“It’s a good example of
why man does not have to
interfere with nature”
If you ask the CEO of one of Germany’s most successful mediumsized enterprises what projects he is currently involved with, the
answer is a wide-ranging one. For Professor Michael A. Popp the
focus is on the European launch of a new product from Bionorica’s
bestselling Sinupret family, and at his Castell Miquel winery in
Alaró the team is working on local products with an organic label.
His research in the field of phytopharmaceuticals has been widely
recognised – most recently he was
awarded the Bavarian Order of Merit
in 2016 for his commitment to sustainable business practices and his
voluntary work. It has been a record
year for Bionorica overall. The company, based in Neumarkt, Oberpfalz
recorded a net turnover of 244.3
million euros in 2015, an increase of
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5.1 percent compared to the previous
year. Despite the depreciation of the
Russian rouble, the company managed
to maintain its lead in its second most
important market after Germany.
“We want to grow still further,” says
Popp. Deluxe met the entrepreneur
at Sa Canova, his event finca between
Llubi and Sa Pobla, to talk about
agriculture, fair competition and
running your own company.
Professor Popp, following a change in your
team, your Castell Miquel winery launched in
2015 a range of products that includes jams,
olive oil and almonds. How does this tie in with
Bionorica?
Our focus is on quality. We were sure it would
sell well as I know from my own personal experience that at Christmas you often receive
gifts that you never use. I wanted to produce a
really good wine so that we always had a
great present to give our clients. That is how I
ended up with my own vineyard. Our doctors
and pharmacists then started to buy the wine
themselves and now they take the majority of
what we produce. We are the market leader in
herbal medicines in Russia and Ukraine, and
our wine goes there too. At Finca Sa Canova
there is a demonstration pharmacy where we
train phyto-pharmacists. Lots of groups visit us,
so I don’t need to worry about sales of our
wine. We also produce herbal salt and
almonds as promotional gifts, it is all part of
the overall marketing concept of Bionorica.
And now we have just made our own marmalade as I hated the idea of letting 14 tonnes of
oranges go to waste. So I asked my cook whether he could make marmalade from them. My
mother came for the tastings and now she no
longer makes her own. That is really something. This year we made 35,000 jars of marmalade, and my marketing team snapped
them up straight away. Mallorca is very good
for my wine because a lot of Germans live
here. Nikki Beach bowed to pressure from
German guests asking for my wine and finally
agreed to serve it. The problem is land, which
is really expensive. So farming is almost not
worth it here. If you need to buy extra land it
is very expensive as it’s nearly all sold for
development. If it is larger than three hectares
it can usually be built on. I would really like to
buy some more land, but at a sensible price. If
it comes to currency reform, then agriculture is
the right business to be in. People will always
need to eat.
Is Russia still the second most important market
for your pharmaceuticals despite the fall in the
rouble?
We are the market leader in herbal medicines
in Russia, we sell almost as many units there as
we do in Germany. Our strategy for coping
with the fall in the rouble is to grin and bear it.
That is the good thing about owning a company yourself. You are free to make your own
decisions. It all has a lot to do with the price of
oil and things will get back to normal again.