In this exclusive interview, Perfumer & Flavorist+ connects with Wilfrid Gambade, the newly appointed CEO of Eternis. With a rich career spanning major chemical corporations and private equity, Gambade brings fresh energy and vision to Eternis. He shares his insights on what attracted him to the company, Eternis' ambitious growth strategy and how sustainability is at the heart of its operations.
Wilfrid Gambade, the newly appointed CEO of Eternis
P&F+: You recently joined Eternis as CEO. What attracted you to Eternis and what is your vision for its future?
Wilfrid Gambade [WG]: Having worked in big corporates throughout the chemical industry for the majority of my career (Ciba Specialties chemical, Huntsman, DSM) and more recently with private equity (IGM Resins), I wanted to return to an area of the industry that I touched at DSM and loved, Aroma and Personal Care!
After meeting with Rajen Mariwala, the owner of Eternis, I was inspired by his vision for the business and his values. It was clear that Rajen and I shared very similar values on safety, sustainability and people. His desire to continue the ambitious growth journey that, the business has been on for over 20 years, has been infectious.
It didn’t take me long to realize that I wanted to work for one of the most well-known companies in the aroma chemical industry.
P&F+: Eternis has published its inaugural corporate sustainability report. Could you share some key highlights with us?
WG: It’s important to note that the report was issued just after I joined and had been in development for several months. Rajen has been a pioneer in sustainability for 15 years and has been driving the business to continually improve because it’s the right thing to do! Moving from coal-fired boilers to biomass briquettes, putting water stewardship at the heart of design, insisting on zero water discharge from the Indian facilities and investing in a solar farm are just some of the activities that have taken place.
With sustainability already high on the agenda, Eternis’ first corporate sustainability report was full of great progress. Our Ecovadis scores are gold and silver for the UK and India respectively and 65% of our electricity globally comes from renewable sources. We have also completed life cycle analysis (LCA) for more than 90% of our products.
This year we are working hard to develop a decarbonization plan aligned with the Science Based Target Initiative (SBTi) to deliver on our goal of a 30% reduction in our GHG intensity by 2030 and Net Zero by 2050. We are also engaging with our suppliers to help them on their own journey and therefore enable us to meet our customers' ambitions. We are offering our customers lower carbon and circular carbon options for several of our products, using ISCC+ to ensure the integrity of the claims.
At the same time, we continue to work on our internal processes to reduce our GHG emissions and we have some exciting innovations in development including burning waste hydrogen from our processes and working on biotech solutions to generate value from waste streams.
P&F+: What are some of the current missions Eternis is currently undertaking?
WG: I very quickly understood that Eternis has a very strong DNA, which has made the business so successful over the years. We are ‘Eternally Agile and Forever Customer Centric’ and this DNA will help drive the next phase of business growth. We will continue to invest and grow in our core market of Aroma chemicals whilst developing a second leg to our business in an adjacent market. We will build on the strong brand that has been developed over many years of customer centricity.
Our R&D and engineering teams are working on a new range of products that will be a diversification from the F&F industry but will be complementary. We have also committed more resources to our M&A agenda following our successful acquisitions.
Finally, with the increasing volatility in global supply chains, we believe Eternis is perfectly placed to support our customers and industry partners to diversify the risks by exploiting the agility and quality in our operations, further enhancing our position as an OEM manufacturer of choice.
With these activities, we aim to further accelerate our growth and the global footprint of the business.
With sustainability already high on the agenda, Eternis’ first corporate sustainability report was full of great progress.
P&F+: Eternis boasts being India's largest exporter of aroma chemicals. Does Eternis have plans to expand its production capacity or enter new markets in the coming years? What regions or sectors are you targeting for growth?
WG: We are building an increasingly international organization with members of both sales and executive teams in France, Netherlands, Spain and India. We have recently appointed, Achim Daub formerly President of Scent and Care of Symrise in the US to our board of directors and a senior US-based salesperson will join us in early 2025.
Our manufacturing footprint has also grown significantly over recent years. The purchase of Tennants Fine Chemicals Ltd. in 2021 added a UK factory, and in 2023, we broke ground on our latest and largest facility in India, adding another 30 acres to our portfolio in Pune. We now have 4 manufacturing plants in India and 1 in the UK. We also have an R&D facility in India, supporting our improvement and new product agenda.
We have a logistic hub in Singapore and FTZ-enabled warehouse facilities in New Jersey and the Netherlands to ensure we effectively and efficiently meet our customers' needs around the globe.
It is important that we keep this rhythm of expansion in the coming years. We will also continue our global reach and international development. Looking at the sustainability impact of a global business and lowering carbon footprint we are looking at expanding our manufacturing footprint in regions like EMEA and North America.
P&F+: What is Eternis’ long-term vision for its ingredient portfolio, and how does it align with global trends in sustainability, consumer safety, and innovation?
WG: There are five key growth drivers in our strategic vision.
1. The first is “excellence in our Core”. To build a strong future, we can’t forget what has got us where we are today: a ruthless focus on cost, continuous improvement, customer service, and agility.
2. Secondly, we are investing time in developing new products that are biodegradable and meet sustainable criteria.
3. The third pillar is sustainability. We believe we are well advanced for a company of our size, and we continue to push hard to improve and make meaningful reductions in our manufacturing emissions while working with our suppliers to do the same. In parallel, we are identifying suppliers with lower carbon footprints to immediately impact our product carbon footprints.
4. The fourth pillar is India for the world, we believe India is ideally placed to solve supply chain issues that are impacted by geo-political issues
5. Finally, our M&A program is focused on targets that evolve our portfolio to meet the future needs of our customers.
With these focus areas, we truly believe we will meet the challenges of the future as we have managed to grow and thrive over the last 20 years.
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