As the chief finance officer at BIC, Sabrina Maggio is responsible for providing market insights and supporting Supply Chain Management for BIC. As a CFO for over three years, she held various roles, including operations and ERD controlling, new business evaluation, price and costing, and internal controls over the years.
How does the pandemic have affected the role of the CFO in the financial service industry?
After the disruptive impact of COVID, followed by the supply chain crisis, the role of finance business partners and CFOs has changed significantly. This change has brought an evolution in the communication role between CFO and internal clients. Amid this critical environment, the value a CFO can add is to anticipate and develop realtime adjustments and quick reflexes for a range of possible scenarios.
To add value to the approaches taken against the challenges, the CFOs must have a thorough understanding of the business model and be able to communicate the financial information clearly and concisely. I see an evolution of the CFO as a powerful leader for the people within the organization.
What are the economic and ecological challenges plaguing businesses from sustainability and growth?
The economic and ecological challenges are aligned and affect the company’s cash margin and environmental footprint. The economic challenges, including inflation and supply chain disruptions, can be dealt with by increasing decentralization and local sourcing. Similarly, businesses can implement risk management and improved eco-efficiency strategies to reduce their environment footprint. To address both these challenges, companies require powerful data architecture and necessary KPIs to support the financial system to find a sustainable solution. The strategies to protect product margins and ensure resource availability are aligned with the strategy to improve cost efficiency and reduce environmental footprint.
Innovation can also play a significant role in designing products that are cost-effective and sustainable while positively influencing both economic and ecological KPIs. However, investing in powerful data architecture is also necessary for sustainable development, which will allow companies to find the right KPIs and scientific data.
How do you ensure sustainable business growth in your organization?
I consider the finance sector as the point of intersection in the organization, connecting cross-functional teams and the entire organization while also assisting the end-to-end business process. We work as an effective channel that streamlines information and maintains alignment, ensuring that all members are aboard.
We must establish a synergistic arrangement among the functional teams, integrated technologies, and sustainability department to curate a framework that ensures sustainable business growth and maintains financial stability.
According to the modernized workflow, the CFOs require technical and professional skills combined with a deep understanding of the business and a connection with the external environment maintaining a strategic mindset. We realize that understanding business is the key to identifying the correct KPI and ensuring a proper follow-up of the desired growth trajectories.
Can you share a specific project or experience that has empowered the financial posture?
At BIC, one of our key strategies has been to shift from a product-driven to a consumer-driven organization by adapting to the evolving challenges and implementing new approaches. To support these efforts, we worked closely with the global supply chain and operations teams to design financial scenarios that support decision-making and risk management.
“The strategy is to prioritize the understanding of the stakes because we need to understand business to understand challenges”
BIC’s roadmap for reducing its carbon footprint focuses on three axes: product, packaging, and reduction of CO2 emissions. The product life cycle analysis can summarize the carbon emission stats and help develop durable products using minimal raw materials for both product and its packaging, resulting in sustainable business growth.
In 2018, we launched our "Writing the Future Together" program to formalize our commitments to plastic and packaging reduction in 2020, with our Horizon strategic plan.
During the pandemic in 2020, our partnership with the global supply chain was effective in helping us avoid business disruption and protecting our product margins. We were able to anticipate the impact of the crisis on our finances and developed cost-reduction plans and pricing strategies that were responsive to the changing market dynamics.
In 2021 and 2022, we faced new challenges related to the inflation of raw materials and transportation costs, but we overcame them by developing new efficiency measures across the end-to-end manufacturing process. Through effective communication and storytelling, we have been able to explain our approach to the market and maintain our competitive advantage.
What are the future technologies in financial services that you are optimistic about?
Though I acknowledge the impact of digitization in the financial sector, for overcoming challenges, and achieving the desired growth, the prime focus should be on the planning process. We as an organizational unit should realize that current technological advancements will help us to facilitate production planning, which is the foundation of financial architecture.
Lastly, in a world where conventional methodologies are considered outdated, businesses with integrated technologies can achieve an accelerated workflow; maximize growth opportunities as long as one has a concrete base framework.
What is your advice for other senior leaders and CFOs working in the finance sector?
The recent pandemic has taught us to remain up-to-date with the market and consumers’ desires. Considering the 2021 GFK study, which confirms that sustainable shoppers in 2029 will account for 50 percent of the world's total population, we need to design a framework that aligns with a sustainable approach.
I suggest the senior leaders and CFOs incorporate a sustainable strategy and concrete framework. For instance, our team implemented a 4R strategy that helped reduce carbon footprint with less raw material usage, developing products with high life cycles, refusing to use non-biodegradable products, recycling used products, and reusing them as new products with extended value.
Lastly, my advice to the finance community would be to construct sustainability as your integral system in such a way that it works as a catalyst for your business growth without exceeding your margins.
