Maria Luisa Manca, Bayer Romania: Focusing on innovation, sustainability, and customers, consumers and patient’s centricity

Maria Luisa Manca joined Bayer in 2007 in Finance and Accounting and for the last 15 years she has worked in numerous local, regional, and global roles with proven experience in finance and accounting, product supply, order to cash and Bayer Global Business Services organization. During her career, Maria Luisa has successfully led various international Business Strategic programs and Projects across all the Bayer Regions related to Financial and Life Science industries. Ten months ago, on September 1, 2022, she took over as CFO of CFO Bayer Romania, Bulgaria, Republic of Moldova, so, on this occasion, Business Review sat down with her and talked about the company’s financial results, plans & objectives, and future projects.

You’ve been the CFO of Bayer Romania, Bulgaria and Moldova for the past 10 months, what can you tell us about the financial results over this period, in Q4 2022 and Q1 2023, and what are your predictions for the remainder of the year?

As CFO of Bayer Romania, Bulgaria, and Moldova, I am pleased to share that we have seen positive financial results over the past 10 months in the Country Group. Our teams have worked hard to ensure we continue to meet the needs of our customers, consumers, and patients, despite the challenges posed by the crisis with COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

During these challenging times, we are particularly delighted by the dedication shown by our employees in navigating this tough period. Their unwavering commitment has had a significant impact on both our organization and the society. I am proud to share that last year we have achieved a really strong sales performance with for the three countries and double-digit sales growth in all three division at Country Group level. In 2022 we also had positive development of the cash flow compared with previous year considering the pressure coming from the inflation and interest rate environment, mainly due to optimized inventories, receivable and payable management. Beginning of this year was also successful for our company considering the high ingredient prices and market pressure. I am very confident that for the remaining of year, we will successfully continue to pursue our aim to grow in this uncertain macro and micro economic situation.

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What are your main plans and objectives in the medium and long term as Bayer’s CFO in Romania, Bulgaria and Moldova?

The CFO’s role has expanded beyond bookkeeping to include strategic steering, financial governance, and performance insights. More and more CFOs play an important role in driving growth through innovation, and this is a priority for me in the mid and long term. During the first 10 months after taking this role, I was focused on observing, learning, and understanding the organizational set-up, Business priorities, and opportunities, and have the base to set the direction for the finance function, by actively partner with all business units in the company. I must admit that I have inherited a lean Finance function where processes and responsibilities are streamlined to eliminate redundant activities and those that don’t add value with an incredible professional and knowledgeable team.

My plan and main objectives in the medium and long term include value creation and growth by being a reliable business partner, and to ensure a proper risk management handling, foster the usage of digital tools to boost efficiency, increase effectiveness by evaluating and implementing appropriate automation, and analytics solutions to help the finance function be smart, efficient, and competitive.

Under our sustainability commitment, another goal is to include ESG in our strategy to capture all the non-financial risks and opportunities inherent our Company day to day activities.

Very close to my heart are the people in our organization, therefore a proper talent management strategy is one of the keys for our success and that is why we are focused on developing, training, and upskilling our talents.

What can you tell us about Bayer’s business in Romania, across all three its divisions Pharma, Crop Science, and Consumer Health?

Bayer’s Business in Romania is strong across all three divisions, with a focus on innovation, sustainability, and customers, consumers and patient’s centricity. The three Divisions are different in terms of market conditions and due to the size of the population and the agronomic specifics of the country, Crop Science division is the largest in Romania. Nevertheless, our Pharmaceuticals and Consumer Health divisions also have a significant presence in the country.

The Pharmaceutical division continues to bring innovative therapies to the market and ensure timely and cost-effective access to treatment, while Consumer Health division is dedicated to providing trusted personal health products that are helping people to improve their everyday health.  The Crop Science division is driving innovation in agriculture to meet the growing demand for producing more with less and feeding the growing world’s population. It offers farmers an integrated portfolio, consisting of plant protection products, seeds and digital and precision agriculture solutions which enable farmers to generate income and grow safer food, through sustainable farming practices.

Even if Pharmaceuticals business operates in very strong ruled and competitive environment, in Romania we have increased our sales in 2022 due to strong performance of our key innovative products in ophthalmology and cardiology therapeutic areas. In Consumer Health business we have accomplished to increase our sales that we operate in strong competitive market. Although agriculture business has been exposed to many challenges and out of our control external factors, such as the increasingly visible effects of climate change and complicated geopolitical situation, the Crop Science division had the most significant growth from the three divisions.

I consider that only few companies are as well positioned as Bayer, through our innovations, products and services that are essential to people’s lives and that enable us to contribute significantly towards meeting the Sustainable Development Goals. Of course, that also brings us a special responsibility in the world we live. We are very proud that our company pursues its sustainability targets with the same dedication it devotes to achieving its business goals.

What can you tell us about Bayer’s global transformational projects, transformation of business and companies, and digitalization & globalization plans?

At Bayer we are committed to leading global projects, driving the transformation of our businesses and embracing digitalization and globalization. Amid the volatility and uncertainty of recent years, change is one of the few things we can be certain of – from climate change to coping with a global pandemic to market shifts. We know we can be better. Now’s the time to do it: we are transforming for farmers in other to offer solutions for producing more food in a more sustainable way, for open access to safe, convenient daily health solutions for consumers and innovative treatments and prevention for patients. To change lives for the better, however, we must change the way we work for the better – from how we lead and build teams, to how we prioritize, operate, and make decisions. Through different initiatives, we are aiming at being able to leverage the power of innovative technologies and meet the evolving needs of our customers, consumers, and patients.

How did you approach business development & risk management in such challenging and volatile times?

The business world has changed dramatically over the past couple of years, and we now live in connected society where change can be fast-paced, constant and unpredictable. As a CFO, navigating challenging and volatile times requires a strategic and proactive approach to business development and risk management. Our approach includes timely identifying potential risks, describing appropriately, estimating, and prioritizing and if possible, turning risks in opportunities and taking responsibility and ownership. If we think to the challenges that every company faces in business development, we must have overarched approach as to keep our business relevant and performant while ensuring high quality services and retaining customers. Every industry comes with its own financial or non-financial nature risks, either we are talking about strategic, value chain or license to operate risks. By proactively identifying opportunities and managing risks, we were able to navigate the challenging and volatile times successfully while positioning our company for long-term growth and sustainability. We approach Business development and risk management with a focus on agility, innovation and collaboration. By staying nimble, embracing change and working closely with our partners and stakeholders, we are able to manage risks and seize new opportunities for success.

I am proud to be part of the Bayer team and with our vision: Health for all, hunger for none! I am confident that our organization will continue to drive growth, innovation, and success in the years to come.