Shin Sang-yeol, head of the future business division of Nongshim (executive vice president), set a vision to become a "global F&B lifestyle leader" as the company prepares to celebrate its 60th anniversary next year. It is interpreted that Shin, the eldest son of Nongshim Chairman Shin Dong-won, expressed a strong will to expand the company's presence in the global market as he officially takes on a management role.
According to the food industry on the 18th, Shin recently held a vision presentation session at the company's headquarters in Shindaebang-dong, Seoul, and presented the goal of becoming a global F&B lifestyle leader to the employees. In 2008, Nongshim announced its vision to become a global corporation with sales of 4 trillion won and an operating profit of 500 billion won by 2015, coinciding with its 50th anniversary. Although Nongshim has never surpassed 4 trillion won in annual sales, this vision presentation is interpreted as an encouragement to employees and a commitment to take a significant leap starting from next year as they celebrate their 60th anniversary.
In particular, with the recent domestic economic stagnation, the performance of domestic food companies has been dependent on overseas sales, and Nongshim is in a similar situation. While competitors such as Samyang Foods have overseas sales accounting for 75%, Nongshim's ratio is in the 40% range. The presentation of this vision by Nongshim is seen as a declaration of its goal to significantly expand its overseas presence in the future.
Shin was promoted from senior managing director at the end of last month. Born in 1993, he is the eldest grandson of the late Shin Chun-ho, the founder of Nongshim, and the son of Chairman Shin Dong-won. After the late Shin Chun-ho passed away in March 2021, he received 200,000 shares of Nongshim stock from the 350,000 shares left behind. His equity stake is 3.29%. He also holds 65,251 shares (1.41%) in the holding company Nongshim Holdings. Excluding his father, Shin Dong-won (42.92%), uncle Shin Dong-yoon, chairman of Yulchon Chemical (13.18%), aunt Shin Yun-gyeong (2.16%), and foundation and internal funds, he holds the largest equity stake.
Shin graduated from Columbia University in the United States in 2019 and joined Nongshim as a member of the management planning team the same year. After just one year at the company, he was promoted to assistant manager in 2020, followed by a promotion to manager of the management planning team, and then to senior managing director in charge of purchasing at the end of 2021. After being promoted to managing director just three years ago, he quickly ascended to executive vice president, which has been seen as accelerating the succession process to the third generation at Nongshim. Nongshim stated, "The decision to promote him to executive vice president in the future business division was made with the intent to entrust him with a central role in determining the company's growth direction and expansion."
Shin currently leads the newly established future business division created during the organizational restructuring last January. The future business division is responsible for developing new businesses, including mergers and acquisitions and creating future business portfolios. The purchasing position he held previously is a crucial role managing raw material supply, product prices, and cooperation with suppliers. Therefore, he has steadily received solid operational training by passing through key departments. An industry official noted, "Shin focuses on the core business without turning towards other sectors outside of food, but the pressure to prove his managerial ability is significant, given his rapid rise in promotions."
◇Shin's tasks are to pioneer global and new businesses
Shin faces the challenge of moving beyond the core ramen business to discover new food sources. Last year, Nongshim recorded consolidated sales of 3.41 trillion won and an operating profit of 212.1 billion won, marking a massive increase of 9% and 89.1%, respectively, compared to the previous year. By item, sales of ramen accounted for 2.67 trillion won, representing 78.6% of total sales, while snacks only accounted for 505 billion won, or 14.8%.
An industry official stated, "What Nongshim's ramen pursues is a 'deep flavor' rather than a '刺激的 맛' and the new consumer group for ramen, the MZ generation, is accustomed to a刺激적인 맛,' adding that 'to enhance competitiveness, they must secure new consumers through business diversification and exploration of future food sources.'
Since 2017, Nongshim has actively pursued the development of alternative meats and introduced the vegan food brand "Vegigarden," and has been focusing on health functional foods starting in 2020 with brands like "Lifel." The smart farm business has also been ramping up. It devised a system to cultivate domestically grown strawberries that cannot grow in desert-like climates, expanding into the Middle East, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia.
Previously, Chairman Shin Dong-won noted at last year’s annual general meeting, "Since our main products are ramen and snacks, we will think of better ways to excel in these areas, but we also plan to steadily grow our recent new businesses, including alternative meats, health functional foods, and smart farms, even if it takes time." It is a situation where Executive Vice President Shin, who is responsible for the future business division, needs to contribute.
Meanwhile, in this personnel change, Shin's elder sister and the chairwoman's daughter, Shin Soo-jeong, who is in charge of the beverage marketing team, was promoted to managing director of the product marketing division. Born in 1988, Shin graduated from Cornell University in the United States and began working as a manager in the beverage marketing team in January 2022. The youngest daughter, Shin Soo-hyun, does not participate in Nongshim's management.