42: Loic Bizel, CEO & Founder, Wantomo

Loic Bizel currently leads Wantomo, a premium Japan made
recommended dog food company exclusively sold online. Mr. Bizel
originally came to Japan from France in his mid-20s as the Export
Manager for French shoe brands. As the leader overseeing the Asia
branch, Mr. Bizel successfully introduced these shoe brands to
Japanese department stores and select shops. Being a young
leader, he sought to gain gradual trust from his  team and
was heavily involved in recruitment. Mr. Bizel specifically
looked for people with international backgrounds who were
open-minded and flexible about working in a smaller scale foreign
company. Mr. Bizel also notes that the people he hired in Japan
are very committed to the nature of their work.


 


In 2001, Mr. Bizel founded his own company, Lebiz Consulting
www.lebiz-consulting.com, where he provided fashion consulting
using his knowledge and connections from his previous company.
Mr. Bizel provided consulting to brands who wanted to launch in
Japan or brands who already had but were having issues with
distribution, positioning, and strategy, and so on. He launched
www.fashioninjapan.com, a street fashion photo collection site.
During this time, Mr. Bizel explains that Japanese fashion was
becoming globally known, and entrepreneurs from all over the
world began to come to Tokyo to understand new fashion trends and
concepts. To meet this demand, Mr. Bizel also created
www.tokyofashiontour.com and organized customized tours to inform
visitors of Tokyo fashion. Capitalizing on the Cool Japan boom in
the early 2000s, Mr. Bizel gradually gained more media attention
and buzz.


 


Mr. Bizel then joined Glamour Sales, a start-up company created
by two French entrepreneurs. The company operated a
membership-based flash sales business that distributed and
promoted brands with excess inventory through pop-up stores and
e-commerce websites. Mr. Bizel bought another flash sales
company, Gilt Japan www.gilt.jp and changed the company names to
Gladd www.gladd.jp, growing the business from 14-15 people to
over 150 employees in 2016. Currently, the company has grown even
further and is at about 250 staff.


 


While researching on some successful business models in Europe
and on Japanese trends, Mr. Bizel decided to target Japanese dog
owners, and founded Wantomo, a premium dog food company. Wantomo
delivers dog food recommended by a veterinarian to owners based
on the dog’s online profile through their online store, Leo &
Lea www.leoandlea.com. Mr. Bizel hopes to market Wantomo through
user generated content by building a rich online community,
having customers post their experiences through social media.


 


Mr. Bizel again mentioned the importance of building trust and
being involved in recruitment of all leadership roles including
sales, marketing, finance, logistics & operations, HR and
web. He says: “I need to build the structure in the, the wall of
the house and, and I, so you need to find the right people, the
right talent and the right fit with the company.” Mr. Bizel also
values open communication and transparency to encourage his team
to move in an agile manner instead of being too risk-averse and
afraid of going in the wrong direction, like many larger
corporations. When recruiting new hires to enter the Wantomo Mr.
Bizel emphasizes: “the talent has to bring you something, but you
have to bring them something also...that the Japanese company
[doesn’t know how to].”


 


To newcomers leading in Japan, Mr. Bizel advises to “stay
yourself” instead of “trying to be Japanese.” He adds that
understanding the company culture is the key to succeeding and
gaining trust. Secondly, Mr. Bizel advises to be curious and to
be a good listener even towards opinions that you do not
necessarily agree in order to maintain open and transparent
communication.