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FEATURE<br />
After a number of key<br />
changes to its Global<br />
Management Team, Rapala<br />
VMC is set for the future as<br />
it sets new goals and focus<br />
for the coming years. TTW<br />
editor John Hunter asked<br />
new president and CEO Lars<br />
Ollberg what it’s all about…<br />
TTW: FIRSTLY, LARS, WHAT BROUGHT<br />
YOU BACK TO RAPALA VMC? I<br />
THOUGHT YOU HAD RETIRED ?<br />
LARS OLLBERG: I have had a 40-year<br />
international career at Rapala, which ended<br />
with the duties of chief operating officer<br />
in Taiwan last summer. Or that’s what I<br />
thought…<br />
Last year, Rapala’s profits almost halved<br />
when the boom in the fishing trade stopped.<br />
In November, the board announced that<br />
CEO Nicolas Warchalowski was leaving the<br />
company. I was offered the position of CEO<br />
at Rapala.<br />
I looked into the future through my<br />
history. I started as an assistant at Rapala,<br />
doing this and doing that. I thought to<br />
myself, if I didn’t accept the position of<br />
CEO now I would regret it later. So, in May<br />
2023, I took the helm…<br />
THERE HAVE BEEN QUITE A FEW<br />
CHANGES IN THE LAST COUPLE OF<br />
YEARS AT RAPALA VMC. HOW HAS<br />
THE COMPANY DEALT WITH THOSE?<br />
Rapala is a success story, for which many<br />
products and customers bring resilience to<br />
recession.<br />
We closed the loss-making Batam lure<br />
factory in Indonesia. A modern central<br />
warehouse was built in Pärnu, Estonia.<br />
Everything looked deceptively good. But<br />
if you had looked at the situation from<br />
space, the entire Pacific Ocean was full of<br />
containers of fishing tackle!<br />
RAPALA VMC BOSS<br />
READY FOR ONE<br />
MORE TURN AS IT<br />
REVEALS STRATEGY<br />
18 www.tackletradeworld.com
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