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There are over 2000 people in Blue Skies and we are located in Egypt, South Africa, Ghana and Brazil. At each facility we apply a culture which we have carefully developed. It is based on fairness in business, respect for each other and above all, trust.
"Fairness in business" can be very one-sided. It is difficult for some to see the fairness sometimes between the clashing retail titans as they vie for power in the marketplace, but we are happy to live with it. In fact, we thrive on it. But we make sure that there is fairness for our suppliers who send us the fruit each day. For example, we pay our farmers in seven days and we give them interest-free loans to develop their businesses. This is not philanthropy; this practice actually makes commercial sense, because we get back from our farmers as much as we give them.
"Respect for each other" manifests itself at Blue Skies through the way in which we work with people from Egypt, Ghana and South Africa. In many ways, you could not find more diverse peoples, customs and ways of doing business. But Blue Skies has developed a culture which works with the respective ways of these countries. Respect of others is at the heart of the Blue Skies culture. We have men and women in equal numbers at all levels and our General Manager in Ghana is in fact a woman with total profit responsibility for her company. As a company we are free of expatriates and the distinctive packages attached to them.
"Trust" is important. We are careful not to identify differences through status symbols, offices, cars for leaders and we would never dream of asking our people "to clock in and out" of the factory. Our clinic, crèche, internet café and canteen exist for all. By fostering a "seamless society" where we do not draw a line between "workers" and "managers," trust naturally develops; there are no other visible differences. Remuneration, for example, is paid as a salary to everyone. People trust each other openly; perhaps that is one reason why we have a remarkably low turnover of staff and virtually no disciplinary problems.
Our culture translates into producing excellence on the supermarket shelves. It is through the care of ourselves that we achieve a high morale, and through a high morale we have commitment, interest and above all a will for our "family" to win. This attitude enables us to have a self regulatory approach to behaviour and importantly to the quality of our products.
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