Different industries, different countries, different challenges: it's all daily business for Esma El Harti, Managing Director at Cronos Nordics. Just look at her resume to see what we mean: from training as a physiotherapist🏅 to freelance photographer📸- and that was all before she entered the tech world. Let's see where the next challenge takes her.

A top athlete in business

Your path to the tech world wasn’t straightforward. Where did it begin for you?

Esma: I’ve always done gymnastics. So, my first choice was to become a sports teacher or physiotherapist. But then they introduced an entrance exam to limit the number of physiotherapists, so I rethought my plans. Apart from sports, I had always been fascinated by photography, partly because of my uncle, a self-taught and creative man, so it was an easy decision to pivot my study plans. I spent several years as a freelance photographer, working for different media as well as doing wedding photos. As a freelance photographer, you can earn very well, but more often, you don’t. This led me to a point where I asked myself: what now? Should I continue working as a freelance photographer or work for a company?

I decided to go for job security, which brought me to Canon. Funnily enough, even though they saw photography on my resume, I was offered a job as a planner in their service department for their large printers. A year later, I was transferred internally to a position as development and product manager - which was the beginning of my current position. At Canon, I learned a lot about sales, marketing, finance and dealing and negotiating with customers. After a brief stop at a major distribution company, Hermes de Backere of De Cronos Groep knocked on my door.

"Everyone needs help, opportunities or possibilities, but it's up to you to grab them and do something with them - they don't fall into your lap."

Esma: The way I am in business is the way I was in my sport: very focused. In sports, you are constantly challenging yourself. You're on the mat, doing a new exercise that can be dangerous, so you have to keep your focus and go for it. Your head has to be clear, not distracted and you have to be daring.

In fact, I take this attitude into everything I do. It's a mindset. I take a stand and go for it: watch what happens, analyze the results, take the hits that might come, and know in advance how I'm going to handle certain things. I research as much as I can in advance, not to be overly cautious, but to prepare myself for what could go wrong and what I could do to prevent or fix it. Once you're prepared, you can go for it and overcome whatever obstacles you encounter. This approach has made me resilient.

I also believe that if you decide to do something, you have to do it well. So I don't start anything half-heartedly, I know I have to work hard to get where I want to be. And I'm proud of what I've accomplished. Everyone needs help, opportunities or possibilities, but it's up to you to grab them and do something with them - they don't fall into your lap. That's the mentality I learned in sports that works well for me in the business world.

"When I do something, I want to do it right."

Going beyond status

Can you share a bit more about your path within De Cronos Groep?

Esma: I joined Cronos in September 2019 to take over some key accounts from Hermes. The first six months were a big adjustment: from a corporate structure, where everything is top-down, to Cronos, where people come first. Of course at Cronos you have to do your job, but never at the expense of your happiness or health.

When Corona started, I got a call saying they were pleased with what I had accomplished with clients and asked if I wanted to take on more accounts and responsibilities. I spent a day talking to various cluster managers about how I could help them. New opportunities presented themselves, such as helping Hyperion Group with their sales, starting a new sales team at Cronos, ... All opportunities for which I was very grateful.

What has this role taught you about yourself and your goals?

Esma: For many people, the next logical career move would be to become a manager. But I never thought that would suit me. I never had the goal of becoming CEO of a big company or anything like that within x number of years. And during these projects, I discovered something important about myself: I really enjoy starting something from scratch, but day-to-day management of a team doesn't suit me.

And if you're curious what else I enjoy is learning from people who can do something better, tutoring to help others and discovering new things. Even though I am commercially minded, I am not someone who wants to be in the foreground. I prefer working behind the scenes to help the companies within our group achieve success, rather than claiming that success from the front row.

I used to think you needed a title to achieve something. Fortunately, over time I realized that status has no bearing on achievement and happiness. Helping someone grow their business, helping people reach their full potential, that's where I find my happiness.

Looking back on my career, I was nervous when Hermes approached me to work for Cronos. It sounded too good to be true! But I just jumped. I grabbed that opportunity and I am so glad I did. I've been given so many opportunities and challenges and the freedom to explore what I can achieve.

"For many people, the next logical career move would be to become a manager. But I never thought that would be a good fit for me."

Can you briefly explain the Cronos system, for anyone not familiar with it (yet)?

De Cronos Groep is a holding company that works as an umbrella over more than 600 subsidiaries. The majority are positioned within clusters depending on the technology or services they focus on.

The leaders of these subsidiaries are the managing partners and the holding company was set up to provide them with everything they need to set up their business - except the technology, product or service they provide in their business model. De Cronos Groep wants each subsidiary to do what they do best, so they provide shared services, such as legal, HR, finance, fleet, mobile and sales, so each business unit can focus on the technology they want to bring to market.

Finding her next challenge

So, after building up the sales organisation, what was next for you?

Esma: Well, happily I’m still at Cronos, now working in Stockholm, Sweden. I’ve always wanted to work abroad, and I was offered the opportunity to build up a subdivision here called Cronos Nordics. This is a sort of ‘copy’ of the Cronos system, just in a different country. As well as acquiring or helping to start up local companies, we’re also helping Belgian companies to set up shop in the Nordics.

If you tell people you're moving to work on a different continent, they expect the change to be immense. But if you mention moving to Sweden, they think it will be the same as working in Belgium. And that's not the case. They're both modern Western countries, but the actual way of doing business and their cultures are very different. Yes, it's been an adjustment, but a positive one.

I enjoy digging in and finding out how things work for myself. like discovering how things work. Discovering how business works here, how to adapt to the new surroundings, and how to implement the things we know and our culture. We wanted to take the essence of De Cronos Groep and immerse it in a completely different society.

Can you give some examples of the things that challenged you or the adaptions you wanted to implement?

Esma: I've found that people in Sweden are very down-to-earth, they don't show off their status, or just show off in general. They care more about your words and the respect you show others than your status, and that includes respecting your time. I've been in countless meetings in Belgium where I've put in a lot of time preparing my presentation and for potential questions and after I've done my explanation the customer says "Well, I actually let you come here because I wanted to hear what you had to say, but I knew I wasn't interested." In Sweden, that would not happen. I'd call or email a customer and introduce myself and explain my offer and they would answer me honestly and directly. They don't set up a meeting if they're not interested in what I'm trying to sell or promote.

Work-life balance is also hugely respected in Sweden. People stop working at five. That's the end of the day, so people leave and their bosses don't say anything, unless the person is not doing their job of course. People don't get ahead by working long hours; they're evaluated on their performance. In fact, you're likely to be laughed at if you regularly stay late. There is a huge amount of respect for the individual, what you can do and achieve. And it's a consensus-based society, so everyone has to agree on what the rules are. That means everyone gets a vote, from the CEO to the person at the bottom of the ladder.

That sounds like it fits well with the culture at De Cronos Groep. What has been your experience?

Esma: Cronos does fit remarkably well in the culture there. Everyone I speak to here is surprised by Cronos' business model, because Sweden is a venture capital country. So everyone is looking for seed money, pre-seed money, angel investors, ... At Cronos, you only need a technology or service that you want to provide. We will help you with everything else.

With our involvement, the company doesn't need to look for any other investors. We take a majority stake in the companies we invest in, but we also provide everything they need. This approach saves start-ups from having to go out and to do their investor presentation 1,001 times until they find the perfect match, letting them focus on getting their idea off the ground. Plus, the startup becomes part of the Cronos ecosystem, benefiting from connections with the other 600 companies in the group. Moreover, our growing ecosystem makes it easier for us to offer an end-to-end service to our customers without needing to expand into more admin and signing a never-ending ling of contracts. As soon as I go into depth about what it means to work in the Cronos ecosystem, the pieces start to fall into place and people understand it.

Respecting her roots

You have accomplished so much at such a young age. What has helped you to achieve so much in such a short period of time?

Esma: One thing that has always been with me is the advice I got from my grandfather. He came to Belgium in the beginning of the 70s as a migrant worker and worked in the harbour, painting the bottom of the ships, a really hard job. But he said to me: “Nobody is ever going to give you anything. You have to work for it yourself, so you can never be late. You can never have an excuse as to why you couldn’t do your job. You do 100% of what you can do, and that’s it.” Those words have always stuck with me. You have to work for what you need and be proud of yourself so you can look at yourself in the mirror and say “I did everything I could do”.

"My grandfather always said, 'No one will ever give you anything. You can never have an excuse why you couldn't do your job.' That has always stuck with me."

You've grown so much over the past decade. Do you have mentors or support?

Esma: I'm only 38, so I'm still growing. I'm fortunate that Cronos provides the support I need, so I know I'm not doing it alone, and I have a great team that shares their enthusiasm. Even after four years here, Jef De Wit, one of the founders of Cronos, always asks me "Are you still happy with what you're doing?". That makes me feel like I'm in the right place.

How do you support your team? What advice do you have for them?

Esma: I have a great team around me that gives me the support and encouragement I need to grow Cronos Nordics. And it's not all one-way traffic. I also support and encourage everyone on my team.

I find it helpful to ask questions and learn from those around me. It's my grandmother's methodology. She was in the kitchen cooking and I used to run around her as a five-year-old and shout "I want to help, I want to help." And then she said no, I had to be quiet while I listened to her and watched what she was doing. Then I could try to do it myself. In other words, listening, learning, watching, analyzing. This has helped me all my life. In everything I do, I listen to the people who really know what they are doing and pick up what I need to help me along the way. I am always looking for people who are looking for knowledge.

That methodology has led me to be receptive to advice, but I try to find the advice that resonates with me, fits my personality, and is aligned with my values. That’s important. I always try to treat others as I’d like to be treated, so I tend to avoid people that don’t come across as being on the up and up about what they want to achieve. For me, this comes back to Cronos’ values: people first. And if your people are happy, the business will follow. It sounds easy. We don’t focus on targets or making money – of course, we have to make our targets and pay our people for doing an excellent job – but if our people are happy with the work they’re doing, then there’s no issue.