Kolyo Doynov was born on May 13, 1973 in Sofia. Apparently, the number 13 is embedded in his life path and is always the bearer of something good. The 13th year is the most successful in the history of SIKO Trans, a company that started as a carrier and today has concentrated on freight forwarding. "In recent years, it has seen a growth of 35% in the volumes of transported goods, but the 13th year since the start has given our team the self-confidence of successfully developing professionals," shared the manager.
Mr. Doynov, what stages did the SIKO Trans team go through to reach the feeling of professionalism and security?
The growth of the company came naturally. We have experienced many blows of fate, not only the economic crisis, but also other difficulties of all kinds - from regulation and regulatory disturbances, to labour law cases and to disputes with customers and suppliers. But when a person follows his reason and intuition, he manages to pass through various stages until he reaches maturity. To build a successful business, you have to be very diligent and active, but a dose of humility in behaviour is also required, as well as a lot of flexibility and objectivity in actions. The great satisfaction for me is that we got out of the chaos level and created a well-structured and working company system. Yes, we have always made bigger turnovers. Yes, our team has always grown, but in the last two years we have done so in a planned, organized and well controlled manner. We have improved procedures, structure, analyzed risk, implemented safeguards and many innovative approaches. The satisfaction is not only for me, but also for the whole team.
The financial crisis subsided, but then came the wave of refugees. What's happening in your industry today?
In general, there is an exciting stir in our industry right now. Europe came out of the crisis a long time ago, unlike Bulgaria - people are active there, business is working. There is an interesting dependency in our industry – once you make X number of successful shipments, you are nominated for many subsequent projects. Our satisfied customers turn to us without hesitation and we increasingly receive orders without formal auctions and competitions, but through direct negotiation.
What is this critical number X? How many shipments does a freight forwarder have to make to qualify as reliable?
I'd like to say 5-10, but we've done hundreds of shipments for a number of clients and they keep the competitive model for every shipment. Some of them apply the German attitude of mild distrust to any contractor in the supply chain. Their model does not tolerate flexibility and breakage. While others, who are more flexible and broken, trust the forwarder and save time that way. Naturally, trust is not a gift forever. There are times when it is tested, put to the test, and has to be proven. When we get a good grade at such times, we feel real satisfaction.
Did you win any new customers in your peak 13th year?
To our delight, we managed to improve and increase the level of employment and trust with our existing customers. The new ones we won are not few, but we continue to work for more. Our innovative emphasis is valuable and beneficial to all our customers. This gives us confidence in our future business projects.
And what happened to the project to build a storage base?
In 2015, we bought land near Sofia Airport, on which we will build a modern logistics base. I always thought building was easy - you buy land, pay an architect and then a builder, then work hard to pay the bank back faster. Unfortunately, it turned out that the conventions and dependencies in the implementation of a project are so many that it took me more than half a year to get into the intricacies of construction processes. So, we will break ground in the middle of this year, hopefully.
What inspired this project? Have customers asked you to do warehousing as well?
Yes, we have had a lot of inquiries in recent years, which we took as a signal that it was time to take another step towards upgrading the services we offer. At this stage, we also do not offer logistics, as we do not have a large warehouse. Our ambition to rent one has proved difficult because no suitable spaces are available. If a warehouse is found somewhere, it is either not convenient or at a very high, unprofitable price. So we decided that the best option was to build our own base.
For every freight forwarder, it is important to have cargo not only from point A to point B, but also vice versa - from point B to point A. How do you, launching a new line, have a guarantee that it will be full of trucks and in the opposite direction?
Where there is no cargo, we used to put red marks on the map and at the end of each day we knew where there was cargo and where there wasn't. And we moved the red flags to know that a truck should not step there. But the general rule is - where the client says, there we go. A good professional always tackles difficult tasks - there is no "I can't", no "it doesn't work", no "I don't know".
Have the red zones on the map decreased?
Rather, our ability to locate cargo in these areas has increased. Through practice, we have accumulated knowledge, which for many years we have been trying to put in some tabular order, which turned out to be a difficult task. It's helpful to have people who can handle any task at any time. This advantage gives us self-esteem and confidence. In this way, we meet the high requirements and criteria of our customers.
Did the seminar that Logistics magazine organized with lecturer Ognyan Vassilev change your thinking as a manager?
Ognyan Vasilev excited me a lot because he gave a clear definition of many questions that have been bothering me for years. I have been aware of them, I have understood them, but I have not arrived at those clear definitions and understandings that he gave. With his help I felt much more confident and clarified some theses that are a bit controversial. It is good to find confirmation of one's conclusions and decisions in the face of the teacher. What I took from this seminar for myself is a confirmation that the way I think is correct.
In our New Year's survey, you indicated that you are breaking with the intuitive management model. What new management mechanisms are you introducing?
In fact, we made the break formally a few years ago, but informally it took us a long time to build new connections in the structure. In addition to the changes we started a few years ago, this year we made another, radical restructuring. We introduced a new management floor for team leaders, that's what we call them. I believe that the company has and will have new people who have the qualities to manage personnel. And this is the most valuable thing, because 2 + 2 usually in HR makes more than 4. The success of the big team is always more valuable than the single result of an employee. You can have great people, but if there is no one to manage them properly, nothing gets done. We haven't made some big breakthrough by implementing this model, rather we're enabling the company to grow through the capabilities of people with management skills. By using these skills, they develop themselves.
How did you find these people?
Like in the barracks - whoever is listened to the most, we make him a corporal. I believe it is best practice for informal leaders to be supported and take on management roles if they have the qualities to do so. I am currently awaiting applications from the team for team leaders. At SIKO Trans, there are four managers who run the enterprise. The floor below them of the team leaders is a matter of time to be structured and it will not be a constant. SIKO Trans's ambition is to provide a platform for new personnel and good specialists to appear - I hire people without any experience, as well as people with a long experience. Everyone who wants to work and develop gets such an opportunity. If he wants to be a manager - fine. If he wants to be a freight forwarder, fine. It can work in a smaller or larger team - we have different positions, which is an interesting process in itself. Since the New Year, we have also had an HR manager, because we saw that we needed a specialist to supervise people and develop their strengths. The selection, perhaps, is not something very complicated, even if we make a mistake there, the correction is not complicated. Rather, we assign functions to a certain person to take over the development of people, because it is very important to find out in time where a person's strength is and in what direction it should be directed. He who likes to swim cannot be made to dig - he will not succeed. It is easiest to spend some money on training, it is more important when spending to demand an effect - then the investment will pay off very quickly and the person will be useful both for himself and for the enterprise. In general, we follow some natural logic and sequence of things. If a person can do A and B, we will make him do A and B, but we will assign him also C. If B is difficult for him, but he should be able to do it, we will train him to do it.
When you say "we will train him", what is the training format?
Combined. To begin with, every SIKO Trans recruit has a mentor who looks after them on a direct level. One level up is the HR specialist who decides who needs what training.
Do you use NSBS courses?
Very active. Without exaggerating, I will say that the know-how that can be taken from NSBS courses is great because it is from a working business. We are talking about people with proven results and - these are managers with some of the best achievements in the country. It is precisely from these people that we have the opportunity to take knowledge, and at a very good price. I am not referring to the money, but the time and the way it is taught. These people have trained their employees, developed methodologies, found a way in one week to tell you the most important and most necessary things in such a way that, working with these notes in the coming months and years, you can very quickly help yourself in various situations. And in the end to understand what is important and necessary for you to do your job. The Board of NSBS did something important for the industry - it insisted on the creation of the profession "forwarder", and since it is included in the classifier of professions, contacts with universities are now easier and they can influence what knowledge future forwarders should receive .
You are both the majority owner and manager of SIKO Trans, and according to Ognyan Vasilev, this is not very correct.
My function has always been different from that which is put into the position of manager. 13 years ago I was an operative, but I was a manager. Later, I really managed the company, and now I am the chairman of the Board of Directors, but I still participate in the operational work when there are difficult situations and the operational management of the company has difficulty making a decision or there are hesitations.
What professional mistakes changed you the most?
There were, of course, mistakes in my professional growth. Most importantly, I never saw them as a threat that I had to do something about in order for it to go away and affect me in the least. First of all, I ask myself - what should I do so that the mistake is not repeated? And in fact, what I'm proud of is that the repeatability of mistakes with us is close to zero. Both myself and my team try to put a lot of effort into learning lessons and creating safeguards. For several years now, we have quite consciously and carefully developed a support system of procedures available to every employee of the company. It allows colleagues to be informed about possible solutions in a difficult situation in an understandable way. If they cannot find their way around, they should contact their immediate supervisor. The idea is to help people navigate and make decisions on their own. We have ambitions to make it so that everyone can deal with their problems and propose solutions. Wasn't there some HR rule: "You don't go to the boss without at least two ready-made solutions to the problem." How is it that a person will go to his supervisor and say: I have a problem, and he will shut up?
And who do you learn from?
From everything and everyone. From history and from modern times. I also read history from the last century, from the century before that, even from millennia ago. What is the most successful management model? The army, the Anglo-Saxon. For millennia, empires have been structured in this way, and currently the most imposed formal structure in business is again a hierarchical, army model. But the army model is not only iron discipline, it is many things: clear and precise rules, hierarchy, loyalty to the company and readiness to protect its interests, priority not only of the individual, but also of the collective beginning.
It is right for a manager to have a broader view of the big picture and to remember that there is always room for one more point of view.
Are you a risk taker in business?
We are all risk players in business. Whoever is cautious below a certain limit, he cannot do a successful business. He may be an employee or even become a good manager, but he will never be brave enough to make his own enterprise. Business itself is a risk, and those who don't want to take risks can always work for a salary, which is fine. I'm definitely not a gambling person. I know how to take risks and I believe that to a large extent one must be decisive. And determination beyond certain limits becomes pure risk.
Inaction is the worst thing. Sometimes it is better to do wrong than to do nothing. One should not stand in one place.
What do you do when an employee lies to you?
There are two options. One - I pretend to be interested in being lied to. I also have cases where I have no interest in pretending to be a "carp" and then I can be bad. Surely lying is related to the quality "loyalty", which is a personal quality. For me, people who are disloyal to our suppliers and customers, to their loved ones, colleagues, parents, relatives, etc., will naturally be disloyal to me as well. Objectivity and flexibility are for me a mandatory model of communication with people. When I say people, I mean the SIKO Trans team, our customers and partners, as well as my entire environment.
Lack of objectivity is the destroyer of all values. And flexibility is a must for people who negotiate any sales, purchases, appointments, optimizations, etc. You can't do business without being flexible.
But to be objective you have to have gauges…
Absolutely. Gauges are a very interesting thing because you can't set X constant criteria and clap your hands to your heart's content. Always the next week or the next month we add another metric and find that another one is no longer relevant. It's an ever-changing landscape of metrics we've identified as leaders.
Had the ambition to build a crisis department?
The reason for creating this department was not simply to solve some isolated problems. Our ambition is to do things in a smarter way. Not everyone can be an expert in everything. If you are strong in negotiation, I am strong in problem solving, another is strong in administration. There is some strength in every person, and it is best to distribute and unite these strengths. But this is important not only for the individual company. This approach is vital for the forwarding industry as well. The legal literacy of the small carrier cannot be like that of a lawyer, so I think that we at NSBS are obliged to concentrate our knowledge in one team to help. I have set myself a goal, which is like my mission - to create a national crisis center at NSBS in the service of the entire industry. Just one example - a colleague called me last week: My truck was stopped in Belgium, what should I do? I'm not sure I was very helpful with my advice, but I certainly gave him some pointers. But I should not advise him, but a special team of specialists with experience and knowledge should do this. This is exactly my goal - to find experts who know well the regulation in our business, who can be useful and help in critical situations to all colleagues in the industry. In my practice as a carrier, I have had a case of a hijacked truck and driver, and I know how important it is to know who to call for help.
What are the most interesting processes in the global freight forwarding network at the moment? What services can we expect from SIKO Trans?
I'd love to tell you about my ambitious plans to add drones and quadcopters to our portfolio, but it still sounds fantastic. But there is no fiction here - in just 5-6 years, every office building will have a site where drones will land in some mode. Don't smile in disbelief - we are flexible and may be ahead of the competition in offering this service.
No matter how strong a player is, even if they include drones in deliveries, it is still important to be part of a larger network. What cooperatives are you willing to enter?
There are two options for SIKO Trans, linked to development outside the borders of Bulgaria. One is for the firm to attract foreign investment from a major global or European market leader. This would be a wonderful development for SIKO Trans and desired by us. The other option is for SIKO Trans to consolidate its position as a strong player, but also internationally by setting up offices in other countries. I would say that I dream of both options. The first is very traditional and is more likely to happen. The second one is more challenging and interesting and to be honest I spend more time on it in my mind. But at this point, if I said I predicted what would happen in the future, I'd be lying to you.
What else do you dream about?
I dream of radically new technologies to implement in the activity.
Dreams are an engine for personal and professional development, and at the moment I have concentrated my thoughts on successfully and effectively maintaining a flexible management approach - something very necessary in the conditions of high demands and sometimes unfair competition in the market. I try to use the advantage of a good knowledge of different aspects of the work in depth, but also a non-standard vision.
And on a personal level: I dream of stealing more time for my family.
What values are you teaching your children?
I try to raise my children the way I raise the 13-year-old "teenager" for whom we are currently conducting this interview. It is important for me that my children learn to take responsibility, be as honest as possible in their relationships with others, loyal to their loved ones and grow up in a calm and harmonious environment.
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