Snapshot

The manager: Ivan Vassilev
The job: Country General Manager
The company: TNT Bulgaria
In brief: Ivan Vassilev (45) has been TNT Bulgaria’s general manager since the company registered here on January 1 1996. TNT Bulgaria has been an active member of UN Global Compact (GC) in Bulgaria since 2002, as well as of the Bulgarian Business Leaders Forum (BBLF) and a member of its board since 2002. In 2003, TNT Bulgaria received the BBLF Business Award for Investor in Human Capital. In April 2004, the company was awarded a certificate of recognition from UN GC for its efforts in promoting the principles of GC with respect to human rights and labour conditions.
During his career development, Vassilev has taken part in various training programmes for professional managers. In 1994, he went through the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) transportation of dangerous goods training with Austrian Airlines. In 2000, Vassilev was part of the programme entitled Introduction to the Principles of Quality Management Systems to ISO 9000 – Top Management Advisors, and in 2001 he improved his communication and team-building skills within the SRAFAS programme (an organisation in charge of training and seminars). Vassilev has also taken courses in leadership and coaching, and in the period 2003/2004 he underwent a course in management and business studies at the University of Warwick in the UK. A year later Vassilev took part in another UK programme, this time media training at the BBC’s Training & Development Centre in London.

Entering the office of TNT building in Sofia, the first thing to catch your eye is a large grey bird – a talking parrot welcoming visitors at reception – which certainly is not a common sight in offices. Ivan Vassilev, TNT’s general manager, reveals that the bird’s name is Kuncho and was a Christmas gift to amuse clients.

Vassilev began his career as a forwarding agent at Despred during communist times, the first courier company of its kind in those days.

“I worked in several sections until I was appointed manager of the express courier department, organising courier lines,” Vassilev says. Since then he’s worked in the area of courier shipments, which, as he describes it, is a type of express transport combining the latest technical and transport innovations.

During socialism, Despred was the only company acting as a forwarding agent in Bulgaria, servicing other international couriers. After 1989, when the former regime collapsed, some companies, including TNT and DHL, separated from Despred. Gradually, all major companies entered the local market.

Vassilev has been TNT’s general manager for Bulgaria since the company registered as a legal entity and separated from its former forwarding agent. He graduated in transport economy and business journalism from Sofia’s University of National and World Economy.

Vassilev cites an unusual – perhaps for a business manager anyway – role model. “I’ve learnt a positive attitude, humbleness and persistence from the Dalai Lama,” he says. Although TNT flies all over the world, he hasn’t yet had the opportunity to meet the Tibetan spiritual leader in person.

“This business is a service and, like all services, it follows general national and international economic trends. When the economy is poor, business is also poor,” Vassilev says. He feels that Bulgaria is lucky to be a European Union member state and to be the recipient of foreign investment and business development. He believes that economic progress in the country positively reflects the development of this type of activity in general.

He points out a few misconceptions. “Employing more people doesn’t necessarily imply higher productivity. Neither is it a sign of a particular company’s prosperity because a firm can cut staff by introducing new technology. This can lead to improved financial results. However, in general, TNT Bulgaria’s turnover increases by 20 per cent a year. I think this is definitely a good record,” Vassilev says. “Our development was also healthy before Bulgaria joined the EU but we’ve certainly enjoyed a fresh fillip since last year.”

Questioned about the main difference between TNT and its main competitors, Vassilev explains that, although his company’s management courses and training programmes emphasise the technical side – transport vehicles and aircrafts – they also emphasise the personal touch. “I believe that our service distinguishes TNT from other companies – the way that clients are treated by the customer service department and all our staff who have direct or indirect contact with them.”

He refused to reveal the company’s approach towards clients, believing that this is best expressed by clients themselves, which they do through customer loyalty questionnaires. “We measure their satisfaction twice a year through surveys and the results we receive are very positive,” Vassilev says.

Questioned about the “Dutch secret” of success, Vassilev jokes that the company employs the Dutch “secret expertise” in its business dealings. “The Dutch are known for their pragmatism, inventiveness and reliability, which is something that we at TNT naturally incorporate into our dealings,” he says.

He reveals that, aside from business, TNT Bulgaria and the Dutch embassy have imported an innovative idea, one which, he believes, could help Sofia and its residents to resolve traffic and pollution problems. “In September 2007 we launched, together with the Dutch ambassador Willem van Ee and Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov, our 'Ride a bicycle, arrive on time' campaign. We’re making bicycle use a popular alternative to cars. It’s a very positive development that, here at TNT, more than half of our employees cycle to work,” Vassilev says. Shipments, obviously, are too heavy to be transported on bicycles but TNT employees are encouraged to use bikes in other situations. Although there are no bicycle lanes, Vassilev says it’s not as frightening as it seems to cycle in Sofia.

Vassilev reveals that TNT has special programmes for university management trainings and functional academies for personnel training. “Company managers are trained in one of the most prestigious business schools worldwide – Warwick University in the UK,” he says, adding that employees attend different company courses and trainings, where they study, sit exams and receive financial bonuses if successful. “We have a special training programme for employees in our customer service department. We, as Bulgarians, are exceptionally happy that, last year, this department won top award in a TNT competition. As a result, the customer service supervisor and the department received financial and moral rewards. We enjoyed knowing that we had contributed to our country’s success. We also received the first award in the marketing field,” Vassilev says. About 50 countries throughout the world, which have TNT local subsidiaries, compete for these awards and are evaluated by different indexes.

Questioned about his personal managerial attitude toward employees, Vassilev says he adopts a “strict but fair” approach. “We have different certificates that monitor our treatment of employees. But manager is not a very precise word, as we all are employees of a big company, we simply have different responsibilities,” he says.

“One thing that distinguishes TNT from other companies is that we have a certificate Investor in People, proving the engagement of our company with our employees’ development. To a great extent it defines and forms the climate and relations in our company,” Vassilev says. The company also holds the certificate SA 8000 (a global social accountability standard for decent working conditions) and “we will be happy if more companies in Bulgaria receive this certificate”.

Relations and conditions within the company are very important for him. So when he chooses new colleagues, honesty, more than a stratospheric IQ, is the most important criteria to Vassilev. To a great extent employees should be prepared to sacrifice personal professional interests in favour of the common business interest, he believes.

“The company’s main goal is to surpass the financial goals laid out in our budget. To do this we must continue to develop and implement innovative technologies and services, which is something that we do,” Vassilev says. TNT Bulgaria has received great recognition as a distribution carrier throughout the Balkans. “Currently we sort and distribute shipments to and from Turkey, Romania and Greece. In the near future we’ll also start do this for other Balkan countries. So far we’ve only sorted air shipments to Macedonia,” Vassilev says.

TNT Bulgaria currently employs more than 200 people. Vassilev believes that more staff will have to be employed in the light of increased annual turnover. “More shipments mean more resources to deliver to and collect from clients,” Vassilev says. “But the company implements many new technologies that, to a great extent, spare us the need to boost the numbers of our workforce. Recently we introduced, in the courier department, scanning "In-cab" technology, which allows for processing the operational data completely online on a mini-computer, which all couriers carry with them. This is used for both collection and delivery of shipments, and saves further work later in the office for other departments. This leads to optimisation of the whole process, and provides real-time information to our customers,” Vassilev says.

Electronic invoices were another environmentally-friendly innovation this year. “We are one of the first Bulgarian companies in our field to start electronic invoicing. It saves time and resources but, most importantly, we protect the environment. TNT Bulgaria, and TNT in general, is a socially responsible company, which takes part in different national and international projects to strengthen its image of good corporate citizens of planet Earth,” Vassilev says.

Planet Me, for instance, is a TNT initiative that aims to support the protection of the ozone layer and decrease carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere. “Even managers’ cars come from a special list of vehicles with reduced carbon dioxide emissions. They also can be hybrid cars. In Bulgaria this is not yet that popular but, in principle, it’s a viable alternative. Most importantly, carbon dioxide emissions should be within permissible ranges stipulated by the company,” Vassilev says.

The other cars and buses TNT uses are also a concern of Planet Me and TNT has created special electric lorries that fully protect the environment. “We made similar attempts in India, Ireland and UK, and it’s only a matter of time before we start servicing clients via electro-mobiles,” Vassilev says. “Our aircraft also conform to norms for environmental protection and emit less harmful emissions.”

TNT also works with the UN World Food Programme organisation, supporting the fight against global hunger and helping starving children. “Some of our employees volunteer for several months on a TNT mission in far-flung countries, where starvation is a serious threat and survival is the most important issue,” he says. One Bulgarian TNT employee will soon work for such a mission in Tanzania. TNT will continue to pay him his normal salary until his return.

“Each year we also organise a march called Walk the World to raise public awareness about starvation. We also collect funds and donations,” Vassilev explains. Such walks are organised in the foothills of Sofia's Vitosha Mountain, with participants walking at least five kilometres.

Vassilev loves Bulgaria and believes that a person needs good reasons to leave. He says he has no desire or inclination to live and work elsewhere. “It’s a great irony that so many people leave because there’s a lot of work in Bulgaria and it’s getting harder to find people to do it, as well as many more opportunities to start a private business. Bulgarians seem to have a slight prejudice against their country and its neighbours, believing that when they go abroad miracles will happen,” Vassilev says. He hopes that Bulgarians will start to love their country more and understand that only they can put it right.

Vesselev likes to travel in his spare time. He has no personal favourite country because he thinks that every country has its beautiful areas. “I prefer to feel like a citizen of the world and enjoy the whole world rather than just one place.”

Vassilev believes that “if someone tells you that he doesn’t have time for personal life, it means either there’s something wrong with his organisation or he’s not a good manager”. He says that a good manager should have time for everything. If he’s organised his work well, then time isn’t such a problem and there is no “deficit commodity”. “I cannot say that I’m overloaded by work and have no time to breathe. I have time for everything and I enjoy activities that infuse me with energy when I’m not at TNT,” he says.

Vassilev particularly enjoys nature. He has several horses and looks after them in his free time, riding them in the countryside. His horses are in the Lovech area, near the waterfalls of Krushuna, whose “unique virgin nature” Vassilev greatly admires. He also savours the lack of crowds, affording him the opportunity for more contacts with nature.

He enjoys archery practice, deep sea diving and rafting. Now he’s just waiting for the weather to get warmer so he can start coming to work by bike.