Full Name: Wojciech Piotr Kulma

Position and Company Name: MD of BASF South Africa

Main Activity of the Company: BASF manufactures and sells chemical products

Date and Place of Birth: June 17, 1974, Warsaw, Poland

Schools and Tertiary Education: I hold postgraduate qualifications in marketing and management, and finance and banking from the Warsaw School of Economics, and I have also completed various training programmes – in negotiation, international management and strategic management

First Job: Operator at Easycall, a paging company in Poland

Size of First Pay Packet: €200 a month

Career Path to Date: After working for EasyCall from 1996 to 1997, I joined BASF in Poland, serving in various finance and administration roles from 1997 to 2000 and as assistant to the MD from 2000 to 2002. I was then transferred to Germany, where I was a controller from 2002 to 2003, before returning to Poland in 2004 as BASF’s controlling manager. Subsequently, I served as BASF’s head of sales (adhesives and construction polymers) in Slovakia, head of sales (dispersions and formulation additives for architectural coations and construction) in Germany and, from 2016, head of sales responsible for Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North and West Africa

Number of People under Your Leadership: A total of 223

Management Style: Usually a mixture of democratic/transformational and laissez faire styles but I become authoritative in crisis situations

Personal Best Achievement: It is still to come, but over the past decade I have achieved constant growth in speciality applications for architectural coatings and construction in emerging markets

Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Life: My grandmother – she taught me strategic thinking by playing cards with me

Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Career: Herbert Frankenstein, my first boss within BASF

Person You Would Most Like to Meet: Lyndsey Vonn, one of the greatest alpine skiers of all time, with 82 World Cup race wins to her name

Businessperson Who Has Impressed You Most: Bill Gates

Philosophy of Life: Take it as it comes

Biggest Ever Opportunity: Few job offers I didn’t take

Biggest Ever Disappointment: When another child in the sandbox stole my toy truck – it was the first time I experienced broken trust in people

Hope for the Future: That people stop fighting against one another

Favourite Reading: The Witcher, the fantasy book series written by Andrzej Sapkowski

Favourite TV Programme: Sports

Favourite Food/Drink: Cig köfte, a Turkish dish

Favourite Music: Rock

Favourite Sport: Mountain biking, windsurfing, football, and trail running

Car: A red Italian car

Married: Yes, I am married

Children: My wife and I have two children

Clubs: Hambach Football Club – a local village sports club in Germany