Alain Wirtz turns a page at the age of 35. The prospect is the origin of this Belgian giant, now flying the Japanese flag.
If you ask the average Belgian if they know the Zetes company, the answer is probably no. However, in his pockethis wallet actually houses a product signed by him Belgian flagship founded in 1984: the electronic identity card. It would be also applies to the driver’s licensebeyond that or even the new generation pass launched in 2021.
Monday morning, an honor guard was founded by the employees of Panasonic Center in Tokyo. And for a good reason proudly greeted Princess Astrid, accompanied by several ministers, as part of Belgium’s economic mission to Japan, which ended on Friday. On this occasion, The 2017 alliance between the Japanese tech giant and the Brussels-based company was duly celebrated.
The solutions developed by the Belgian company can be seen in very specific areas in Asia.
Not so much because of the pretense, but because, as several speakers have reminded us, the solutions developed by the Belgian company can be seen in very specific areas in Asia. You can find them, for example, in the scope of delivery Spare parts from the giant Toyotaif they could even be shipped tomorrow in the new Japanese passport. On this last point, the company is actually negotiating with the government of Fumio Kishida.
“It takes a period of adjustment”, smiles Alain Wirtz, its founder, met far away from this tumult, in a living room of the social club TheMerode, on Place Poelaert, in Brussels. After more than 35 years at the helm, the man left the ship earlier this year. “Now I’m boredwhich was never the case before,” he says.
A luxurious? “Yes, somewhere. But I’m not sure if it fits my personality. Still, I’m definitely walking a bit slow down now“, he informs, after all, the last few years have not been easy since then the exit from the Zetes exchange, after the takeover for around 300 million euros. “I had committed to staying on board for three years but due to Covid I ended up returning for two more.”
Finish in style
A crowning conclusion, because “financially our numbers have exploded (Sales ended 2021 at 300 million euros, compared to 253 in 2017Ed) due to the Boom in e-commerce and the subsequent organization of logistics. However, we are still leaders in this field in Europe,” stresses Alain Wirtz, who started his career replacing Colruyt’s punched cards with barcodes – “at a time when this technology was only used in libraries” – before he goods built a giant in barcode identification (most of the activity) and people physically present today in more than 30 countries and with factories in Belgium, Israel, Ivory Coast and Gambia.
leave the company “on record results” and after having appointed a successor from among its members (in the person of Pierre Lambert, who until then had been CFO for almost 22 years), the man wished his baby that the 1,300 employees would continue to grow, “via a mixture of organic and external growth, as was the case”. For his part, he doesn’t intend to ditch his apron altogether. Due to the accumulated know-how, he is open to joining one or the other board of directors along the way.
Until then, He will continue to seek out technological nuggets, “depending on the occasion,” and tending to his past investments in half a dozen startups, including Fline, the latest behind a smart breathalyzer of some sort. On the other hand, the person concerned does not count as a football lover don’t invest in football. “The football clubs I love are priceless,” he laughs of Real Madrid.
His best memory? Beyond the beginnings in mass distribution, then diversification in the identification of people through the acquisition of a one euro debit and credit card factory put up for sale by KBC and BNP Paribas Fortis”, I would say without hesitation Voter identification in Congo, twice, under the aegis of the United Nations. This is THE project of my life that won against all odds. The pressure was in place with the need to mobilize by June 30, under the political and royal palace print, when we signed in early May. blind people The logistics were giganticit was necessary to charter planes, canoes… to take the crews to the operational sites in a country bigger than Europe”.