Pablo Isla leaves Inditex at the top and prepares his future

• RACHEL VILLAECIJA

  Arteixo (A Coruna)

Updated Sunday, March 20, 2022-02:37

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When

arrived at

in 2005, he was already a consolidated and promising executive.

He hired a headhunting company for him, because

was looking for a strong man who knew how to take charge of the business and trigger the growth of Inditex.

He was 41 years old and the textile group, some 2,000 stores in just over thirty countries and a share valued at around 13 euros.

Almost two decades later, Pablo Isla leaves the company as one of the most valued executives in the world, not only on the Ibex, and still with a long future ahead of him, yet to be revealed.

Under his command, the company has become the world's largest giant in its sector, present throughout the world, with 7,000 more stores in 96 markets, and a reference in digitization and sustainability.

A global, digital, integrated and sustainable company.

"Yesterday was my last board of directors, today the last presentation of results... They have been very intense and very beautiful months, on a personal level, and there has been a lot of rapport, it has been a very natural process".

This is how Pablo Isla said goodbye last Wednesday from his time at the textile giant, after presenting his latest annual results and after taking over from

CEO since December, and

who inherits her father's empire as president non-executive.

"Today is a very special day because the transition that we began a few months ago culminates publicly," he said in his last appearance before the press.

This has been his last year in the listed company, probably one of the most turbulent.

To this has been added at the start of 2022 the crisis derived from the war in Ukraine, a problem that his successor will have to face.

Inditex has had to close its 500 stores in Russia, one of its main markets, and the real impact it will have on the business remains to be seen.

Despite the fact that the pandemic has remained very present, Inditex has managed to get closer to the pre-covid figures and earned 3,243 million euros, triple that of 2020 and already close to the 3,600 million harvested in 2019, and with a growth in its sales of 36 %.

These stood at 27,716 million, and only 2% below the 28,286 generated before the pandemic, according to the annual accounts published this week.

"The results of 2021 show the solidity of Inditex, the strength of the model and the quality of the teams," according to the executive.

Isla's name is associated with Inditex almost as much as that of its founder, Amancio Ortega, who will be 86 years old in a few days and thus concludes the generational change by bequeathing the company to his daughter.

State Lawyer (he was the first of his promotion), Isla had previously worked at

and

and in 2012 he was already appointed president.

The group has since doubled the number of stores (it has 6,477) and is in 96 markets, with more than 163,000 employees.

Oscar Garcia Maceiras and Pablo Isla.

TANDEM WITH ORTEGA

"Amancio Ortega has always been an innovator, an entrepreneur who needed a great executive by his side, the best business director, and he found an excellent person. Isla has known how to adapt perfectly to that culture and strictly follow some of the points of Amancio Ortega, which is not an easy thing. For example, it has decentralized and given responsibility to people, brands compete with each other and let people act. They have made an excellent tandem", says

from the operations department and innovation of

He says that for some years Inditex invited professors from universities and business schools to visit its facilities.

Isla then had just been appointed president of Inditex.

Managers and businessmen who have come across him highlight this profile of "classic, discreet, simple and austere, very brilliant leader".

Hughes points out.

THE CLIENT

Recognized best businessman of the year by

and by Forbes, his transition to the head of the textile group has been praised in the best business schools in the world.

"One of the keys has been to manage to build a customer-focused company from the beginning. They had a vision of the customer that nobody had at that time," says the expert.

In practice,

.

In a decade, Isla has done what other companies take twice as long.

He has led the great revolution of the textile giant, its expansion to five continents and the transformation of its commercial network.

One of the most refined challenges has been the digitization of stores to the point that today a customer can buy a garment from his home and it will be packaged for him from the nearest store.

This, that there are no distinctions between channels when managing stock, is not done by most chains, since they have specific warehouses for the online channel and do not prepare orders in physical stores.

This

(stores are also warehouses for orders made over the internet) or integrated stock, allows for strict control of inventory, so that almost what is manufactured is what is sold.

The physical channel supports the online channel and vice versa.

This makes the Galician model one of the most efficient.

BEYOND FASHION

For this reason,

.

Few companies can boast of having such an ambitious network.

Zaragoza airport is practically operated by the textile giant, since all the garments that have been manufactured in other countries are received there, passing through Spain before being sent to stores around the world.

That, among other things, also fine-tunes inventory control.

The group has 10 logistics centers and the minimum delivery time is 48 hours.

EXPANSION

In 2019, just before the pandemic, Pablo Isla already detailed the progress of the great online bet, which implies that any customer from anywhere in the world can buy products from the eight brands through the online channel in 2020.

"

both physically and online, and growth in stores, as well as progress in sustainability issues, where Inditex is one of the pioneers", Hughes points out.

The goal has been achieved, despite the fact that the pandemic dealt a heavy blow to the textile giant.

In 2020, the most difficult year, only one quarter went into losses, and that practically all physical stores were closed for months.

This year, one of the challenges for García Maceiras and Marta Ortega will be to manage the crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, which has forced stores to close in these countries, as well as to continue advancing in the digital transformation and the commercial park.

In recent years, the smaller and less profitable ones have been closing down to open larger ones located in better locations.

"I have the utmost confidence in the future of the company, with Marta as president and Óscar as CEO. Marta has been with the company for 15 years and knows it perfectly and has a lot of criteria and Óscar is an impressive CEO," Isla said last Wednesday. at his farewell, visibly moved.

FUTURE

Little is known about Isla's future and the director has not yet wanted to reveal where he will go when he leaves the group, although in his last speech he sent a clear message:

," he said.

Hugas believes that "it is very difficult for him to go to any

as they are much more stagnant companies."

The sources consulted believe that he could end up in a foundation or "dedicate himself to giving lectures at business schools, foundations."

She recently joined the board of trustees of the

chaired by

and there has been much speculation since then about his future.

After these months of transition, the replacement is definitively in the hands of García Maceiras and Marta Ortega, as non-executive president, from April 1.

", said Óscar Maceiras in their last speech together.

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