In the 26-year History of the Contest, This is the First Time a Female Leader Has Been Honored with the Most Prestigious Recognition from the World’s Largest Drinks Company
The corporate Partner of the Year Award was presented at the Diageo Annual Conference in recognition of outstanding overall partner’s performance in: exceptional long-term relationships, sustainable financial performance, business development, culture and maturity of the partner. For the first time in the history of the competition, which has been held for over a quarter of a century, a female leader in the name of Alexandra Mirtcheva, Chief Executive Officer of the financial group VM Finance Group, part of which is also Avendi, received Diageo’s most prestigious recognition of the world’s largest producer of premium drinks.
“Every year Diageo Eastern Europe celebrates together with our distributor partners our joint achievements. I am very proud that this year, for the first time ever, our Partner of the Year award went to a distributor that is led by a female leader. Congratulations to Alexandra Mirtcheva, whose leadership created the exemplary partnership between our teams that makes our brands succeed. At Diageo we champion diversity in everything we do, and this award marks a great milestone in our diversity journey”, said Agnes Dalos, HR Director, Region Central and Eastern Europe, Diageo.
“I am extremely proud of how we are developing the business and achieving exceptional results. I am grateful to my team for their resilience, passion and dedication, as these remarkable achievements are only possible thanks to the great people at our company. I am pleased to have such strong partner supporting us strategically and I believe this recognition signals a long-term partnership and future investments”, said Alexandra Mirtcheva, Chief Еxecutive Оfficer of VM Finance Group, part of which is Avendi. “This award comes at perfect time for us, as VM Finance Group celebrates its 30 th anniversary this year”, she added.
Diageo’s recognition is award given through nominations and decisions made by company’s top management. Avendi earned this honor by delivering exceptional results, including strong market performance and sales growth in the most premium categories. This success is also attributed to their ability to develope inovative profitable strategies, make effective marketing investments, and implement standards and practices that achieve organizational and operational excellence fostering innovation.
These achievements were acomplished in a highly competitive market characterized by fierce competition for market share, price sensitivity and intensive promotional and activation calendars. The award recognizes Avendi’s success in achieving sustainable momentum in the off-trade channel (retail network), strong development in the on-trade channel (hotels, restaurants, cafes and bars), the acceleration of e-commerce trade and the advancement of data analysis and processing technologies.
Today, Avendi continues to invest in its people, structures, and technologies successfully developing the categories and brands within its portfolio. As a leader in the marketing and distribution of fast moving consumer goods, company upholds the highest standards of professional diversification. Avendi exemplifies the importance of global corporate practices such as equal opportunities, diversity and gender and age equality, maintaining the same number of women and men within the company, which is part of VM Finance Group. Avendi has built an inclusive culture and working envoironment that values diversity, demonstrating unwavering support and dedication to every team member.
