LuxUnplugged Podcast

Thierry welcomes back Franz Fayot, Minister of the Economy, to the second installment of this two-part session. After discussing the roadmap on how the Luxembourg economy should be rebuilt in a forward-looking fashion, they dive into the pillars that will underpin new growth areas, namely space, cybersecurity and supercomputers (also referred to as high performance computing, HPC). Minister Fayot provides further details on why HPC is essential for Luxembourg to make the best use of data in the digital age and how this will allow the country to achieve its own sustainability targets.

Thierry welcomes Franz Fayot, Minister of the Economy, to the first installment of this two-part session. A passionate social democrat, Franz walks Thierry through his socialist and green roots, and what motivated him to join the government just before the coronavirus crisis broke out in early 2020. They dive into the various challenges that he has faced since the outbreak of the pandemic and how he has steered the economy throughout that period. As the Luxembourg economy is emerging again, Thierry asks the minister about the nature of the economic recovery, and how it ties into his long term goal of addressing environmental issues and the need to adopt a circular economy model. Inevitably, they touch on a very important point which is quite unique to Luxembourg: its strong reliance on crossborder workers and the challenges linked to teleworking (or working from home). With workers from neighbouring countries having more flexibility to stay at home (even temporarily), this creates a series of frictions from a tax agreement and social security perspective. Finally, the minister responds to allegations that the Luxembourg government has been too complacent when it comes to attracting new industrial players. The country is indeed attempting to move away from its over-reliance on the financial services industry.

Thierry and Adrien welcome Rolf Sorg, Founder and CEO at PM International, to the show. An entrepreneur running a multi-billion dollar revenue business across the globe, Rolf discusses the genesis of his direct sales company in the early 90's after dropping out of university in Germany. He then explains why nutritional supplement products, PM International's flagship product suite, were less popular more than 20 years ago, and how the market pivoted towards a healthier lifestyle, especially during the pandemic. They further dive into the international success that Rolf's business has achieved thanks to the Luxembourg ecosystem. Finally, Rolf extensively enumerates the benefits of choosing the Grand Duchy for personal and, of course, professional reasons.

Adrien welcomes Fernand Ernster, CEO at Librairie Ernster, to the show. A very acute entrepreneur running an established bookstore brand in Luxembourg, Fernand walks Adrien through the family business history and how it's grown over generations for more than 100 years. Adrien then enquires about the secret ingredients for a brick and mortar bookseller to stay competitive at times when digital marketplaces, such as Amazon, gain a bigger market share in the bookselling business. Before talking about the importance of language diversity in a multilingual country like Luxembourg, Fernand discusses the concept of anchor stores and how businesses like his have turned into an essential frequency bringer in shopping malls. As a key representative of the local economy, Fernand finally provides his views on how he would change Luxembourg if he was given the opportunity to do so.

Thierry welcomes Malik Zeniti, Director at the Cluster for Logistics in Luxembourg (C4L), to the show. Dubbed "Mr Logistics of Luxembourg", Malik walks Thierry through his time at DuPont, a global US chemicals company, and how this enriching experience laid the foundation for his passion in logistics. They then discuss the C4L's mission and how the whole supply chain ecosystem operates in a landlocked country with great ambitions. Subsequently, Malik emphasises on one of Luxembourg's biggest assets, namely Cargolux, a leading air cargo company which services all the continents with its important Boeing 747 fleet. Finally, they discuss the environmental impact of the logistics sector and how C4L members have been actively reducing their carbon footprint thanks to initiatives such as the Lean & Green programme.

Adrien welcomes Enrique Sacau, CEO at Kneip, to the show. They discuss Kneip's role in the Luxembourg ecosystem and how it has been discreetly acting behind the scenes whilst servicing asset managers globally. Enrique then walks Adrien through the importance of being deliberate in the workplace in the context of diversity and inclusion, which goes beyond practices many businesses have adopted so far. Having recently started influencing the company culture, Enrique further dives into the intricacies of such an initiative and how all the stakeholders can contribute to this.

Thierry welcomes Rachel Kent, Partner at Hogan Lovells in London, and Pierre Reuter, Managing Partner at Hogan Lovells Luxembourg, to LuxUnplugged. At a time when a lot of businesses are re-evaluating their strategy when it comes to operating from the UK, Thierry enquires about the decision of Hogan Lovells, a global law firm, to open a new office in Dublin. Then, Rachel and Pierre debate the key advantages of their respective jurisdictions from a regulatory standpoint and how, in a Brexit context, they see London and Luxembourg cementing their links whilst Europe competes for more business leaving the UK. Named as one of the most influential women in European finance, Rachel then walks them through the key innovation initiatives that she's championing in the UK FinTech space in order to retain its global competitive edge (e.g. Kalifa review). Finally, Pierre and Rachel discuss the hot topic of talent acquisition in a world where working from cheaper locations is now widely accepted after the pandemic outbreak.

Adrien welcomes Alberto Dalmasso, CEO and co-founder of Satispay, to the show. They discuss the genesis of Satispay, an Italian electronic money institution, and how Alberto and his co-founders came up with an idea aimed at solving the high transactional cost problems for merchants to process small payments, whilst encouraging end consumers to use their phones to facilitate transactions as opposed to cash. A highly driven entrepreneur, Alberto also walks Adrien through the company's ambitions to disrupt payment systems in other Eurozone countries as they exhibit the same cash payment patterns as Italy. Then, they dive into the whole thought process that led Satispay to choose Luxembourg as their gateway to Europe, most notably due to the country's highly multicultural attributes and the regulator's pragmatic approach towards accommodating the needs of tech companies. Finally, Alberto extensively analyses the positive effects that the Covid-19 pandemic has brought to Satispay and how the brick and mortar merchant ecosystem has adapted in order to service their clientele during lockdowns.

Thierry and Adrien welcome back Steve Collar, CEO at SES, to the show. In this timely follow-up conversation, Steve discusses the huge importance of connectivity in a world where a great number of people have been separated from their loved ones due to Covid-19. Also, he talks about the increase in demand for linear broadcasting (i.e. continuous content streaming) from public broadcasters, especially in Europe, and its root causes. Finally, they touch on SES' longer term innovation projects and the overall outlook for the space industry in Luxembourg.

Thierry and Adrien welcome Luc Provost, CEO at B Medical Systems, to the show. After discussing the recent history of his company following the management buyout, Luc dives into the enormous success he's recently experienced since the first Covid-19 vaccine announcement. He discusses the importance of having an optimised cold chain distribution in light of the disruption that the pandemic has caused for more than a year. They also talk about the different government responses across Europe, and how Luxembourg has distinguished itself by handling the situation very early on. Finally, Luc tells them why Europe needs to bring back manufacturing closer to home and reduce its reliance on the Far East.