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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Jafra CEO Wants Bigger U.S. Focus

By LINDA COBURN Contributing Reporter Jafra Cosmetics International Inc., one of the largest direct sales companies in the world with $494 million in revenues last year, has a new president and CEO. Frank P. Mineo, who took the helm of the Westlake Village company in June, is actually returning to the company that gave him his first opportunity to lead a division. He began working for Jafra in 1987 and stayed thru 1994, back when it was a division of Gillette. “It was the first time I was assigned to be the head of finance for any particular division. I spent two years in Jafra US as head of finance and then was expatriated to Europe to be the head of finance for all of the European countries for the next four years,” he said. He continued on in that vein after moving over to Blyth, Inc. in 1994 as vice president of the company’s largest division, PartyLite, which sells candles through direct sales. He served in a wide range of roles for PartyLite’s operations in both North America and Europe, and in June 2004, Mineo became a member of Blyth’s newly-formed Office of the Chairman and was named president of the direct selling group. Mineo’s overseas experience should help his plans for Jafra’s future which includes expanding the company’s presence in Western Europe and also venturing into new markets in Asia. “And we will look to re-entry, in some cases, for some of our South American countries, as we move forward,” he concluded. But it is the U.S. market that Mineo really wants to tap into in a bigger way. In 2006, Jafra’s U.S. sales were only 20 percent of the company’s total revenues. “The direct sales market in the United States is approximately $30 billion and we want to be a much more prominent player,” Mineo said. “To do that, we are going to step back a bit and reestablish ourselves as a party plan company.” That means more in-home presentations where representatives show the products to a group of (primarily) women gathering in someone’s home, “giving us the opportunity to show women how to use our products and for women to support one another in how to use the products,” explained Mineo. As for Jafra’s organization in Mexico, which operates as Jafra Hispanic USA, Mineo plans to let them keep running just the way they have been. That unit contributed 73 percent of the company’s total revenues last year. Jafra boasts an international network of 500,000 beauty consultants, 60,000 of whom are in the U.S. The company’s 1,500 employees include 250 working in the San Fernando Valley and Ventura areas. Independent consultant Yolanda Smith has been with Jafra for 35 years and is now a district director. She recently returned from a sales conference in Puerto Rico where Mineo was introduced . Smith was impressed. “He seemed to be very humble and that’s what the Spanish-speaking people like because our business is to work with the poor people and give them a job opportunity,” she said. That humility was in evidence as he discussed his appointment as CEO. “Jafra has so many incredibly talented women,” he said. Specifically, he pointed to Jafra USA President Dyan Lucero who has been with the company for 35 years, and Melba Rios, director of sales for Jafra USA’s Spanish-speaking division, who recently celebrated her 27-year anniversary with the company. “There are women at the highest levels all around (me),” Mineo said. “I just happen to have been lucky to get the CEO position.” Consultant Smith’s only complaint about the company is that none of the products are made in the U.S. anymore. In Smith’s opinion, “Our economy would be better if we (didn’t) ship all the factories out of the country I wish everything would be made in the U.S.”

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