Gold Magazine April - May 2013, Issue 25 | Page 43

obvious way is to have things in the local
language,” Stavrinou explains, “but the
music we use in each country will also be
local. It’s very important to connect with
the culture of each market. You can’t simply dream up an international marketing
campaign and hope to have precisely the
same effect in, for instance, the UK and in
Tanzania.”
Following the resolution and restructuring of Cyprus’ two biggest banks, many
commentators have not hesitated to herald
the demise of the professional services
sector. I ask Stavrinou how he feels about
what has happened and what his thoughts
are as he looks ahead to six months or a
year from now and beyond.

it’s easy to sell a product once but in order
to sell it again you need a lot of customer
service and bit of marketing. We have that.
We’ve established ourselves in the services
industry as good customer service people.
As I said before, we go the extra mile, not
because we want to show off but because
we really want to and that makes the
Cyprus services sector a sellable, credible,
bankable, trustworthy product that people
will come back to again and again. So yes,
I am down about this particular situation
but there is light at the end of the tunnel.
We can all see it and we have no other
choice but to make our way towards it.
This doesn’t mean to get to it as quickly
as possible but as strategically as possible

The Cyprus serv
ices s
credible, banka ector a sellable,
ble, trustwort
hy
product that pe
ople
will come back
to again and aga
in
“I think you’ve hit the nail on the head
in the wording of your question. We’ve got
to look ahead,” he replies. “We have no
choice but to look forward and I feel that I
am part of an entire nation that is looking
forward at this moment. As Cypriots we
are fortunate to have a fantastic characteristic: survival is in our DNA. We’ve survived
so many difficult situations, come back
and done better. We’ve been struck down
again and we’ve survived again. Each time
we’ve got back onto our feet and we’ve
grown taller and even more proud. Yes, we
are complainers; yes we cry and we point
fingers but at the end of the day people get
down to work and do something.”
Stavrinou views the Cypriots as “supremely patriotic people” for whom the
common goal is exactly the same for all,
“no matter whether you’re a hairdresser or
a house cleaner of the manager of SHARK
or a top lawyer in a major firm. Miraculously, people get together and they do
what they have to do.”
On the specific question of how the
present crisis will affect the services sector,
he remains optimistic. “I always say that

so that it becomes brighter month by
month, year by year. Eventually we’ll get
there, I’m very optimistic about that.”
If he sounds an optimist by nature, that
is not entirely true, he says. “In my life
I’ve had far too many negative things happen to me. I ought to be a pessimist!” He
does concede, though, that he tends to see
most things in a positive light. “The only
problem that we cannot solve is knowing
the precise time we’re going to die. Everything else has a solution – whether shortterm, long-term, difficult or easy. To me
the ultimate strategy in anything – from
selling energy drinks to enjoying a happy
personal life – is simplicity. Bring the
problem down to its simplest form and
deal with it. I think this is what we are all
doing now.”
Johny Stavrinou turns 40 this year
and he believes that it is now up to his
generation to pave the way for a brighter
future for those who are younger than
him and to create opportunities for them.
“We cannot sit back and allow those who
have lived two thirds of their professional
life and are ready to retire to go back to

square one and do things for us,” he says.
“That would be irresponsible on our part.
People in my position who have the ability to do something for young people, for
institutions, non-profit organisations or
universities must realise that they have a
responsibility to pave the way – or at least
add a couple of avenues – for the youngster who is thinking right now, ‘Where
am I going in this country that is on the
brink of bankruptcy?’ It’s now up to us.”
Where does Stavrinou see himself at
50? Still here and marketing SHARK?
“I still want to be on the island of
Aphrodite, that’s for sure,” he states
confidently. “This is home for me, the
place where I’m very proud to be. I very
much doubt if you’ll find a prouder Cypriot than me – or one who criticises the
place as much as I do! But ten years from
now, I would still like to be part of this
company and involved in marketing this
brand and representing it at a global level.
Osotspa Europe Ltd in Cyprus is a subsidiary of Osotspa Co., Ltd in Bangkok
Thailand, a 120-year old company and a
world leader in speciality drinks. It possesses supreme business ethics and prides
itself on the supportive, trustworthy and
respectful relationship that it has established with its consumers, partners and
st