Hafele India, undergoes a major personnel change on the occasion of its 20th birthday as a wholly owned subsidiary of the International Hafele Group (headquartered in German). After 21+ years of managing all Business Operations of the Hafele Group in South Asia including India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives and Nepal, Jurgen Wolf decided to retire and hand over the management of the company to Frank Schloeder.
With a long-standing motto of the company to be ‘future ready’, Hafele India aims to confidently underline its launch into the future with this change at the top. Over the past few months, Schloeder has been closely inducted into the culture and operations of Hafele first at the headquarters in Nagold (Germany) and then by Wolf in special context of region South Asia. The passing of the management reins happened strategically.
Speaking about his successor, Wolf affirmed “After working closely with Frank for the last 2-3 months, I have discovered that we hold very similar outlooks and value sets and in essence are very similar people. We are confident that he is the right person to lead the company forward and I am very excited to see what the future holds.”
Having more than 25 years of experience with the BMW Group (a German multinational manufacturer of luxury vehicles and motorcycles), Frank Schloeder, the current Managing Director of Hafele South Asia, holds international career spanning across different countries like Germany, France and India. He carries a dual degree in International Studies in Business Administration from University of Munster, Germany and Montpellier Business School, France. He has had experience in different fields including Marketing and Sales, Product Management, Business Planning, Strategy and Operations giving him a comprehensive business understanding.
Schloeder, with his vast experience, has been instrumental in unlocking market potentials, developing strong business strategies, exploring new revenue channels and building strategic brand presence and sales in emerging markets for the automobile giant. During his 4-year stint in India (through his earlier organization), first as Director-Marketing and later as President, Schloeder was able to understand the unique nuances of the Indian culture and device be-fitting strategies for this market and build an impactful brand positioning in India.
Having an expansive yet diverse career trajectory has given him immense exposure to various cultures and value sets. His curiosity and eye for details as well as his ability to empower the people he works with, have been instrumental in building his overall professional outlook and backed his business success.
Bringing this rich and diverse experience to Hafele, Frank Schloeder looks forward to harnessing his competencies with respect to unlocking market potential, customer experience, brand management and digitalization to establish future capabilities of building a robust value chain and developing a strong connect with end consumers.
Speaking about shaping a formidable future, Schloeder states “I truly believe that the entire business process should pivot around the customer, and it is this unified customer-centric approach that will eventually deliver sustainable success for any organization.” He further added “ I am grateful to Jurgen for supporting and guiding me in the past few months. I admire and respect him for the company he has built from ground up and take this responsibility of nurturing it and driving it to excellence very seriously.”
