Hi everyone, I'm Nicolola Tangan, the CEO of the Norwegian So wealth fund and today I'm here in real good company with Esther Bett, president and CEO of Novo Nessis, which is one of my absolute favorite companies.

Esther Bett, president and CEO of Novo Nessis, which is one of my absolute favorite companies.

We own 2 and a half% of noviceses which is more than $700 million and uh we are just super excited to have you here Esther.

Thank you very much. Uh and delighted to be here, Nikolai.

>> So um let's just start with the basics.

What what you do?

>> What do we do in Novanesses?

>> Yeah.

>> No one I mean you actually made a beautiful description of whom we are Nikolai.

We are the leading bio solutions company.

We silently touch with our enzymes with our microbes more than two billion people every day.

Enabling a healthier life, enabling a healthier planet and enabling solutions that drive value for our customers.

transforming the way that they produce and the foods that we eat.

>> But by but I mean bio solution, what is it exactly?

>> It's

and what is an enzyme?

>> Uh an enzyme is a protein that acts as a catalyst and uh makes things happen in life.

You make enzymes, I make enzymes, exist in nature.

They develop by nature.

What we do in Noonesses is we bring them up to scale in a professional way.

We help nature to be better through bioengineering through uh very high advanced analytics to strain more than 100,000 li microbes in our libraries and scale up capabilities.

We take solutions inspired by nature and we bring that to scale enabling then value added for our customers.

>> And how do you produce these things?

>> Through fermentation.

Uh we

you got like big tanks and they just you just ferment them.

>> We have big tanks.

It's uh we have really big tanks but we also have tiny tanks.

What it's important is not only the fermentation, it's uh the finishing and bringing the right level of formatting and uh for our customers.

So anyone can ferment.

You you let bread in a in the bag and eventually with mold that's a fermentation.

We ferment at a professional level.

we only get that micro or that protein that you're seeking for with the right level of performance and then we um stabilize it and put it in the right format for our customers.

It's not the same an enzyme that goes into detergent that an enzyme that will enable a biofuel that an enzyme that en that goes into baking or probiotic that will go for gut health or culture that will enable dairy very different types of formats.

>> How many different products do you make?

>> Oh thousands million.

I mean we from the the products uh it depends how you count them.

>> If you count on what we ferment

uh or if you count on the way that we supply to the customer which at the end is the final product because what makes us very unique as a company is our capability to connect customer needs with bio solutions.

M

so we make tailor made solutions specific for our customer and that's that's the combination of not only one solution we make what we call cocktails which is blends of different enzymes or enzymes and yeast that then they will drive the right level of performance at our customers.

>> So what what are the biggest industries you sell into?

We uh are present in um food and nutrition in dairy.

When you eat a yogurt, especially if you eat a high protein yogurt, extraordinary high likelihood that we are there enabling uh the taste, the texture, the palatability and healthiness also with a competitive and high uh reliable way of bringing productivity at our customer.

If you eat bread, we are there enabling the freshness and the moldness with clean label.

when you uh go into bofu you fill up your car well not in Norway mainly electrical here but in the rest of the world or in North America in Latin America in India who's going by bowling in bofuels we will be there when you wash your clothes we will be there on those detergents allowing you to wash at low temperatures that's the beauty of enzymes they are catalytic they don't need high temperature and energy to act so you can wash your clothes at low temperature get that level of cleaniness saving energy and consumers and at the same time bringing biodegradability because our solutions absorbed by nature.

Where do you replace uh kind of fossil based chemical solutions?

>> Everywhere.

Everything we do is uh go back to the fundamentals on answers that nature already developed.

And then we brought chemistry, fossilbased solutions to fulfill the needs of the society.

And now thanks to science and technology, we can master the art of nature and bring the solutions based on nature to fulfill the society needs.

>> How big is this market that you're addressing here today?

We we well we're proud of whom we are.

Uh we

we got the biggest right.

Yeah.

But uh we are I would say you could say we you could look at our market share and say oh we're very proud of our market share.

The way I like looking at it it's addressable market share.

So yes we are have a very strong position on bio solutions but what and if you look at the

so what what is what is your market share?

It's it's good.

Uh it is

you have to give us a number.

Uh it is it is strong.

It is uh in some cases it's a very solid market share the one that we have in some markets we have a very strong position as I said if you look at dairy extraordinarily high level of probability that our solutions are there behind if you look at bofuels extraordinary high level of probability I don't think we talk about market shares specifically but uh um the way we I like looking at it it is the biosolution market it is um 60 billion market and that's including amino acids vitamins, broad range of solutions that you can produce on fermentation.

But I really like to look at the specialty chemicals market which is a trillion dollars market.

>> How fast are you growing?

We're growing a a high single digit

and uh that's also the space that we have put for uh midterm growth uh growth rates to continue to grow above market.

We typically present in markets that they grow at 1 to 2%.

That's the household care market.

But we outgrow two, three, four times the markets that we present.

>> And why do you do that?

>> Because we bring value for our customers.

And uh we grow

I mean competition is trying to do the same, right?

>> We we grow much faster uh than uh than the markets that we present because we are the partners to go with our customers on on bio solutions.

>> But why are you the partner to go?

Why do they want to deal with you?

>> Because we answer their needs through science, through innovation.

We spend 10% of our revenue in R&D.

Yeah.

And then uh we have three we have three three things that makes us unique.

We have a broad range.

We present in more than 30 different markets.

We're global.

We're really good listening to our customer needs

and then we have an amazing R&D machine to translate those needs into answers and then we can bring them to scale.

So when we connect these three that puts in a good position to be the partner for growth for our customers.

Mhm.

We grow by volume mainly.

We also grow a little bit by price, but mainly through volume and we grow by penetrating in the markets that we're in.

We typically are 1 to 5% of the codes of good sold of the products that our customers produce in a detergent, in a bread, in a dairy yogurt, in the biouels.

But we enable significant amount from the value.

You cannot make um microplastic replacement with cheaper microplastics.

You cannot improve the wash at lower temperatures with cheaper surfactants.

This is the type of performance that we provide to our customers.

>> Now, Novenis is the is the merger of two companies, Christian Hansen and Novaimes.

And I think it's kind of fun because those were two companies which I followed when I was an equity analyst and I loved both companies and now you are now you are one.

Now why why um why is Denmark so strong in this industry?

think

there is a culture and a probably a heritage on fermentation

uh embedded on the culture.

I mean actually we just established a partnership with NMA uh the restaurant and who grew through bringing fermentation and the art of fermentation and functionalization of fruit and we have just created a partnership in that direction showing the beauty of fermentation and how we can transform the world.

So there is a a driver of heritage and culture and fermentation.

Then uh there is um strong foundations that continue to uh bring uh the uh reinvest and give back to the society.

we're part of also I mean our main shareholder is also a foundation the noble northeast foundation

and uh we and then there is an extraordinary network between universities

small enterprises big far biioarma companies that one fits the other and creates a h of uh excellence of biotechnology and also competitiveness uh that continues to attract the very best talent in the world

>> what's the advantages of being part of the novo swear so to say.

We are very thankful and maybe that's also to you to have long-term shareholders.

That's a that's a precious um gift

that uh gives us the right and then equips us to be able to make decisions thinking on the long-term value creation.

So we're very thankful for that.

At the same time, this also comes with a responsibility to deliver every day.

But do you get expertise and knowledge through these uh ownership and relationships?

>> Well uh from one side the the the governance uh of the sh long-term shareholders allows you to make the right decisions in the long term and then the foundation network in Denmark it reinvests back into talent.

It creates uh uh the pool also for really good universities.

It createsmemes, small uh companies that they create the network of uh yeah knowledge and understanding that makes it a very attractive place.

But we are a global company.

We're not only present in Denmark and we we have a strong brand in Denmark but we see it growing rapidly also across the globe.

>> Just how does uh regulation work in your industry?

What kind of regulations are holding back your development or spurring them?

>> We we live in a wall uh that and that's very logical.

The regulation that we have it's based on the legacy of the past.

We're leaving and reframing a regulation which is based on chemical fossilbased solutions

and that's the path that we have to go through.

This creates a necessary roadblocks uh on speed of penetration of innovation.

Biosolutions are biological.

They are absorbed by nature.

Still they have to be treated and registered and assessed like solutions that they are not biodegradable.

So we have to go through several steps that they're probably not that adding any value but just delaying the time and some countries are better than others on creating a separate path for bio solutions.

>> Which countries are good and which are bad?

>> Let me give you a couple of examples.

In Europe it takes six to eight years to register a micro to replace a fertilizer.

Wow.

>> In Brazil you can do it in two.

M

in um in uh Europe it can take up to 5 years to register a protein a novel protein which is this is nature but we can bring up to scale through fermentation and give a uh special nutrients or muscle weight recovery faster or given functionalization it takes 5 years in Singapore you can do it in six months

>> what about the US

US in many areas it's faster in in proteins you can do it in a couple of years still you could do it much faster

>> why is it so slow in Europe

um it it takes time to change and we we are here bringing exactly the that voice of the value the hidden potential of uh the untapped potential not hidden it's clear and it's visual and many countries see it

uh plus uh not only of bringing the answers that the society is seeking for but also as a job generation

>> so you and I we met uh in Brussels at the at the EU commission

um how do you how would you characterize the EU uh commission work here.

We speaking the same language.

I hear the language and I hear the I feel the uh understanding that we have as unnecessary level of uh

regulation or the roadblocks.

I'm missing speed.

I'm missing speed on the change and uneffectiveness.

>> But this is just but what you do is just isn't it just like good good.

I mean it's it's healthy.

It's it's healthy.

It's uh environmentally good.

It's

and profitable.

Yeah.

For you, of course, and for us.

But um why would they not just want to stuff your things into everything?

>> And then that not only speaks for uh Europe, it's for everywhere.

It's not only good, good, good.

It's good for the environment.

If you would uh move to its full potential, only the solutions exist today.

We would reduce the CO2 emissions of the planet 8%.

No new solutions only the ones that exist today.

If we would continue untap the potential of bios solutions as it is today that will uh unleash 800 billion economic profit by 2025 35.

This is homegrown solutions.

You don't need chips.

You don't need uh import NAFTA.

It's based on biomass.

So it's local jobs, homegrown solutions that drive and bring value for your customers and fulfill the consumer needs.

Why is not happening faster is exactly what we're bringing as a as a loudly and hopefully constructively

also we see the pull some countries moving faster as you said US is moving China is moving boldly India is moving Europe is making the right noises we need speed

>> can we just um visit one of your factories so uh let's let's visit one of your factories now in in Denmark right

so we go into the door and uh at least say huge factories are they big are they just what are they how big are they

everything is relative I'm coming from the chemical industry uh if you look compared with a cracker we're small if you compare with a bioarm uh biofarma we're big

okay

um

so we come in the door uh does it smell does it smell like

no no uh uh no it doesn't smell

okay and how many tanks do you have I mean like

it will depend on the plan uh but if you go in a site like Kalenborg you would enter and it's big roads with cars and trucks and our our fermenttors they can 300 cubic.

So they're tall.

They would be like a building.

Okay.

And uh

so what's in the tank?

What kind of stuff is in the tank?

It's biomass.

But what is that?

It's carbons.

Uh it's sugars.

Uh it is nutrients for the cultures.

I see a curiosity.

So what does it mean fermentation?

>> So does it like bubble in there?

Does it like

>> So when you enter in the plant, you would see lots of pipes, lots of It's like a plant, an industrial plant.

And you will see at the very end uh a big fermenttor that by the way it's not on the street it's close

because uh and also the especially I mean you have to think we're making solutions for biofuels but for food so they are uh have fulfilled all the requirements for the different broad range of markets

and this stuff you have how long is that inside the tanks?

uh those are batch processes.

Uh the the processes can be from uh one day to two days.

The batch uh fermentation processes that's the fermentation.

But then afterwards you go through the whole process of separation.

So separating the biomass the microbes from the enzymes and the proteins.

That's when we produce protein.

When we uh uh with the product that we sell it's cultures then uh it's a much smaller tanks and it goes directly as a culture as the answer.

Am I am I confusing you?

>> Not not at all.

Oh, it's

so we make we always do the same.

We ferment.

We feed sugars to the little bugs.

Beautiful bugs.

And then the microbes can be the answer.

Like when we what we sell in dairy for fermentation or bio energy, the yeast or we like the product that the micros will make during the fermentation which is the enzymes or the proteins and then need to be separated.

>> So the bigger the tank, the more profit you make because it's cheaper per unit you produce.

It depends.

Microbes, they need smaller tanks because the answer, the product is the microbes.

So, we want those microbes to be healthy, to be nice, to be alive and fruitful for when they are supplied to our customers.

When the product is the protein, then we like big tanks to be uh to have uh that fermentation and at the end of the life of the batch process, then is when we separate.

>> So, do you sell these things in small bottles or boxes or

>> We do everything.

We sell them to little tiny pots to really big uh uh uh containers that they would be shipped uh and supply directly to our customers and pluck and plate.

>> So for if I brew beer, I need some of your things, right?

>> If you do breer, we would use our yeast or you would use also our our our microbes or you would use our enzymes.

You would use a combination of all our products to ferment or to to bring that level of functionalization.

If you make a non-alcohol beer, you will like the enzymes to be able to help you on that process beyond the physical process that you use.

>> Do you eat a lot of these things yourself?

>> I do and I love it.

What kind of thing?

What kind of things do you eat?

>> I mean, we don't eat what we produce.

We eat the probiotics.

Ah, the probiotics.

Yes.

Probiotics.

Probiotics I do take.

Yes.

And

so what kind of things you eat?

Uh that you produce?

>> What we what we produce?

The only thing we consume exactly when we produce is the probiotics.

Uh that we supply bulk.

Some customers they would sell the probiotics but we also produce probiotics that uh in US uh we have a group of uh we can sell directly to the practitioners uh in in mainly in US or in in in some other channels.

What do I eat?

I would eat the yogurts that our customers produce.

I would eat the bread, uh the beer, I mean, uh sausages,

and I would also use the detergents.

I would also bring in well, I have an electrical car, but uh I would also put bofuels when we travel abroad.

Uh and uh and we will use all the detergent I uh the products that we use somehow embedded there.

>> Okay.

So, let's say now I'm a baker and then I go to see you and I say, "Hey, should we can you help me to make a good bread?"

Yes.

So do you go into your library then and look at all your different cultures and discuss it or how do we do it?

>> Most first we will look at what we have available and and um the magic here it is what is what you want to achieve.

You want to bring a a spongability foamness freshness.

You want to make less sugar added less salt with always without compromising cost.

M

everything we bring in it's value added for our customers a given feature but the final formulation needs to be still competitive for the consumers.

We will ask what is that you need and then we would play uh most probably will be with existing answers that we already have combined in a different way tailor made for you.

Maybe it's a completely different need and then we'll go through the innovation machine and yes look at our strains our libraries and bring in the engineering that we will produce that exact protein that you're looking that exact enzyme that you see.

>> So when we go into your library what does your library look like?

Is that bottles or is it like

>> It is uh it is in the freezer actually.

Uh and uh and uh um the beauty of our libraries.

How big how big is your library?

I mean

I mean we have 100,000 uh uh strains in our libraries.

They are not all in one in one place.

And um the beauty of it it's like a library actually.

It's the same.

It's not a bunch of books.

It's how they are structured and how they are organized what makes it valuable.

Same as you go to a library.

is not only that they have a ton of books is that they can find exactly the one that you're looking for in a very fast way.

That puts us in a very good place also to embrace AI.

A AI is a a tool.

It's how you feed it.

What makes it powerful?

The fact that we have all our strains perfectly documented and organized and we can link them to the performance of those proteins on those microbes at the field.

That's the power when we combine this one that through advanced analytics we we accelerate and we unleash the value that we can produce.

>> So one of the reasons why I think um you have such a fantastic company is because what you produce is a very small part of the cost of the end product, right?

So what would that be on average?

So let's say now I'm a brewer or I'm a baker or I'm a detergent maker.

So the stuff I buy from you, how much would that cost?

>> Typically it's 1 to 5% of the cost of goods sold.

uh but yet a big enabler of the value that I'm a customer

it decides the characteristics of your product or the product

it will bring uh uh in a dairy product will bring the palatability the taste the texture the the and also improves yield and efficiency in baking it will define the sponginess in detergents it will define the brightness the cleaniness the the freshness

in biouels is what enables them to produce with

>> how difficult is it for the clients to change products then if they started to go with your product

um I think the question is why should they change

uh you have to give them a reason of why would they change

why would they change then

only if you mess up

uh we have to continue to invest on u capacity

typically every year we grow 2 to 5% on more volume simply by productivity simply by improving the way that we produce simply by improving those trains but then we outgrow our capacity to grow by productivity and we investing to be there the partner of growth for our customers

so why would they change a reason would be if we cannot supply once they make once they change you have to be there reliably for them

how much turnover do you have amongst your clients

we we have

long-term uh cast I mean stable relation

so so for inance you do you do what is called cheese renet right so which charact which is the characteristics of the cheese so for instance do you do yalssburg do you supply the yalssburg cheese are you the yalssburg people

yalssburg

it's a Norwegian

I would assume we do but I'm very sorry to say I don't know I can tell you many and typically also we don't say

how many cheeses how many cheeses do you do

we we enable the cultures for our customers to do cheese and in cheese we are in a extraordinary good place to supply our customers um we so to your question on rotation once we go into a customer

we stay

because actually it's the opposite we stay we start small and then is when we start talking how can we help you more

I'll go on the example of dairy uh we enable your uh yogurt or cheese to be produced but then um and that we bring through cultures and then it comes with high protein and we can help you with enzymes and make that texture that flavor but then also that product is more available then maybe we can give you some good cultures that prevent bad cultures forming

uh fungi to be to be to be preservatives but natural preservatives.

>> Okay.

So now I'm a cheese factory.

I have uh I'm buying your uh you know your renet.

Uh I'm very happy with my cheese.

Now what do you do with the prices you charge me because you have brought in a new kind of price discipline into the company.

I believe

we've always been very good when you say a new new price discipline.

Thank you for that.

But uh let me just paddle back here.

We have been always very good at pricing.

you don't have 25% EBIT margin or 37% EBIT the margin if you don't understand the value that you bring in and you don't price it correct what we have brought as a discipline

and just just to explain the EBIT margin that's basically how much what percent of sales that you have as profits

yes thank you

and you so every so when you sell 100 you basically keep 25 as profits

we we thought now that I'm was talking about the legacy nozza uh company now at where we are we measure ourel at ibida margin but that we are on the space of 37% but that's a great description of how you're doing.

So pricing we've always understood the value that we bring for our customers and this is a relation a conversation based on trust.

We understand the value and then we price that is no value for them and no value for us because what we want to do is grow.

What we have changed in the company and that's the the spin that you were hindering Nikolai

it is we have this conversation every year.

So not only when we launch it's as the price as the life of the product continues to move in we continue to revitalize this conversation.

M

so the pricing has moved from 1 to 2% erosion on the legacy nozzymes to 1 to 2% contributor of revenue growth

simply by bringing the revitalization of price of the existing products and having that conversation of fair share of value with your customer once the contracts expire.

Am I

you touched briefly on AI.

How is AI changing the way you work?

We we have been uh

playing with AI since ever since even before it was called AI uh on on R&D on the way that we uh develop on the way that we uh uh bring the bioengineering and the the screening of the strains.

Just to put you one example few years ago to uh to define the shape of a protein of an enzyme that's what defines the performance an enzyme that cleans the strain it's because it gets touch the strain and takes it out.

It's the shape the ones that defines how effective it's going to be.

Changing an amino acid from the chain it makes a difference on the protein.

One year ago, few years ago, one amino acid change to predict the shape of the protein, it could take one year of lab data.

Today, with advanced analytics and because we have all the data, you press in the computer and in few seconds, less than a minute, you can predict the shape of the protein.

So, this means a speed on the way that we uh screen solutions, we develop them and we bring them to scale.

what we are uh and and we continue to be on top of the technology and we continue to bring this uh on the way that we run in R&D maybe what it's changing in the company it's also how do we bring AI on the way we interact with our customers how do we do modeling how do we interact how do we uh sample how do we capture the insights from the customers that we feedback into organization how we continue to improve even productivity even further with AI so those are areas that we growing and we also embracing uh moving forward

>> and when you look at the map for your R&D development going forward what are the type of solutions that you can see which we are not having now

we we have uh so we're very pleased on where we are and then we have solutions ready to bring carbon capture we have solutions ready for make plastic recycling we are very excited about the untapped potential of high value specialized proteins that will bring uh different answers for the nutritional needs, high muscle weight recovery, proteins that will boost the muscle weight, proteins that will be for special uh patient needs that they have um some troubles of digesting one proteins and providing another ones.

We have um we see really tremendous potential on helping biioarma on how to boost productivity by making the right enzymes that we're not pharma, we're not pharma, but we can help pharma.

But what do you which of these do you think will be big blockbusters?

So for instance on plastic you know uh breaking down plastics

sounds like a good thing to have.

It does.

It is and uh uh I wish the So your question is which would be wood blockers?

I wish they will be all and the answer is they all will be maybe the right answer is when

maybe that that's good question when will they be?

So when will it be?

That depends mainly on regulation.

M

uh regulation can help.

We're okay with the regulation that we have today for the solutions that we have today.

But for the really unleashing the potential and moving these new alternatives faster, regulation could be an accelerator.

It also would depend on the rest of the steps of the value chain that need to happen.

We can there is enzymes that break PT back on the building blocks and you can't recycle it infinitely with lower use of energy.

Somebody needs to build a plan and somebody needs to collect also that PT to be able to be recyclable.

So there are uh milestones that need to happen outside of our space that they define the speed.

What we do here is we only invest further when the market is ready.

I'll give you a very an example showing the tempo.

Biomass for bioethanol.

10 years ago we had answers already for making biomass for bioethanyl but the market was not ready the technology to bring biomass into bioethanol was not there took 10 years to develop and now we see those plants we see them in Brazil we see them in India Japan is even talking about that so that's that's the level of timing that we're talking about

changing uh topic a bit here and moving on to uh to leadership you were 25 years in Dio chemicals

what did you learn there which you have brought to nonis

I learned the power of the an it is uh it is about yes delivering the results it is doing with the right ethics it is not at any price and uh it is looking at all the lines of the P&L um the financial tools it's not only about growth it's also about how healthy that growth is it's also about cash flow and then it's also on how we do it I also learn being

the joy of being in a broad multinational company

where different voices are being there and um and and those are gifts that I'm very thankful I had the privilege to grow in organization like that.

What are you doing better ines than than what DA is doing?

I I I like to think what are we doing in Novanesses that I like and uh what I what I do love what we're doing in Noanis is we are creating a category.

We are creating the platform

of a new way of how the world is going to produce and the foods that we're going to eat.

And um and we're doing that through science.

We're doing that through technology.

We're doing that with the trust of the shareholders like you.

But also I would like to say we're doing it with a lot of pride.

Uh the the employee engagement um it's extraordinary strong.

The the the pride of what we're doing.

that

why is your employee engagement strong?

>> I can tell you why I'm engaged and uh also maybe what I'm what I'm feeling about the the organization.

It is a seamless

continuity between uh your personal values and what we do.

We are enabling a healthier lives and a healthier planet and we're growing.

It's also joy and grow on being successful.

And you do feel you're changing the world.

you do feel you're in an inflection point.

>> So that all sounds great, right?

But now I'm working in your I'm working in your factory.

I'm cleaning your tank between each batch, right?

That's my job.

I put on my suit.

I'm cleaning the walls of the tank.

Uh you know, why do I think it's great?

Uh I

I would like to think that because you understand that what you do it's important and

how do you make and how do you make me understand that?

We explain it and we thank we say a lot of thank you.

uh we we because when if you're not cleaning the tongue right that performance of that good it's not going to be there and we won't be able to supply our customer with the right time with the right delivery and we're going to uh uh uh miss uh a big opportunity in the market.

>> Do you think you say more thank you than other companies?

>> I I I know I like saying thank you

because I just it just struck me that perhaps we are not thanking our people enough.

Um I I enjoy I I like it.

It it it's it's fulfilling saying thank you.

Um and I like also explaining it.

Now we just launched the strategy.

Strategy is only lights if it doesn't mean anything for people.

So we're spending a lot of time sharing it.

Uh we're spending a lot of time sharing the strategy from different angles.

It's not only the corporate view, the business view, the geographical look that that everybody understands not only the strategy but what does it mean for me?

Why am I contribute?

If I am in manufacturing, I make a difference because I'm making those products be there and that's the impact I make to the world.

If I am in finance, I'm bringing the dress.

If I am in supply chain, I'm if I'm in R&D, I'm developing them so that everybody feels that pride of how we contribute

to the full machine.

>> How would people characterize your leadership style?

>> You'll have to ask them.

Uh um definitely you'll have to ask them.

I I I I hope they would say I'm good making questions.

I hope they would say it's fair and courageous.

Um it's the heart to decouple what is your leadership type and also what is you as a person.

They go a little bit together.

I I I thrive in an environment where I surround myself with people who is better than me.

I love uh uh being challenged constructively.

>> But are you tough?

>> Um define tough.

Well, if people don't perform to your standards, what do you do?

>> I am demanding.

Yes.

Uh because I think we deserve high standards.

I think you deserve high standards.

I think our customers deserve high standards.

But also um we embrace failure.

We are an R&D company.

We are science company.

Of course, we fail.

That's R&D.

Otherwise, it would not be innovation.

It would be physics.

uh we know that we're going to fail but we just have to fail fast.

We have to learn from those failures and we have to move on.

>> Who who have been uh instrumental in shaping you as a leader?

>> Everybody uh that

this is not this is not one uh

this is this a very good question but uh I don't think that's one single way.

I've got ex I've been extremely fortunate

uh first to be grown up in an environment where values were very important.

So that's maybe the seat that is inside

from your family.

Yes.

What did your parents do?

>> Um my my father uh work in tourism and my mom uh did many things many what some of them was taking care of five kids uh which was a full full house and it was the worst probably of

where were you in where were you in the arrange there?

The oldest the oldest and the worst as my mom used to say.

Well, what's driving you now then?

>> Curiosity, change, impact.

We

I'm I'm an engineer, chemical engineer.

So, it's this I need to understand, but I also did an MBA.

Uh so probably it's a engineer brain with a commercial heart.

And it's the combination of both things on uh understanding, learning, eager of of bringing new dots, embracing new questions, but then making them practical and translate them into value uh creation.

>> And how is it to be Spanish and running?

Well, I mean, it's a global company, but it's quite Danish as well, right?

Yeah.

So, how is it to be sp to be Spanish and running Danes?

I I've only been Spanish and Catalan and running then.

So I don't know how it's not to be uh it's good.

I would say it's fine.

I mean I I never look at it on how is it to be from one country in the other.

It's more how is it being in the team?

Uh how do you feel with a team that you are in and that where you're from?

It's not so important.

It's more whom you are as a person.

What do you bring to the group?

>> But what does it mean to be Catalan?

I mean you mentioned it yourself.

>> Probably it's a little bit stubborn.

that comes a little bit with the nationality.

Uh the language, this funny accent, uh also means that brown hair, uh dark hair, and black eyes.

Some jeans that you can help.

>> Are you uh a different leader now than you were when you were younger?

>> You have to ask my husband.

Uh uh but I would like to to for him to say that I'm the same person, older, more wrinkles, uh but uh person not change leader, you learn, you grow.

I mean you you cannot call yourself when 30 years ago uh in the job that I had with the one that I have now but as a person as an individual I hope I haven't changed that much as a leader of course you grow you grow with the job you learn with the job you you hopefully become better with time

what's the corporate culture like in noises

we uh have a culture that um

we care of each other but we also So care care is broader than just care of each others.

We care about the planet.

We care uh about uh how we how in the society that that we belong.

We also have a curious culture uh a culture that we um want to challenge each other.

We have a culture or we want to continue to have even a bolder culture on accountability on uh embracing failure a culture of uh saying no that doesn't go very strong with our culture we're working on that on saying no or saying yes but later uh it is very important when you have so many opportunities in bio solutions our biggest threat is if we don't prioritize right because there's so many things we can do so for that means a yes and also needs to mean a no or yes later.

>> Given that you're a Danish company, do you have a lot of hig?

Yes.

Sometimes uh you you mentioned before uh what people says when comes into your office when people comes to headquarters say oh people smiles a lot here.

You guys laugh.

It's like yeah why not?

It's supposed to be fun also as you are working.

We do work a lot.

Uh but I also like to have some joy as we working.

So like um cinema buns that we draw that kind of stuff.

No, this is not cinnamon buns.

It's uh looks very professional.

But there is there's a very nice Danish design with the lamps.

You can tell you're in a Danish uh company around the globe when you go to Shanghai, when you go uh when you in US, when you in Latin America, there is this you can tell uh the corporate culture and the Danish beautiful warmth.

Were the two cultures were the two cultures different from uh Novas and Christian Hansen?

Of course, there were many similarities um the legacy uh Danish but more importantly the similarities on the values

uh and the purpose making the world a better planet.

one with cultures, the other one with enzymes, but there are also areas that they were that we need to continue to to I wouldn't say uh put them.

But the way that we drove it, it's this is the culture that we're going to go through.

We had one year to prepare between signature and closure thanks to the beautiful process.

So that also gave us time to prepare the culture.

And we asked the 10,000 employees, what is important for you?

what do you want to take home to the noonesses

and what would you be willing to let go?

So B and those answers were not necessarily the same uh in both uh similar but not 100% the same from both legacy companies.

So then we created the breadcrumbs from how do we go from where we are to where we want to be in Noonesses.

The culture of Noonesses is not legacy one or legacy another one.

It's the culture of Noonesses the one that we're creating.

>> How do you relax personally?

>> I cook, I eat, I read.

What do you read?

>> Actually um not very my my husband says very boring books.

Um now I'm living the reading the life of Jeniskan.

Um I um I like reading ancients also or uh a little bit of um I I I read boring stuff probably uh for most of the people but for me it gives me peace.

It puts me in a in a space of completely I like people reading about lives of other people.

I like reading about thoughts of other people.

>> What can we learn from Jenis Khan?

He many things we don't want to learn.

uh but uh actually he

pretty amazing guy right

from his I mean what I what I was amazed is that he saw so rapidly that for growing so fast he needed to embrace the people that he was the countries he was concurring

and he had to bring them in his organization

just some horses.

Yes.

Tiny horses on top, short legs horses.

Uh it's simply impressive.

Also, the way that he embraced diversity, he didn't care.

It was the burn the very first places that you had uh all religions sitting in the same culture, same organization, no problem because they were all part of something bigger which was the Mongol Empire.

So there are um there are some cool learnings.

I don't think I don't think that book sounds boring at all.

What what do you cook?

>> Uh I I cook mainly Mediterranean food.

Uh I cook every day with home every day when I'm not traveling.

So we we we cook normal stuff but then I like cooking

nice stuff also uh from when I have time more time and that will be mainly fish.

I really like I like fish more than meat.

Uh but also um things that look beautiful and they take a lot of time to cook and you eat very fast.

>> Good.

What do you when do you wake up in the morning?

>> I wake up very fast.

I am not a very good uh wake up person morning person.

I wake up and then in 15 minutes, 20 minutes I'm out of the road.

Uh typically it depends on when I take a flight or when I don't take a flight.

But I wake up when the alarm clock sounds.

Uh and if it doesn't sound I don't wake up.

I can sleep a lot.

What is your

what is your advice to young people?

>> Don't give up.

Um keep bringing your voice.

I uh one of the beauty of this CU being a CEO is it gives you access to forums different places.

I I I like being exposed to youth through the world economic forum or B team or different frameworks outside of our organization

and I like being challenged and and and listening and and being on those dialogues.

I would if I had an ask, it's not advice, it's an ask.

Don't give up.

Keep bringing your voice.

But then also if I had another ask would be give us the benefit of the hope companies

that we're doing our best.

Um it's good to vent.

Maybe you have millions of reasons to be probably you have many reasons to be angry.

I'm not challenging them.

Please keep venting.

Keep complaining.

We deserve that.

But then also seek for the bridge on how we can do it together.

And um and we're learning uh also with their voices.

And we we we need to continue that to be there.

>> What would you say to youth?

>> What I say?

Oh my I mean you know run towards problems uh learn all the time uh all these kind of things.

Travel spend money traveling.

Uh you know have fun with friends and family.

So all these kind of things

make a family think about the future.

Uh you have to be thinking about

yeah a better future uh ahead of us.

And sometimes I feel that that's not really the there embedded for all the youth.

There is this little bit thing that oh this we're not going in a good place.

That's not that's not that's only going to happen if we think that that's going to happen.

That's not going to happen if we believe a different path.

Erh you and nominations clearly is making the world a better place.

And I hope all the all the listeners understand why we totally love this company.

It's been great having you on.

Truly pleasure.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Mhm.