Name: Perrine CAVAT
Born: 18 may 1981
Status: single
Function: Marketing Specialist, Nestlé Purina UK.
Hobbies: Sailing, Climbing and Cultural activities
2005: Msc Food Sciences in ESA University, Angers, France – Assistant Trade Marketing for Lipton Ice Tea at Unilever Paris, France.
2006: Join the IMST Program - 3 weeks basic introduction in Nestlé Headquarters, Vevey, Switzerland.
GSBUA trainee (Generating Sales Business Unit) & Corporate Communication assistant for Nestlé Purina Petcare Europe – 1 month Capacitation within Purina in St Louis, MI and Fayetteville, AR, USA.
2007: CSD assistant responsible for the Wal-Mart Mexico account - 2 days: ACNielsen Course, Mexico DF, Mexico, 1 day: JDA ProSpace course, Mexico DF, Mexico.
Sales representative for Nestlé Purina Petcare Mexico.
Key Account assistant for Wal-Mart, Gigante, Soriana and Chedraui.
2008: Marketing assistant in the Dog Treats team in Purina USA - Summer MBA trainee.
2009: ABM Dry Cat (Go Cat & Purina ONE brands) in Purina UK.
"As an opportunity to work abroad and to grow my knowledge and experience in Marketing & Sales, Nestlé international Graduate program fit amazingly in the plans. Since the day I moved from Paris to Switzerland, I haven’t stayed more than three months in the same Place or Position!
Flexibility is THE key word of this program and it is not restrictive to geography. I discovered through Pet Food a whole new and extraordinary dynamic business area, a wide range of different work organizations, various business cultures, and in each market a very specific set of products, opportunities and problematic.
The program has had three stages: an introduction to Nestle business and to my Product Category in Switzerland, then a two-time training in Sales and Marketing abroad and eventually a first assignment in a foreign Market.
In Switzerland, the introduction to most aspects of the Corporate Business in the Nestlé Company offers the opportunity to meet most of the Company leaders and executives. During this stage, you get introduced to your Category Strategic Business Unit, in order to understand the worldwide dynamics of their Product Category, which is incredibly insightful. I worked both with the Generating Demand Unit which concentrates the experience in Sales & Marketing trans-categories worldwide, and within the Corporate Communication team of Nestlé Purina Europe on a website improvement and best practices exchange in between Markets of the European zone.
The Pet Food SBU being in the USA, I have been sent one month to the US headquarters, before moving to the Sales Team in Nestle Purina Mexico.
During the year I worked in Mexico, I have been assistant Category Manager for Wal-Mart in CSD (Category & Sales Development), where I learned what it takes to be Captain of Category for the largest Retailer Worldwide; Sales Representative, which was a deep dive into the Mexican market, with my own sector to look after and a team of 10 promoters to manage, which means a new challenge to tackle each day; and finally I worked with the Key Accounts Management Team, analyzing and knowing every main customer of the Mexican market.
The Marketing-focused part of the training took place in Saint Louis, Missouri. As part of the Treats Marketing Team, I worked among some of the best in class marketers worldwide, in an incredibly committed and performing team on new products development, consumer insights research, website development and pack renovations, building strengths for the first assignment.
I am now ABM on Go Cat in UK, in a very different mature and challenging market where the pressure put on by private labels dictates a whole new strategy.
This program is amazing, and maybe the most amazing thing of the Nestlé Program is you get to work closely with so many other departments that you build up a fascinating view of how all the business fits together. You are in the Big Picture. It also offers you a set of contacts that’s invaluable in increasing your experience and growing new ideas. It can certainly be tough: a lot is expected from you and everything you do has real consequences on the business. This means that you will be supported and advised, that you will most probably fail sometimes but nobody will ever let you go terribly wrong, and that’s the funny and great part of it: it gives you opportunity to test your own confidence in yourself and in your ideas, it’s for real and it’s all about you and your achievements. So be ready for everything and go for it!"