Photo courtesy of Orbia
Sameer Bharadwaj is CEO of Orbia, a global sustainable solutions company. After earning a doctorate in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota, Bharadwaj worked at Dow Chemical, Boston Consulting Group, and Cabot Corp. He joined Orbia, then known as Mexichem, in 2016 and became CEO in 2021, leading its transformation from a regional chemicals company to a global provider of sustainability solutions. MIT Sloan Management Review spoke with Bharadwaj about how the company has navigated volatility while maintaining its focus on water and food security, the energy transition, and connectivity infrastructure. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
You’ve been through a tumultuous period since taking the reins as CEO. What’s your approach to managing through uncertainty?
Sameer Bharadwaj: We’ve seen incredible highs as well as challenges. We made $2 billion two years in a row post-pandemic, and now we are at $1.1 to $1.2 billion. We’re still profitable in every business, but it does create a lot of uncertainty. A lot of our businesses are infrastructure dependent, so high inflation and high-interest-rate environments are not good for us. We had to completely rewire our businesses and exit Russia as a result of the war [with Ukraine].
For the businesses we are in, the fundamentals haven’t changed. There will be a time when the markets turn, the world stabilizes, interest rates come down, and demand will come back.
What we do in the meantime is position ourselves to benefit from the recovery when it comes. This means optimizing our footprint, making sure our cost structure is right, being judicious in fiscal discipline, driving commercial excellence, strategic pricing — all the basics of managing a business in tough times — while preserving our market share [and] continuing to innovate to bring solutions to customers. Making sure we keep our people motivated while going through challenging times is incredibly hard but necessary.
As a publicly traded company, how do you resist quarterly pressures and maintain that long-term focus?
Bharadwaj: This is where having a controlling owner helps. The founding del Valle family controls more than 50%, and a lot of credit goes to them for having a long-term perspective. Their purpose is to invest in a future worth inheriting.
I do spend a lot of time with our investors, many of which are European funds that also have a very long-term perspective. Unlike the U.S., they still have significant sustainability goals. It just happens that our businesses are largely oriented to providing sustainability solutions, and that aligns well with the investor base. Investors need to be patient in these times. Our message is always consistent: If you’re in it for the long term, investors will be duly rewarded.
How are you positioning Orbia for the future, particularly around AI and the energy transition?
Bharadwaj: The areas where we are seeing significant growth are clearly in the fluorine chain with the energy transition. Fluorine is a critical component of lithium-ion batteries, and we are the only ones who can secure the North American supply chain of this mineral. We own the largest fluorspar mine in the world in Mexico, and it’s [about] 15%-20% of the world’s reserves. With the AI revolution, demand for stationary energy storage is growing exponentially — not only for renewable energy but for stabilization of the grid. And even though [electric vehicle] adoption may slow down for a little bit, market forces will continue to drive growth there.
In order to be able to invest in these spaces, we are taking a hard look at our entire portfolio, and at some point we may have to make choices about which businesses we participate in and which are maybe better off under different ownership.