Clément, V.I.E. program, Argentina

What does your job involve? What skills do you need?

By its very nature, sales volume shrinks from year to year. To compensate, it's important to find potential customers who will be tomorrow's buyers of our products. This is what we call NBD for New Business Development. This is my mission for the Latin America South Horn area - excluding Brazil (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Bolivia, Paraguay), described as a region with high growth potential.
 
In a few words, my mission consists of analyzing the market and its potential, surveying the competitive landscape (company, product type, volume and price), monitoring current projects and initiating the first contact to explore the prospect's needs, and thus ensure that our product will provide real added value.
 
As a Business Developer, you have to be open-minded, thinking outside the box to find new ideas for applications, new potential, or simply new ways of getting in touch with a prospect. On this last point, perseverance is essential. For example, some markets are more closed than others, so getting in touch with a technical or purchasing manager is a tough task, and this is the case of the mining market.

Lastly, in my product area, Arkema is positioned upstream in the value chain. So, it's preferable to have a technical background so as to be able to understand and discuss technical issues with the prospect, although I have the best possible support from the technical managers.
 

How did your recruitment and integration go?

I developed a taste for international experience through internships and semesters abroad during my studies at the Graduate School of Chemistry. So doing a VIE assignment was a logical next step after graduation. My plan was to join a company that sent young graduates on a VIE.
 
This was the case with Arkema, the company I joined during my end-of-study internship. I informed my managers and colleagues of my plans to continue my VIE at Arkema. They supported my application and recommended it internally, which was a major help in getting this VIE opportunity in Argentina off the ground. This was followed by two meetings, one with the Managing Director and HR Manager of Arkema Brazil, then another with the Managing Director and HR Manager of Arkema Argentina to validate the suitability of the profile for the position.
 
As for the installation on site, it went really well! Business France took care of most of the administrative formalities. Then the Argentine subsidiary took great care of me when I arrived. As I was the first VIE in this entity, I really felt that a great deal of attention was paid to me from the very first days, an attention that continues to this day. Just like the integration into the team, which went wonderfully well - a team on a human scale and quite young.
 

What were your first impressions when you started your mission?

For the record, it was great to leave Europe's first autumn temperatures behind and experience a second hot season in a row!
 
But then you quickly come back to reality and realize what it's like to live in a hyper-inflationary country, with prices changing every week. Not to mention the numerous exchange rates in the country, and the obligation during the first months to pay in cash if you wanted to benefit from an attractive exchange rate with the euro.
 
But the main challenge remained the mission itself: first job with direct customer contact for my first significant experience in a Spanish-speaking country, in markets I knew nothing about. But I love a challenge.
 
And of course, the language challenge. I had stopped learning/practicing Spanish 4 years before arriving in Argentina. In the meantime, I'd started learning Portuguese. So the challenge was to communicate without lapsing into portuñol (mixing Spanish and Portuguese).
 
Having said that, I find that doing a VIE in Latin America is all the more interesting as you can master one or even two languages, because of the common root with French, and thus have the possibility of communicating with anyone on the continent.
 
In terms of culture shock, I'd never imagined such a passion for soccer. What's more, the timing was perfect: I arrived in November 2022, 3 weeks before the start of the World Cup. You had to see the fervor of the Argentine people throughout the competition, which culminated in the final victory of the Argentine team and a moment of madness in the streets of Buenos Aires. Even if France lost that day, that moment will remain engraved in my memory for a long time to come.
Last but not least, you can't talk about Argentina without mentioning the quality of its meat and its famous asado, as well as its traditional drink, maté, an infusion made from yerba mate leaves. In fact, my colleagues tell me that I'm well and truly Argentinized: I drink mate, I never say no to an asado and I've become a big fan of Fernet, Argentina's festive drink par excellence.
 

How would you sum up your VIE at Arkema in 3 words?

Discovery, experience, enriching
 

What advice would you give to those who would like to do a V.I.E at Arkema?

Go go go! You can't let an opportunity like this pass you by. Both professionally and personally, it's just an incredible experience!
 
On the other hand, it won't fall from the sky. Be proactive, stand out, sell yourself and what you can bring to the company, even if it means creating your own VIE assignment.