Making Trade Happen

Coface’s purpose is to facilitate global and local trade by delivering solutions that help companies make the right commercial decisions. We work with businesses to prevent risks of non–payment and protect them via our credit insurer guarantees.

Our role is also to guide our clients through a world that is changing faster than ever before. We provide information to help our clients gain in-depth knowledge about their own customers, suppliers and prospects through an assessment of their financial health and reliability.

Moreover, we anticipate major economic trends and conduct risk analyses based on geographical location and industry sectors. Working at Coface entails contributing to the development and promotion of our unparalleled micro and macro-economic expertise. It also involves providing ongoing support to a diverse range of companies to aid them in their decision-making and commercial strategies.

• Our Coface Global Solutions teams support the development of multinational companies through a range of specific services. In this video, one of our clients - Tyrolit - talks about the support it receives from Coface on a daily basis.

Connecting with the world means connecting with each other!

One of Coface’s defining characteristics is that we’re a company on a human scale with global reach… where every individual matters. You will be surrounded by a diverse group of people with a powerful mix of generations, genders, and cultures. Our human dimension is also reflected in our collaborative ethos: we value simplicity, accessibility, and openness.

As an employer, Coface is committed to a socially responsible approach based on three key missions:

• Cultivating an inclusive work environment
• Supporting the growth of all our employees
• Promoting equal opportunities while actively opposing any form of discrimination

The Happeners Making Trade Happen How does Coface connect you to the rest of the world? I have always had to work with people who are very open-minded in a sense, very open to international growth. And in my day-to-day work I'm always working with people from other countries, both at the local level - there are always foreigners in almost all the subsidiaries - but also at the regional and group level. Everyday, we communicate with the risk underwriting centres located in seven regions around the world. I think the cultural context that we have gives us the opportunity to share and implement unconventional solutions, to exchange experiences, ideas; to look at different management styles, and implement some of them in our day-to-day work. What makes the employee experience at Coface special for you? I don't feel that there are differences in terms of culture, nationalities, or even location. For me, we work in a team that is located in different places, but in everyday life, we don't see where each of us is located. We work and we make progress on our projects. It's the style of communication between departments with a willingness to always help out, and to share the experience and knowledge. I know colleagues who have very local jobs, but have been assigned international, global or regional projects. And yes, I think that has always meant that Coface can make you feel comfortable, and that you can always have that international vision and that intercultural support. Coface has an open culture: here, we can speak up freely, and share ideas across the organisation. Coface is like a big family: it does not matter what your nationality is, or what accent you speak. Each of us is contributing to the world economy, and that's our common objective. At Coface, we are Making Trade Happen. The Happeners Making Trade Happen Watch the series at coface.com/happeners

What our Happeners say about it

• “Our internal Women to Lead network looks at ways to develop the careers of women at Coface. We are also committed to diversity and a mix of generations at every level of the company. Our diversity is also reflected in our decision-making - which is unquestionably an advantage!”

Leigh M. 
Risk, Legal and Compliance Officer in South Africa

Operating in sync with the global economy entails working in a multicultural environment. Our teams excel at leveraging their expertise and collaborating across borders to understand specific markets or address the challenges our clients encounter.

Our global perspective is integral to our everyday operations at Coface, where:

• You will collaborate closely with colleagues from around the world to better serve our clients globally.
• You will interact closely with colleagues of diverse nationalities and backgrounds in the workplace, during meetings, and in training sessions.
• Through our extensive international network, you will have ample opportunities for mobility abroad – even at the beginning of your career with Coface!

We received a request from a major French car manufacturer, who wants to develop its electric vehicle sales, via its main distributor in Denmark. How do you work together to meet clients' needs? I'll start by going to the Economic Research Department, to ask them for information about Denmark, specifically the electric vehicle distribution segment in the country, and market share figures, if possible. Then I go to the Information Department, to ask them about this distributor, what is the financial trend. As the economist for Northern Europe, I'm am of course the first port of call when it comes to Danish market issues. In this specific case that we're looking at, the first thing I'll do is examine automotive market data for Denmark. For example, registration figures, or the current e-vehicle trends. When I have summarized that, then I have a nice macroeconomic picture. But when it comes to micro data, for example, the specific business environment, then of course I pass this question on to my risk colleagues on site. In order to understand the risk involved with the market for electrical vehicles, I'd take a look at publically available information, such as government regulattions, the electric vehicle market's development, as well as key figures from the company. I would also contact their CFO or CEO and talk about their company, to learn about their sales figures, and what developments they expect to see in the future. What is the added value of collaboration for clients? The Coface system, is based on being "close to the risk": we know that the local people are our teams in the field, and are the best placed to respond to the requests we receive. Here, at the EIC, (Enhanced Information Centre) we survey, and collect knowledge about the most significant parts of the exposure that Coface has. You can never know absolutely everything, but you can still get enough information to improve your understanding of the company. The strong international environment is a great advantage when looking at risks from different angles and therefore making the best possible risk assessment - even if that means I have to juggle my work around different time zones! At Coface, we are Making Trade Happen. The Happeners Making Trade Happen Watch the series at coface.com/happeners

What our Happeners say about it

• “I work with colleagues from very diverse backgrounds at Coface. It’s an environment where I can learn about different cultures and points of view without even leaving the office! Our diversity fosters creativity and boosts our performance. It makes Coface a great place to work alongside a team I'm proud to be a part of.”

Yuliia N. 
Key Account Manager, Coface Global Solutions based in Dubai

In our continuous journey of reinvention, we consistently challenge our achievements and successes - a core element that has driven Coface's success for over 75 years!

We integrate new technologies, particularly data science, into our operational framework to streamline and enhance our processes.

We prioritize new ways of working that are more flexible, agile, and collaborative.

Recognizing the ever-changing nature of the world, we encourage innovative ideas and value curious minds - individuals with the ambition and courage to shape a new world.

In innovation, we do two main things. We have a prospective work, trying to identify the technological trends in use that will impact our businesses, our customers and our partners. We have a customer vision that guides our project. We don't do R&D to develop projects that will remain in a laboratory, but we are already driven by an existing need of our customers, which are the business lines. Coface's international database is unique in the world. The data contained in this database allows us to be absolutely predictive in evaluating a single company and the market; the risks of the market where the company operates. And this is absolutely a competitive and innovative key. We set up a hackathon, where we brought about forty people together from seven different regions. I think there were about fifteen countries represented and we got them to work remotely on customer needs, so they connected with the customers. They came, we had several stages and finally, we managed to produce a kind of prototype that we showed to our clients, who were very satisfied. So, from there, we started to build the product. With a series of small weekly challenges, each week we asked the teams to ask themselves a question, so one challenge per week. And at the end of the week, they would come and pitch their proposal. So, at the end of this hackathon, I participated in the development of the product by extracting the data used to build the different indicators used in this product. We created an innovative, user-friendly platform with the purpose of guiding companies in their sales choices. All of this not only involving our staff but also involving the clients, and this allowed us to launch a platform more rapidly, in a better performing way. Innovation is the key to success for a company. Improving our own offer, listening to the market, testing all aspects of the platform, understanding if we're meeting our clients' needs and listening to the commercial feedback. All of this helps you to innovate and to succeed. Our team works in an iterative way. Generally, we start by trying to understand a need. Then we dig in when we think we have something that starts to work. We'll do some tests. We'll try to propose things, mock-ups to customers, or test a technology with them with Coface employees. And then, the more we advance, the more we'll enrich the solution to obtain something that is a complete solution in the end. Creating a product in less than six months that corresponds to customer needs proves that we are agile. It proves that we listen to our customers and it proves that there is real creativity in what we do. At Coface, we are making trade happen.

What our Happeners say about it

• "We have devised a 'commercial hub' with an agile process and cutting-edge technology so we can put a new team in place that is dedicated to customer service. It has helped us improve our quality of service!”

Bjoern M. – Senior Solution Development Manager (Germany)