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Information Officer Ministry of Public Enterprises TO COMMEMORATE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY ON SATURDAY, 8TH MARCH, 2008 Berny Nicholls has plenty of plans in her new post as Board Chair of Food Processors Fiji Limited. Ms Nicholls took over the Chair of the Board of Directors for Food Processors in June 2007. She began her career as an accountant in various companies in the United Kingdom before returning to Fiji and joined the British High Commission as the Commercial Officer with responsibility for trade and commercial matters. She then joined Crown Agents, a British provider of development services, before taking on the role of CEO at the Exporters Club. Ms Nicholls held other management positions before her current role as Head of Special Initiatives at Quest Limited. She believes there is no barrier to women getting ahead if they are passionate about their job.“Women have always been capable but, perhaps, it is primarily because more women are being given opportunities to lead suited to their abilities,” says Ms Nicholls. The Suva-born lady with a strong catholic upbringing has created history as the only female Board Chair in one of Government’s 12 Commercial Companies “This shows other women, what is possible. Female role models are slowly being recognized,” she said. Her appointment looked like a clear cut example of a woman being the best candidate for the job,” said Ms Nicholls. In a country where women’s roles in the corporate office has traditionally been at the lower end of the corporate structure, Ms Nicholl’s appointment is a sign that things are beginning to change to accommodate the need for equal opportunity, despite, gender, race or creed. A strong advocate for gender equality in the workplace, she said women’s advancement must be based on a combination of gender and meritorious achievements. “I believe it is both. It also helps if there is a clear statutory and organizational policy that supports equality. A gender balanced interview and selection panel can also help. The most important factor would of course, be enforcement and support from senior managers,” she said. She has served as director on the Food Processors board for quite some time and was always considered an active and effective director. Ms Nicholls believes that women must not be shut out of opportunities particularly, in traditional male professions or workplaces. “I believe the best person should get the job. However, if we do not create opportunities for women then who will give them the opportunity to display their abilities and skills. In some instances, there must also be positive discrimination for women to take on more responsible positions. Where there is a skill gap, there should be training provided to improve their effectiveness earlier. Being a female boss in her past positions, the soft-spoken MBA graduate from University of the South Pacific said she did not encounter any “attitude” problems while managing a group of staff with males and females selected based on individual skills and strengths. “Although, none of them were selected based on their gender the team could work well together, regardless. In other situations, women have been known to be selected to balance the leadership gender. I did not encounter any “attitude” problems towards a female boss. If there was any “attitude” it was not apparent in their behaviour.” She said. Ms Nicholls said, she has not encountered any gender related issue but, if there is, then it is treated the same way that we treat other HR issues. She said, the tone of behaviour is set from top management and policies and procedures are put in place to support and encourage appropriate behaviour. During official hours and outside of work, Ms Nicholls encourages appropriate interaction and socializing within reasonable limits as staff should be encouraged to balance their time between work and home. As the Chair of the Board entrusted by the shareholders to make important decisions for the State-owned entity, she believes a person assuming such a high profile position must be a person of ethics and integrity, be a leader and don’t be afraid to make hard decisions. Acting Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Public Enterprises, Ms Ana Naivakasoro said presently, there are 10 female directors out of a total of 63 directors serving on Boards of Government Commercial Companies (GCCs) and Commercial Statutory Authorities (CSAs). Recognising this wide disparity, she said, the Ministry is committed to gradually work towards 50 per cent female representations on Boards of GCCs and CSAs. “Efforts on encouraging more women to join various Boards appointed by Government is very much within the Ministry’s workplan,” said Ms Naivakasoro. “Whilst appointing Directors of the Commercial Companies, the Government takes into account the factors such as leadership, relevant experience, academic and commercial skills, racial balance and conflict of interest,” she said. Ms Naivakasoro said the appointment of female Directors arose out of a cabinet decision to adopt equal opportunities for qualified persons appointed into GCCs and CSAs taking into account gender balance. She acknowledged that over the past decade, there has been a steady improvement as more and more women join Boards of Directors of government commercial companies. “Its moving very slowly but, the pace is expected to increase more qualified women become available. She said this trend reflects both public pressure and the growing perception that women can be effective corporate managers bringing different and valuable perspectives to a board’s decision making process. “The Ministry has been working closely with the Ministry of Women in putting together a more comprehensive listing of women in our directors’database. You will have noticed that we periodically advertise for expressions of interest for potential directors to serve on our various Boards. Those who have responded to one of those advertisements would be on the database. If you have not, please feel free to submit your bio data to the Ministry,” she said. “Our next step in this exercise is to examine how we can make the database more meaningful. So, work is currently underway to further develop the database in terms of more comprehensive listing, accessibility and usage. Ms Naivakasoro added that the Ministry continues to work closely with existing training instituitions, particularly with the University of the South Pacific on how best we can mount some ongoing training and capacity for existing and potential Directors. “So, these are all part and parcel of selecting and developing individuals to ensure that they can fulfil their role as leaders and make a positive contribution to the achievements of organizations,” said Ms Naivakasoro. Ms Nicholls agreed saying, the Ministry could set a trend by ensuring that all Government Boards are gender balanced or that there is at least one woman on each Board then work towards equal numbers to allow women to increase their skills at this decision-making level. Eventually, the Ministry could ensure that more women are considered to take up the chair whenever possible. On the Food Processor’s future plans, she said that export activity has increased in the four years that she’s been with the Company .“This year, we plan to increase that activity even more”. Regarding the board’s plans for the Company, she said, “we plan to consolidate our position focusing on HR training, productivity, quality and supply management. Food Processors has no competitive edge over other imported products as the firm focuses on adding value to local produce by preserving seasonal crops for out-of-season- use. We also produce tomato sauce which holds the premier spot in consumer preference. These products are, however, considered luxury items in a grocery basket and therefore, non essential food items. We cannot compete in price against the fresh alternative like palusami, coconut lolo and ivi but, we can save the busy housewife time or the busy individual and the Fiji person living far a way from home who wants a taste of local food with minimum preparation time. Local consumers also need to be made aware of what is available locally and encouraged to support local products. Perhaps, there should be a national campaign to ‘buy Fiji made’. On improving Food Processor’s competitiveness, she said that the State must provide special assistance like imposing high tariff rates on imported substitutes for a limited time only to allow for the necessary capital expenditure to ensure food processing standards are compliant with international best practice. “But, there should be a limit to this assistance as the local company should not be encouraged to be complacent about continuously improving its competitiveness within the concessional time”. She said the company’s exports has not been affected by the country’s current situation”. As long as there are no trade restrictions between Fiji and the two countries, we will continue to seek new opportunities for export not only in Australia and New Zealand but, in other locations. Some of our products have substitutes from Asian countries who have high standards of production so we must put our energies in lifting our standards to international level. We will achieve this when we complete the requirements for HAACP accreditation later this year. She said Food Processors has a challenging role as it is competing in the open market with all ‘luxury products’ and no special assistance or favours. “The challenge for us is to make this operation effective and successful in a very competitive market as our rural producers need an outlet for their seasonal crop to increase their income and improve their standard of living,” said Ms Nicholls. -End- |
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