San Rafael, Bulacan, The Philippines
August 7, 2017
Leading tropical vegetable seed company, East-West Seed, named Henk Hermans as new General Manager in the Philippines, effective 11 July 2017. Former General Manager of East-West Seed Philippines, Dr. Mary Ann Sayoc, has taken on a new role, representing EWS globally as Lead Public Affairs for the East-West Seed Group.
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Henk brings over 20 years of management, marketing, and sales expertise gained in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.
Since joining East-West Seed in 2015 as Senior Advisor for Facilities Development, Henk has led the setup of facilities for East-West Seed in Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar and India. One of his most notable projects was the unique and stunning East-West Seed Regional Head Office in Nonthaburi, Thailand.
Henk completed an international executive programme in General Management from INSEAD in Singapore and France. He also graduated with an MSc in engineering from Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands.
“There are a lot of opportunities in the vegetable industry that Filipino farmers can tap. East-West Seed will continue to uphold its commitment to support Filipino farmers to unlock their full potential, by providing them access to high-quality seeds and knowledge in new farming technologies. Together with our partners, we will also support the farmers by strengthening the whole vegetable value chain, and encouraging more people to eat and grow vegetables, ” said Hermans.
About East-West Seed
East-West Seed is market leader for tropical vegetable seeds in Asia and expanding rapidly in Africa and Latin America. The privately-owned company has played an important role in the development and improvement of tropical vegetable varieties in Southeast Asia and other tropical countries. When Dutch seedsman Simon Groot founded the company in 1982, he set out to improve the income of smallholder farmers in the tropics through high-quality seeds. East-West Seed develops vegetable varieties that are adapted to tropical markets and growing conditions and generate increased yield and productivity for farmers. In addition, the company educates farmers and helps them to maximize their yield and income through better knowledge on vegetable production.
East-West Seed is one of the 10 largest vegetable seed companies in the world, with a leading position in the most important Southeast Asian countries and rapid expansion into India, Myanmar, Vietnam and parts of Africa and South America. In 2016 it ranked number 1 on the Access to Seeds Global Index for Vegetable Seed Companies and on the Regional Index for Eastern Africa.
East-West Seed is based in Thailand. The company employs over 5,000 people and has 15 R&D establishments in 7 countries. The company exports to over 60 countries in tropical areas of the world and serves over 18 million farmers around the world.