As part of its series of one-to-one discussions International Insights, TradeMalta has launched its second interview, this time around with Melo Hili, CEO, Hili Ventures.
Hili is one of Malta’s leading international entrepreneurs – with Hili Ventures operating internationally and achieving significant growth ever since McDonalds opened its first restaurant in Malta in 1995. From a company that operated in shipping and real estate, Hili Ventures has grown to become the international enterprise it is today – operating 162 McDonalds restaurants in six countries, mainly in the Baltic States, 30 Apple Premium resellers in Poland and Hungary, and other operations in oil and gas, shipping, engineering, hospitality and technology.
That translates into a staff complement of around 10,000 people in 10 countries – moreover, the company generated almost half a billion euros in revenue during a year when the world faced the coronavirus pandemic.
With such growth, Hili Ventures can be considered as one of Malta’s best known stories in international success.
“The McDonalds franchise had been in the family since 1995,” Melo Hili, CEO of Hili Ventures said. “Then, when I joined in 2005, Malta had just joined the European Union – and so we started looking at how to grow our market. We already had international experience in other sectors, mainly shipping and real estate. So when the opportunity came, we accepted and took over 19 restaurants in the Baltic States. We started with Riga in 2007 and started expanding from there.
”Following this, Hili Ventures started looking at other markets – and in 2011 started operating in Greece.
“This was not easy, on two counts. First, the Greek market is very competitive; and secondly, we had to factor in the economic crisis.
”It was a big leap for the company.“
As long as you work well and have good people, you manage – that is our strength,” Hili added.
Employing some 10,000 people in different countries must bring culture into play.“
We don’t really look at the nationality of the people we employ,” Hili said. “For customer-facing roles, speaking the local language is essential – but other than that, nationality and culture are not critical. What is more important is the company’s values. Our businesses are different – however, company values bring us together.
“When recruiting, we also look for people who have passion, commitment and that they are essentially good people. That is very important because while you can teach people skills, authenticity is a key value that people are born with.
“We have also created a culture within our organisation that encourages people to share experience and knowledge.”
How did Hili Ventures experience the coronavirus pandemic?“
The first reaction was fear – as a business and as individuals,” Melo said. “We felt that this pandemic would not go away quickly – and so we got together and reacted quickly. We also committed to not let go of any of our people. As an international organisation, we travel regularly, but with the pandemic, that became very difficult. True, some elements of the business can be conducted virtually – but face-to-face meetings are very important.”
What would Hili advise businesses considering international growth?
“Don’t take unnecessary risks – but do take risks,” Melo said. “Moreover, do not be afraid of bigger and more competitive markets – you can only learn from competition.”
International Insights is organised with the support of HSBC Bank Malta p.l.c., and hosted by Joe Schembri, chief officer at TradeMalta and lecturer at the University of Malta.
Internationalisation services
TradeMalta offers a wide range of services tailored to the needs of Malta-based companies planning to take that first step towards internationalisation, making the leap easier, more efficient, and ultimately more effective. This includes specialised training programmes in international business development and marketing, industry data, and insights on specific markets and sectors. Market research is imperative for companies who seek to internationalise their operation as it provides insight into market gaps, trends and customer needs, thus enabling businesses to make a well-informed decision before starting on their export journey.
TradeMalta also offers support to established exporters who reach out to the organisation for a different set of services such as enabling introductions through the Maltese diplomatic network and facilitating B2B contacts with enterprises in international markets.
For more information visit www.trademalta.org.