Giving China the biotech advantage

CEO Nielsen aligns Novozymes with nation's embrace of high-quality development

Peder Holk Nielsen, 63, president and CEO of Novozymes, a global biotechnology company headquartered in Denmark, has coined an aphorism: Life is too short not to have a good job.

Clearly, he has landed a great one for the nth time in a 35-year career with Novozymes. "I have held many different positions in Novozymes. Every job I have had has been a great one. This one (president & CEO) is also a great one."

The fact that the last few years have not been easy for the company does not alter his view. "It's absolutely a great job and (we have) fantastic people here. We human beings have things we enjoy and get energy and passion from."

China's embrace of high-quality development after decades of rapid economic growth has brought challenges as well as opportunities to foreign businesses such as Novozymes, he said.

And his challenge now, he said, is to try and make the best possible decisions for the company.

In the China market particularly, he sees bioethanol fuel as a potential growth driver, and hopes the local policies will be supportive of efforts to increase applications of the fuel.

Bioethanol is commonly made from biomass such as corn or sugarcane, which is mostly used as a motor fuel, mainly as a biofuel additive for gasoline.

Novozymes has been cooperating with many countries to build bioethanol plants, providing this pollution-free fuel to the transportation sector.

The United States is the biggest producer and consumer of bioethanol fuel in the world with an annual production of more than 45 million metric tons with corn as the raw material. It accounts for about 10 percent of the country's total gasoline consumption.

After the US, Brazil is the second-largest bioethanol user in the world with sugarcane as the raw material.

With the Chinese government making massive efforts to reduce carbon emissions and protect the environment for the last several years, the usage of bioethanol in China has been growing. It has reached around 2.6 million tons annually, and trails only the US and Brazil.

In August last year, the State Council, China's Cabinet, decided to enlarge the applications of bioethanol in the transportation sector, which has made it a national strategy to accelerate the bioethanol industry.

"China has huge potential in the area since the bioethanol consumption only takes up 2 percent of the total mix in the transportation sector while the figure in the US is 10 and in Brazil it's 30," said Nielsen.

He further said the company will continue to invest in China and hold discussions with its existing partners, to closely follow any new policies and opportunities.

The company commands a 48-percent share of the global industrial enzymes market. Its products are widely used in sectors like household care, food and beverages, agriculture, bioenergy, textiles, and waste water treatment.

Owing to the rising consumption power of China's middle-income group, the company's performance has been good and growing in the country. In 1997, Novozymes became the first foreign biotechnology company to set up a research and development center in China.

"We will consider three new areas: water treatment, protein and human oral and gut health, which could bring new business opportunities," said Nielsen.

"The biotechnology sector is moving so fast. We are a research-intensive company and in a position we enjoy. So, we will keep investing in China and stay close to the local needs."

All of the company's products, he said, help make the earth more sustainable. And that, he said, is the reason why he loves his job deeply.

"I'm proud to lead a company that develops technology to help solve some of the world's most pressing challenges - climate change, dwindling natural resources and rising demand for food and feed as populations grow," he wrote in his LinkedIn introduction online.

"It's crucial for business leaders to make right decisions. All business leaders favor certainty which is important for companies," he said.

However, the current world is not so certain, to be sure. The China-US trade dispute and the Brexit imbroglio are creating a sense of uncertainty among corporates, and Nielsen is seized of the matter.

"We want to navigate the company in a positive way, but in the last few years, uncertainty has deepened. How do those factors influence us and where will it take us?"

On a personal note, he flies frequently to different markets and thinks about the tools he would use when recession strikes. "Make sure you like what you do. Only that way, you will have fun" - that's the dad-speak his kids hear all the time, he said.