating the world’s largest personal care and consumer health company by revenue. Does Portugal have a life of its own in the Kenvue universe?

Yes. In Portugal, our commitment goes beyond simply offering products. It is fueled by the goal of realizing the extraordinary power of daily care. Whether promoting health, providing comfort or supporting personal journeys, our brands embody our dedication to improving the quality of life of the Portuguese community. As we continue to lead in multiple categories, our focus continues to be on offering products that meet consumers’ unique needs, reinforcing our status as a trusted company at every stage of their lives.

What is Kenvue in Portugal in business and jobs? Where is located?

We are market leaders in most of the categories in which we operate, namely in topical allergies, total body moisturizers (including body, hand, foot and lip moisturizers), sun care products, oral nicotine replacement therapy solutions, diarrhea, heartburn , mouthwashes and child hygiene. Following our market strategy, you will find our products in practically every Portuguese home. Our iconic brands accompany millions of Portuguese citizens in their daily lives. In Portugal, we have a fantastic team of around 100 kenvuers who share the same passion for knowledge, innovation and desire to make an impact. They belong to the brand’s Southern European team, with more than 2,000 employees, which represents around 10% of the global workforce of 22,000 people.

What role is reserved for the country in this new chapter of the brand after the separation from Johnson & Johnson?

While Kenvue may be a new name, our brands have a history spanning over a hundred years. We are proud of our history of more than 135 years of impacting people’s lives in meaningful ways through our iconic brands such as Johnson’s, Kompensan, Cegripe, Listerine, OGX, Nicorette, Neutrogena and many others, which have become an essential part of daily routine of people. This perspective of placing the needs of our consumers at the center of our research and development was our motivation to develop several solutions in our renowned brands in Southern Europe, such as Nicorette, essential for quitting smoking, as well as in Portugal, through well-established and trusted brands including Cegripe, Imodium, Listerine, Carefree, Kompensan and Johnson’s. We are, therefore, intrinsically integrated into the structure of daily routines with the best solutions.

Is the parent company satisfied with the performance of the Portuguese subsidiary?

At Kenvue, we face the future in Southern Europe with great enthusiasm, as it is a strategic region for the company. Here, we have a strong team that shares a common passion for knowledge, innovation and impact. We operate five factories in Southern Europe, allowing us to deliver our iconic brands not only across the 18 countries in our region, but also in other parts of Europe. In Southern Europe, we are the first choice in many product categories and continue to increase our market share in several markets, including Portugal, where our performance is in line with the Southern European region.

What investment plan do you have for Portugal?

We are adopting a strategic approach to both our brands and our team, with the aim of growing in the country. We believe in our brands and that is why we continually invest in a healthy and courageous way in their success and growth, with self-financing and a strategic approach to maximize the impact of our resources. Looking ahead to 2024, our main objective is to reach more consumers, free up resources to invest in our brands and promote a culture of performance and impact. The positive response from the Portuguese market highlights the effectiveness of our strategies and the resonance of our brand in this evolving scenario. We remain committed to continuing this success and further solidifying our presence in Portugal and beyond its borders.

What is the expected growth for the region in which Portugal is located? Is the country keeping up with this pace?

In Portugal, we lead categories such as topical allergies, total body moisturizers (including moisturizers for the body, hands, feet and lips), sun care products, oral nicotine replacement therapy solutions, diarrhea, heartburn, mouthwashes and children’s hygiene.

We are fully committed to offering the most innovative and scientifically proven self-care solutions to our Portuguese consumers and will continue to put our excellence in execution mindset into practice to win over more consumers and provide them with the power of daily care.

How will the next chapter of consumer health be written?

We incorporate quality and safety into every step of our processes to consistently provide our consumers with high-quality, safe and efficient products, many of which are recommended by healthcare professionals. We bring with us a wide portfolio of iconic brands that people grew up with, such as Johnson’s, Kompensan, Cegripe, Listerine, OGX, Nicorette and Neutrogena. Several of them are brands that are in first place in their categories in markets around the world. These brands have been part of our daily routines for years, and as Kenvue, we have an even more determined focus on innovation to continue providing consumers with new and improved ways to care for their health.

Collaborating closely with various health and consumer organizations, we will continue to invest in understanding trends, demands, regulations and social challenges so that we can continue to better respond to consumer needs. With these goals, I am confident that within five years, we will have made significant progress together and will continue to be well-positioned as a leader in consumer healthcare.

How is the personal care and consumer health sector facing societal challenges with automation and so-called artificial intelligence?

Human health is inseparably linked to environmental health, and as the world’s largest health and personal care company by revenue, our commitment to everyday care extends to the planet we call home. In this sense, Kenvue is committed to its mission Healthy Liveswhich aims to create healthy people, enrich a healthy planet and reinforce healthy practices.

Within the three pillars of the mission Healthy Lives, we are focused on nine priority themes and have defined goals and commitments to hold ourselves accountable and help drive the positive impact we aim to create as the largest health and personal care company in the world. Kenvue plans to share progress against its goals and commitments in its first Mission Report Healthy Lives in June 2024.

Plastics are one of the priority topics we are focused on. We follow a circular design approach, analyzing the impact our products and packaging have on every aspect of our global value chain, throughout their lifecycle, and considering everything from the origin of our materials to the end of production. its useful life. We innovate with sustainability in mind and, through optimizing, reusing and standardizing materials, we have managed to reduce the use of virgin plastic packaging across our portfolio. Aligned with the principles of the circular economy, Listerine, for example, launched its new recyclable PET bottles made from 50% recycled plastic (PCR), with a transparent lid and washable stickers on the labels.

Overall, how does Kenvue position itself in terms of ESG criteria and how does it evaluate its performance?

Human health is inseparably linked to environmental health, and as the world’s largest health and personal care company by revenue, our commitment to everyday care extends to the planet we call home. We are promoting sustainability across all of our operations – from product and packaging design to material sourcing, manufacturing and transportation. In this regard, at Kenvue we have what we call our mission Healthy Lives, which strives to create healthy people, enrich a healthy planet and maintain healthy practices. This means working to promote the well-being of the communities in which we operate, making responsible and renewable choices to help safeguard the health of the Earth, and promoting a culture of integrity, ethics and transparency.

At Kenvue, we follow a circular design approach, analyzing the impact our products and packaging have on every aspect of our global value chain, throughout their lifecycle, and considering everything from the origin of our materials to at the end of its useful life. We innovate with packaging sustainability in mind and, through eco-friendly design, lightness, reuse and standardization of materials, we have successfully reduced the use of virgin plastic and improved availability for recycling. Innovative packaging that consumes less, refills more or recycles easily, in line with the principles of the circular economy, has largely integrated our approach. Listerine, for example, has launched new 100% recyclable packaging made from 50% recycled plastic (PCR), with a new transparent lid for easier detection at recycling centers and new washable self-adhesive labels that leave no residue, for better recycling.