HAVI, a key global supplier to McDonalds, is opening a new Finance Hub in Krakow. HAVI employs over 10,000 people and serves customers in more than 100 countries. Currently, HAVI is recruiting candidates to join their new Finance Hub in Krakow, which will serve EMEA, and is expected to grow to more 200 FTE's by year-end 2020.

Nominations for the 7th annual CEE Business Services Awards open on 4 October in nearly 25 categories. In addition to our 2-day Summit with 40+ speakers, the Summit&Awards will host top European SSC execs and more than 50 Site Managers from across CEE.

Early-bird Reservations for Tickets only until 30 October. Full details at CEE Business Services Summit & Awards.

The business service centre of British Petrol (BP) in Hungary has evolved to be the largest of the global network within a decade. The office in Budapest, founded ten years ago and the office in Szeged, launched two years ago employ 2,500 people, making Hungary one of the most important countries for the company. At the event celebrating the 10th jubilee of BP in Hungary, held at Szeged, BP announced that they would install solar panels on the roof of the Szeged office, decreasing their yearly CO2 emissions by 45 tons.

BP's unit in Budapest, belonging to Global Business Services (GBS) Europe, was established in 2009. Taking the successful operation in the capital as a basis, BP's second office in Hungary was launched in Szeged, at the renovated, reconstructed clothes factory in 2017. The new centre planned to reach the objective of 500 employees by 2020, but they have already achieved it this year. Taking the number of employees into consideration, these two locations raise Hungary to the group of the five most important countries, and Szeged to the ten most important cities. Through these achievements, BP has also become one of the five largest service centre operators of Hungary.

BP also cooperates with the University of Szeged, so about 80 students have learned the operation of service centres thanks to common courses, and got an insight into the everyday life of a global, international energy company.

BP GBS ensures support for the whole European continent. It provides services in 16 languages in the fields of finance, accounting, procurement, tax; as well as HR- and commerce-related support and customer service.

At the 3rd annual USA-Europe Business Services Summit & Awards Gala held 19 September 2019 at the Harvard Club of New York, the following 10 American companies were distinguished for their operational excellence with Europe-based business services delivery centres. More than 100 top execs took part in this full-day Summit and evening Awards Gala. Full Pictures here

Top US Financial Services Investor in CEE: Citi Europe

Top US BSC Investor in Poland: 3M

Top US BSC Investor in Hungary: Corning

Top US BSC Investor in Baltics: Western Union

Top US BSC Investor in Romania: Honeywell International Services

Top US BSC Investor in Czech Republic: MSD IT Global Innovation Center

Top CSR Initiative of the Year in CEE: Groupon

Top Global BPO/ITO Investor in CEE: Cognizant

Top Robotics/RPA Implementation in CEE: PWC

Top Digital Solutions Provider from across CEE: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)

Silicon Valley-based vaping company JUUL Labs opened its Global Business Services center in the Pomeranian Special Economic Zone. Initially, when it started recruitment in May 2019, it was planned as a regional financial-accounting center role for EMEA region (Europe, Middle East, and Africa). Now the center located in Gdańsk’s Alchemia grows not only in geographical scope but also in terms of operations.
JUUL Labs, has in recent years dominated the American vaping market and is currently expanding. They employ over 4000 people globally, the center in Gdańsk currently employees 70 people and has plans to expand rapidly.
”The financial center in Gdańsk is already supporting our activity in the EMEA region, and we plan to expand its operations. As we expand our global footprint it makes perfect sense to turn the regional center into global one – helping us deliver on our promise to offer an alternative to combustible cigarettes. We chose Poland, and Gdańsk specifically due to its potential and high qualifications of Polish employees. Additionally, the Pomeranian Special Economic Zone and Gdańsk offer excellent conditions for fast-growing companies like ours.”- Grant Winterton, JUUL Labs EMEA President.
In Europe, the company has a strong presence in Poland, France, Germany, Russia, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Austria, Ukraine, Belgium, and Portugal. The mission of the company is to improve the lives of adult smokers by eliminating combustible cigarettes.
We appreciate those investments which make Pomerania attractive for young specialists. It is critical to secure our growth and keep talented people in the region. I am glad to see such smooth cooperation between Pomeranian agencies and investors – said Wiesław Byczkowski, Vice-Marshal of the Pomeranian Voivodeship.
JUUL Labs’ decision to build out the first Shared Services Center in the early stages of establishing a commercial presence across EMEA is an unprecedented approach and a clear sign of innovative thinking around the corporate mission, execution to scale and help consumers in this region. It was only possible because we were able to find and hire an exceptional group of finance and accounting professionals in Gdańsk, who will be responsible for providing end-to-end accounting support to markets across the region and beyond. The full scope of service delivery is still being finalized, but it is clear that we have a lot of potential beyond finance and accounting and the GBS will play a vital role in the future growth of the company. – says Michał Gryglewski, Head of JUUL Labs Global Business Center in Gdańsk.

PepsiCo, the $64 billion consumer products company, is coming to Krakow. While full details are not year clear, we do know that the SSC will likely exceed 300 full-time employees within 3 years. Services will be provided across EMEA, including Logistics and F&A.