Caracas — Following the announcement of the sale of shares of Avon Cosmetics de Venezuela C.A. to a group of Venezuelan capital in late June, for which information was scarce, the administration of President Nicolás Maduro, through his minister of labor, announced that Inversiones Venovu CA is the new company in charge, and with whom they would promote meetings to advance the reactivation of the production company.
Venovu, headquartered in the Xpress Tower in La Guairita, Caracas, according to the information provided on its recently created webpage, launched its social network presence at the same time as Avon’s announcement.
However, on both the company’s LinkedIn and Twitter profiles, there is a lack of users and followers, and both are private accounts.
The company’s website announces Venovu as “a manufacturer of quality products, aimed at the health, beauty and home care segments, We use multi-level marketing as a business and sales model”. Among its products are masks, fragrances, creams and treatments, lipsticks, powders and enamels.
Despite the little information available on its official website, the representatives of the investment group are named, with Pablo Sánchez-de León at the head, as executive president, Luis Torres as chairman of the board of directors, and Móises Prieto as finance director.
Sánchez-de León, a mechanical engineer with a master’s degree in business administration and a postgraduate degree awarded in Spain in logistics management, is a specialist in the area of customs and international trade. Since 2015 he has managed Logystik Solutions, a group of international freight forwarding and customs brokerage services, authorized by Venezuela’s customs and tax administration service (Seniat) to act as agent at the La Guaira and Maiquetía customs offices.
He also currently serves as principal director of the Venezuelan Federation of Equestrian Sports (FVDE), according to his LinkedIn profile, and between 2004-2006 he was part of the trading company Venequip SA, advising on best practices of processes within the mining Industry.
Neither Sanchez-de Leon nor Luis Torres have responded to Bloomberg Línea’s request for comments on the acquired Avon shares and the reactivation process that the company plans.
The website also refers to “independent sales representatives”, who could market products directly to potential customers and mentor others to become representatives, a business model similar to that of Avon Cosmetics.
Francisco Torrealba, representative of the ministry of labor, has held one meeting with the investor group, as well as with the union and Avon workers, according to a tweet by Torrealba, but a subsequent meeting scheduled for July 7 at the company’s plant in Guatire was suspended for no apparent reason.
Workers have stated on social networks that they are awaiting solutions from mediation by the government, which would allow them to respond to the labor conflict that has been ongoing for more than a year.
In May 2021, the employees of Avon Cosmetics Venezuela staged a series of protests in rejection of the reduction of the payroll since 2016, and the deterioration of their working conditions, with the workforce having been cut from 3,000 to 400.
