IO: Tell us something about Euro Safety Group of Companies.
VB: In order to know about Euro Safety Group, it is important to learn about when it all began. In 1979, Roger Group was founded as a manufacturer and exporter of leather fashion upper and complete footwear. After an elaborate and successful journey in the footwear business, the group decided to diversify into the manufacturing of industrial safety footwear. Thus, in 2004 Euro Safety Footwear (India) Pvt. Ltd. was incorporated and by 2012 we were manufacturing and exporting more than 650,000 pairs worldwide. In 2014 Euro Safety Group established Boa Safety Solutions in South Africa and started supplying head-to-toe PPE to the African market. In 2019 Euro Safety Equipments Pvt. Ltd. was set up to manufacture industrial work-wear, disposable PPE etc in line with GoI's "Make in India" initiative. In 2020 the group launched Euro Safety Solutions Pvt. Ltd., dedicated to providing safety solutions to various industries in India as per global safety standards. Lately, in 2021, the group decided to move towards vertical and horizontal diversification and thus, Euro Safety Nonwovens Pvt. Ltd. Was incorporated to manufacture non-woven fabrics.
IO: You were already marketing PPE in India then why did you launch Euro Safety Solutions?
VB: The reason to establish Euro Safety Solutions was to have a more focussed approach to providing PPE in India. Yes we were already selling in India but that was all branched under our export units and somehow I felt the need to have a more India-centric product and business model. During and after the pandemic, India started to pay more attention to Safety Products. India began catching up to the international safety and quality standards that paved the way for us to offer products that we were already developing and testing for the global market. The idea behind Euro Safety Solutions is to have a more customer and hazard-centric approach. Mitigating hazards in industries and offering bespoke Safety Solutions to them is what we are doing in a more streamlined way, so as to give their workers a safer working environment. Very often industries in India have to buy costly, imported PPE for such mitigation it is this lacuna that Euro Safety Solutions wants to plug, by providing Indian industries with world class "Made in India", safety equipment at affordable prices.
IO: How you are different from your competitors?
VB: We don't just sell products, we try to understand the client's exact requirements and customise it for the clients. Customisation for us
doesn't just mean putting the customer's logo on our products. We completely design and develop a safety product from scratch for our customers by fully understanding the application and hazards. All of this is done while maintaining international standards of quality, testing norms and pricing our offering at Indian price points.
IO: What have you learned from this pandemic?
VB: The pandemic offered a stark reminder of just how vulnerable human life is and the need to shore up safety in the work environment. It also emphasised just how vulnerable the Indian manufacturing sector is to a surge in demand for health and safety products. Euro Safety Group rose to the occasion on both counts and not only diversified into COVID centric medical products to help save lives, but also started ramping up production of raw materials such as non-woven materials so as to meet the astronomical demand for health and safety products without completely depending on international sources. The pandemic certainly increased both the agility (flexibility) and efficiency of our company, and we would very much like to draw upon these lessons and provide every sort of health and safety products to the Indian market, during the rest of the pandemic and well beyond, till India becomes self-sufficient in PPE and safety solutions.
IO: What is Euro Safety Solutions' vision?
VB: Our vision is to educate our customers about the need for Safety. Our vision to is provide our customers with the right Safety products. All of this for a Safer India and a more Self-reliant India.
Today, euro safety group is recognised as one of Asia's largest integrated PPE manufacturers in terms of brand value, quality and customer centrism
IO: Why is Euro Safety Solutions not participating in trade fairs/exhibitions?
VB: Well, Euro Safety Solutions is very new and hardly any offline exhibition has taken place but even before the pandemic, we have had a chance to understand what ROI there is to expect from these shows. For example, if an Oil Rig is my customer and their representatives visit me in an exhibition, neither can we understand what they truly need and nor can we both truly give each other the time to discuss. My technical team will anyway have to visit them for an assessment. We prefer to build long term interpersonal relationships with our customers and give them tailor made solutions for their needs, hence we do not feel the need to channel our outreach via exhibitions.
“We prefer to build long term interpersonal relationships with our customers and give them tailor made solutions for their needs.”
IO: How many brands are you currently marketing? Anything new in development?
VB: In India we are currently marketing two brands mainly. Euro Security, which is offering premium head-to-toe safety products and EUROCK, that is offering an affordable range of Safety Footwear that is specifically designed after years of researching the Indian market. We are working on adding a few more brands that will represent some of our latest innovations in safety as well as lifestyle products. Our team is really excited and we plan to launch soon.
IO: Have you won any awards recently?
VB: Speaking of recent awards, our brand EUROCK won the Uttar Pradesh Best Brand Award in the Footwear category by CMO Asia & World Marketing Congress in 2021. Euro Safety Equipments Pvt. Ltd. won the Go Global Awards Frontrunner Manufacturing Award by International Trade Council in 2021. Euro Safety Group of Companies secured First Place for Excellent Export Performance in the Leather Footwear category (upto Rs. 200cr) at the Council of Leather Exports' National Export Awards 2020-2021. Euro Safety Footwear (India) Pvt. Ltd. won the Best-in-Class Award for Productivity in Manufacturing (Footwear category) from Stars of the Industry Group in 2020. Euro Safety Group of Companies won the Best In Class Award for Manufacturer of The Year (PPE Category) from Stars of the Industry Group in 2020.
