VB-Airsuspension has been operating in the Eastern Europe region for some time now. Up to 2016, the general sales team at VB-Airsuspension served the ‘individual VB-Partners’ within the region. In 2016, the ‘Eastern Europe’ region received its own account manager from VB-Airsuspension, with Dani Georges Zodeh assuming this role in 2017.
He started his traineeship at VBA in early 2017, and later that year took over the reins as 'Area Sales Manager Eastern Europe'. We'd love to tell you a bit more about how Dani came to join VB-Airsuspension and how – thanks in no small part to him – the Eastern Europe region has grown to be what it is today.
Dani came to the Netherlands from Abu Dhabi in 2015, eager to take on his next challenge. He chose to study Dutch first, before starting his Master of Business Administration (MBA) in 2016. Dani began his traineeship at VB-Airsuspension in February 2017, where he was assigned the task of extending the warranty period to five years for the Eastern Europe region. VB-Airsuspension saw him as a suitable candidate, because he already had ten years' experience in the automotive sector behind him, acting as Global Certified Senior Service Advisor at Porsche Abu Dhabi – a decade he looks back on with great pride.
And it turned out to be a great match! After just three months, Dani was taken on as Area Sales Manager Eastern Europe on a part-time basis to allow him to continue his studies and traineeship at VB-Airsuspension. He was awarded his MBA degree at the end of 2018, by which time the region’s turnover had doubled. Since then, there has been a continued upward trend in this region.
The Eastern European region has now grown to 5 'VB importers', 27 'VB dealers’ and 35 'VB body builders'. Between them, they serve no less than 19 countries and have enjoyed significant growth in sales in the years since 2017. In total, 69% of this turnover was realised through the ambulances segment, with the other 31% coming from passenger transport, motorhomes and other applications.
Our success in the Eastern Europe region is made possible by the support from head office in the Netherlands and our VB-Partners throughout the region. Like many others, VB-Airsuspension Eastern Europe is continuing to experience product shortages and problems within the supply chain.
We are confident that we will overcome this in 2022 and that – together with our VB-Partners – we will be able to build on our existing relationships to enable VB-Airsuspension Eastern-Europe to continue to grow.
