Dimitris Papalexopoulos: My advice to businesses is to be daring but practical

Dimitris Papalexopoulos, Chairman of TITAN Cement Group, and Invest Cyprus Chairman Evgenios Evgeniou sat down for a Fireside Chat at the 15th Limassol Economic Forum, where they discussed how they successfully navigated some of the most unpredictable crises in recent years, driving their organisations to impressive growth under challenging circumstances.

Papalexopoulos said that in order to face current challenges, which can range from technology, to climate change and geopolitical threats, an organisation needs to be “daring but practical”.

Kicking off with technology, Evgenios asked TITAN’s chairman if his company is embracing technology and artificial intelligence (AI). “AI is everywhere now; we can’t avoid it. There’s a lot of hype surrounding it and it’s difficult to know exactly what to do. My advice is to be daring but practical.”

Dimitris Papalexopoulos

Another really important issue for TITAN right now is climate change, Papalexopoulos said. “There is no doubt the climate crisis is real and in that sense we are fully behind Europe’s ambition to be climate-neutral by 2050. However, the way we are going about it isn’t working,” he pointed out. “We have seriously underestimated the costs. With all the crises, Europe is now industrialising more than it is greening. What do we do about it? Cement is not only energy intensive; it also causes emissions during the process. Since 2005 we have reduced our carbon footprint and we are using green energy, substituting traditional fuels with greener options. What we don’t know is how to get from 2030 to 2050 and we are now investing in this. We are investing in the next step.”

Asked by Evgeniou about the impact geopolitical developments are having on business, Papalexopoulos said the Group is constantly looking at possible scenarios, especially when it comes to operational costs.

Evgenios Evgeniou

And the human factor came into play when Evgeniou said: “Part of the success in leadership is to keep ahead of the curve. How do you build resilience in your organisation to deal with unexpected situations?”

Papalexopoulos replied: “You must invest in calculating the risks, reducing operational costs etc., but you also have to invest in good people. The executive team, 10 of us, went to California and spent a week trying to understand what is going on in the industry. For many years we were selling a commodity. Now, for the first time ever, you have to really understand what is going on in the market.”

And he said businesses – especially old ones with a long history like TITAN that was established in 1902 – should not be afraid to bring people in from the outside; which is exactly what TITAN did.

“It seemed like the right time to bring someone in with an outside look,” Papalexopoulos explained. “Non-Greek, non-family members. We are making that transition and the challenge is to do it in a way that we take the benefits of being run by an outsider, without losing that ownership, that history behind the business.”

As he said, governance should not be seen as a hassle but as something that could actually add value.