Employee in the spotlight: Tony Ong

Can you tell us more about your job at Kemin? What does it involve?

I’m part of the marketing team lead by Kelly De Vadder and I function as the Market Intelligence & Data Analyst. This is quite a mouthful, so let me elaborate on this. My first tasks at Kemin were about analysing results. I’m the data guy of the company, so I analysed the current results of our business unit: net sales, gross margin, as well as business retention. But my job’s more than just analysing results. They expect me to analyse the competition as well. To quote my colleague Luca Barbieri, our Protein Business Development Manager: “who does what, for how much and where?”. Three crucial questions I deal with. I help my team in positioning our regional activities to secure our existing businesses and to create new ones. In short: I report, analyse, summarize data and make it useable to define action plans.

Kemin is a huge global company, with a local approach. What do you like best about your employer?

My favourite values are by far openness and trust. That’s also the reason why my team feels like family. Because in our team it’s just like family affairs: if you can’t share your opinion in a respectful way, that relationship will deteriorate. Being surrounded by good leaders is key to achieve this kind of trust and respect within a team. Luckily, we’ve got some good leaders at Kemin to get us all aligned.

Do you already have a favourite Kemin segment or product?

For my job I’m not particularly focused on a particular segment of Kemin, so it’s difficult to talk about specific items. But if I must choose one, I will definitely pick RUBINITE™ GC Dry, our patent-pending alternative to nitrites in processed cooked meat. There are several reasons for this choice. First: this product has been released the same year I started working for Kemin. Secondly: I strongly believe in this product that it can make a difference. And finally: my colleagues Ines Colle (our R&D Manager) and Caroline Ecoffard (our Product Platform Manager) received prizes for their great presentations at our annual Worldwide Scientific Meeting and Commercial Excellence Summit at Kemin. I’m proud of them to receive this recognition for their efforts!

What particular challenges do you face in your daily work?

In short, it’s my function to be a facilitator. This means I have to make sure I make life easier for my business partners. Read: it’s my job to take their challenges away. I do so by providing them information: useful, concise, high-quality data at the right time.

If I must choose a challenge I’m faced with, I will go for working fully remotely. It’s a new way of working for me. I need to guard my work-life-balance, but this task is going quite well for me. In general, I’m grateful towards the company and Kelly for granting me the trust and flexibility to work this way.

How do you like spending your time outside of work?

I recently moved to Nice, so the area is still quite new to me. I love to explore the neighborhood with walks in the area. Sunsets always put a smile on my face. Just as discovering new restaurants, which I can do a lot since I’ve moved to a new city. I spoiled myself as well with a season pass for Olympique de Marseille: the football team of Marseille. Once or twice a month I attend the game at the Velodrome stadium. And last, but not least: concerts. I absolutely love going to concerts. To feel and hear the music is, together with football, my biggest passion!