Hubert Salas & Co distributor Unilever since early 1950

Mr. Hubert Salas, father of our present Manager Director Nelson Salas started as exclusive distributor for the markets of Curacao and Aruba for Unilever.

1950 (or before) to 1991

1. Lily cooking oil (tinned) and Lion blue soap bar, were its first lines, which in a short period, became the leaders in the market.
2. Unilever and Hubert Salas & Co, became more then a business-relation but most importantly Hubert Salas & Co felt as part of the Unilever Family and this was reciprocated.
3. Mr. Millenaar from Unilever Rotterdam was our contact person with whom Hubsa had an outstanding friendly relationship, which contributed in a continuous growth of the Unilever market in Aruba and Curaçao.
4. OMO soap powder and Primo followed and with a lot of efforts and an excellent team work these products also became leaders in our markets. This was the result of the excellent teamwork of both Unilever and Hubert Salas & Co.
5. Mr. Van Bokkem followed Mr. Millenaar as our contact person for Unilever. With Mr. Van Bokkem the excellent relationship and Teamwork continued for many years.
6. Becel was introduced in our markets with the slogan in Dutch: “Goed voor hart en bloedvaten” translated into English “Good for your heart and blood-vessels”.
7. Other products were introduced with success by Unilever and Hubert Salas & Co, in a combined effort. Ragu, BlueBand, Continental Soup, Calve, De Betuwe, Surf, Lux, Jif, Denim and Impulse are some of the products which conquered the market and became most demanded products.
8. Mr. Jan Boom, succeeded Mr. Van Bokkem. Jan was an excellent team worker and as such we had a very successful and profitable time with the products pertaining to Unilever Rotterdam. Mr. Jan Boom continued with the same policy as Mr. Millenaar and Mr. Van Bokkem.

1991 to 1997

1.     Unilever worldwide decided to transfer the account pertaining to the Netherlands Antilles to Bristol U.K.

2.      Mr. Nelson Salas, Managing Director, received in view of the longstanding business and friendly relationship, an invitation from Mr. Floris Maljers, at that time CEO Unilever, to attend a meeting to illustrate the reason for this decision.

3.      , Mr. Chris Jemmett upon request of Mr. Maljers invited Mr. Salas to Bristol to introduce him to the new group which will be handling the Unilever portfolio in our territory, starting January 1992.

4.      Mr. Gerardo v.d. Ark, of Unilever Rotterdam will be handling the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba through Bristol. Mr. Gerardo v.d. Ark later moved to the Bahamas from where he covered our market.

5.      Mrs. Karin Ashwel, Unilever Bristol, after 1 year, took charge of our region, replacing Gerardo.

6.      Lipton Tea was added to our portfolio at Hubert Salas & Co (Aruba) N.V.

1997 to Present

1.     Unilever Caribbean Trinidad became our contact for the Unilever Company.

2.      Mr. David Sobrian, Sales Controller and Mr. Peter Hackshaw Export Manager became our contact persons. The teamwork continued in a good atmosphere.

3.      Derek Russel, after one year or two succeeded Mr. Peter Hackshaw. The teamwork between Derek and Hubert Salas & Co was excellent and everything was running smooth. Sales were growing; everything was 100%.

4.      Ricky Hassanali took over Derek Russel’s job after his retirement... Here again the over so many years smooth business-relation continued.

5.      Mr. David Sobrian retired and Mr. Michael Clerk succeeded him. Michael also did his utmost to continue this over 60 yeas business and friendly relationship.

6.      Ingram Leeyoung succeeded Mr. Hassanali after his departure to Florida and as before, sales continue its trend of growing.  Later Mr. Leeyoung was transferred to Mexico.

7.      Upon Michael Clerk’s departure and Mr. Leeyoung’s transfer, we were presented to Mr. Abdel Ali and Jason Baucoud.

8.      Year 2005: Hubert Salas & Co (Aruba) NV received the Distributors Award as one of the best distributors in the Caribbean.

9.      Year 2006: due to a large overstock of Unilever products, several issues aroused; amongst others ordering, payments, and so on.

10.  Year 2007: Hubert Salas & Co (Aruba) NV complied for about 95% to Mr. Abdel Ali’s requirements. Several e-mails were sent contradicting various issues brought forward by Mr. Ali and Baucoud, however most of them remained unanswered.

11.  April 17, 2007: Unilever’s over sixty years of partnership with Hubert Salas & Co was terminated by Mr. Abdel Ali by a letter dated April 18, 2007.