FCI Spotlight - Ms Gwendoline de Viron | FCI
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FCI Spotlight - Ms Gwendoline de Viron
FCI Spotlight - Ms Gwendoline de Viron
17 August 2022

In this edition of our spotlight series, we asked Gwendoline de Viron, FCI's Head of Marketing and Communication, to answer a few questions so you can get to know her better.

What got you started in the industry? 

I was working in the field of marketing. One of my previous colleagues’ husbands was looking for a Head of Operation for IFG (now integrated into FCI), and she told her husband I was the perfect match with the profile. He contacted me, and 3 months later, I started at IFG. It was a different environment as I worked more in the food and commodities market and B2C. It was the right time for me to change after 7 years in the same company I felt I had touched every part of the business there. When I started, my first task was to follow the foundation course to understand the factoring industry. 

How do you help FCI make an impact in the industry? 

As Head of Marketing and Communication, I am in the first line to promote to the outside world FCI. In the department, we are in charge of the website, social media (LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook), FCI App, every mailing, brochures, newsletter… So we have to make sure that what is created for FCI has an impact on the industry with three aims:  

  • Helping members to get the right information, elevate their membership and create more business. If we can reach this, members will have high satisfaction with their membership and stay in the Chain. 
  • Getting FCI known globally to gain new members. It’s linked to the above as if we have more members, members have more business opportunities. We know actors in the factoring industry evolve; some leave the business, so we must gain new members.  
  • Promoting the factoring industry. It will help my colleagues have more tools to lobby for the industry (for example, in emerging markets) and our members to develop more business as factoring can help many companies, especially SMEs. Knowledge of our industry is a key point for this. This also includes education as knowledge is key. 

The three points mentioned above impact all FCI's departments, so we are collaborating a lot with our colleagues to find the best way to impact FCI and its industry. 

What does your day look like generally? 

After breakfast, I start my day by reading my emails; as we are a global association, even at the beginning of the day, we always have many emails. I am trying to be always up-to-date with an email that is handled quickly. I try to overview the tasks that need to be done. After this, I either have an online meeting or start working on projects. The type of projects are diversified in my position, it includes creation/review of brochures, event preparation (from the practical organisation of hotel until speakers contacts and promotion), designing publications, discussing what else can be done to promote more FCI and factoring with my colleague Tanya, etc. I try to have time to be aware of what is happening in the industry through Linkedin and google alerts. It’s difficult to know how the day will take place; as I mentioned in the previous question, my position has to be in contact with all the departments of FCI, so there might be requests or questions from my colleagues that need my direct attention to help them to gain time, and I am always happy to respond. Before closing my day, I try to take some distance and have an overview of pending actions for myself and the marketing department to be sure we don’t forget anything. 

After my working day, I still have a lot to do at home as I have a big house and a big garden. 

What keeps you motivated? 

I am the kind of person that always needs a project, an aim, and a vision. If I don’t have any, motivation goes down. Sometimes my family and partner think I do too much, but I need this to keep me motivated and positive. When I get stuck on something (privately or professionally), I like to speak with someone to get the solution. Funny enough, you can ask some colleagues I call them to discuss, and I come up with the solution speaking nearly on my own. I believe the fact to speak out to someone helped me to get the solution. 

What is your favourite cuisine? 

I like Asian food. I always said I should have some Asian roots because if I feel sick, I would eat Chinese, Thai or Japanese food and feel better. I don’t like spicy food so I won’t take that kind of food from them, but the fact that most of their food is based on rice fits my stomach very well. 

What was your first car? 

My first car was a Citroën AX flashy green. It was my grandmother's old car; my older brother could use it when I needed a car to go to the university, it was decided my brother would have a new, used car, and I would get it. It was green so nobody could avoid me and it was easy to find in a big car parking. 

We want to thank Gwendoline for letting us get to know her a little more. Next week we will interview more of our Secretariat, so stay tuned!