Lenny Madussi, who sold his company, MS Move Management in Switzerland, to Sirva in 2015, is back with his own company again. Steve Jordan took a flight to Geneva to find out more.

 So, Lenny Madussi is back at the sharp end now that his dalliance as part of the big corporate world of Sirva is finally at an end.  Although the moving industry has evolved over that time, it’s back to business as usual for Lenny who has been around the Swiss, and global moving market long enough to know how it works. 

At the time Lenny sold MS Move Management the company worked closely with Cartus, business that would clearly have been lost under the new Sirva ownership.  So, to be able to continue to provide a service to Cartus in Switzerland, he launched a new brand, SGRS Move Management, which became part of a management buyout MBO of his remaining industry connections in the country.  Planning ahead however, Lenny included, as part of the MBO, the right for him to buy back into the business should he wish to.  In August 2019, after serving the required period of garden leave, the ‘reversal’ was completed.

After the sale in 2015 Lenny became a minority shareholder in Sirva Switzerland, an unusual step at the time. For the first two years everything went well but by 2018 it became clear that the relationship was not going to last.

  
Now back with SGRS Lenny is in his comfort zone.  “I like the moving business and I like the people,” he said. “I’m happy here.” He likes running the place in his own way too and with many of the world’s largest corporations having headquarters in Geneva, there’s plenty of business to be done.  “Business in Switzerland is based on trust, not contracts.”

Lenny has a strong ally working at his side.  Spiros Doulis joined SGRS almost two years ago as CEO.  Over that time the company has thrived by providing an excellent move management service to Cartus, major corporations and the company’s network of trusted agents. “The key is to have quality people and quality agents who both know what they are doing,” said Spiros. “If you put the right people together, you get the right result.”

SGRS Move Management has coordination offices in Poland and Senegal and is already planning offices in the AMS region (American continent), and Asia Pacific.  These are purely to coordinate booked moves and provide a more local service for clients and their assignees.  Lenny is quite clear about what he intends for the company in the future. “I want to bring back what we did and expand it to all areas,” he said. “I liked what I used to do, and my journey is not finished.”

Lenny is a firm believer in reciprocation.  He knows that it is this exchange of business on which the whole global moving industry is founded. “If agents are shipping to anywhere in Europe it makes sense to consign through the SGRS Move Management service,” he explained. “The volumes we control make it much more likely that we will be able to reciprocate even with traffic that originates elsewhere. I know that’s what agents want and it’s our job to make sure they get the best return for the traffic they generate.”

SGRS is careful to choose the right agents for destination and origin services, preferring to select from the FIDI and OMNI memberships where possible.  “Being in Switzerland we are used to providing a high quality service,” said Lenny. “That’s what our customers expect and we accept nothing less. To achieve that we need to get the best companies in the world working together, on a friendly basis and for reasonable money. I like to choose who I work with.”

Those who know Lenny Madussi from old will know that he is true to his word.  So, Lenny’s back … it’s almost as if he never went away.

Photos:
Inset - Lenny and CEO Spiros.
Group photo:  Back row (left to right) Aurchie Rossi, Rafael Fiorgentili, Spiros Doulis, Ivo da Costa.  Front Row (left to right) Bertrand Zeiger, Luigi Matteu.

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