EMBRACING SUSTAINABILITY: OUR PATH TO A RESILIENT FUTURE

EMBRACING SUSTAINABILITY: OUR PATH TO A RESILIENT FUTURE

RCL FOODS has woven Sustainability into its Business Strategy to secure a positive future. The term “Sustainability” often brings to mind lush green landscapes and environmental activism. However, it’s actually so much more than that. “We need to move past the idea that sustainability is just a ‘green’ initiative. In a corporate context and for

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DELIVERING SOUTH AFRICA’S DAILY BREAD

DELIVERING SOUTH AFRICA’S DAILY BREAD

Bread is one of South Africa’s staple foods, and despite a challenging market, RCL FOODS’ Baking business is on the rise. “The baking industry as a whole has faced a very difficult past three years, with the significant increase in commodity prices impacting the end-pricing for consumers who’re already financially challenged,” says Daryl Milne, Managing

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CREATING VALUE THAT MATTERS

CREATING VALUE THAT MATTERS

RCL FOODS is home to over 30 household brands, from Nola Mayonnaise to Yum Yum Peanut Butter and more. But while we have many market-leading brands, we’re not taking anything for granted – and we know that we’re operating in a tough business environment. “Consumers are struggling with high inflation, and they’re looking for products

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SUGAR’S SWEET SPOT

SUGAR’S SWEET SPOT

RCL FOODS’ Sugar business is deeply rooted in South African soil. “A lot of our operations are in rural areas, where we support the livelihoods of over 1 200 small-scale growers,” says Michela Cutts, Managing Director: Sugar. “We’re often both the hub and the creator of economic activity in these areas. But while we are

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A CULTURE OF HEALTH AND SAFETY

A CULTURE OF HEALTH AND SAFETY

“Food safety is not just about meeting the minimum requirements of the law,” says Najib Salim, RCL FOODS’ Safety, Health, Environment, Risk & Quality (SHERQ) Director. “We want to be best-in-class. We adhere to the highest standards in terms of food safety, and we’re driving a company-wide culture of safety.” South Africa has multiple laws

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WHY COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT MATTERS

WHY COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT MATTERS

RCL FOODS’ purpose is “We Grow What Matters” – and what matters to us are the communities in which we operate. Caeser Kenny, Corporate Affairs Director, RCL FOODS, is acutely aware of the role the business plays in the lives of its communities. “In areas like Nkomazi, for example, if our sugar mills weren’t there,

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OUR VALUES IN ACTION

OUR VALUES IN ACTION

At RCL FOODS, We Grow What Matters together, through our people and our unique culture, which we call Our Way. Our Way is shaped by our values, but even more so by our people actively living our values. Those values describe how we act and behave every day – with our customers, clients, co-workers and

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DOING MORE OF WHAT MATTERS

DOING MORE OF WHAT MATTERS

As a large, listed company, RCL FOODS has the reach and the resources to make a considerable impact when it comes to corporate social investment (CSI). But we wanted to achieve more than that – which is why, in 2017, we established our DO MORE FOUNDATION. “There was a strategic intention to position our CSI

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WHY WE’RE A PURPOSE-LED BUSINESS

WHY WE’RE A PURPOSE-LED BUSINESS

RCL FOODS has deliberately positioned itself as a Purpose-led business to make a more meaningful impact. What does it mean to be Purpose-led, and how do we make an impact that matters?

Basadi Bereka-Empowering Women at Work

Basadi Bereka-Empowering Women at Work

Many women continue to encounter obstacles rooted in gender biases that hinder their growth and limit their potential. RCL FOODS, however, is committed to breaking these barriers. In 2019, as part of our broader initiative to foster diversity and inclusivity, we launched the Basadi Bereka (meaning Women at Work in seTswana) programme. Basadi Bereka is

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New DO MORE FOUNDATION partnership is a building block for better tomorrows – for young children and youth in SA

New DO MORE FOUNDATION partnership is a building block for better tomorrows – for young children and youth in SA

South Africa’s young people may have little to celebrate this Youth Day amidst record youth unemployment and educational challenges worsened by COVID-19, but a creative DO MORE FOUNDATION initiative is about to change things for some youngsters in resource-poor communities. Focused on ‘creating better tomorrows’ for young children, the DO MORE FOUNDATION has partnered with

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CREATING VALUE FROM WASTE, ONE #DoMoreBag AT A TIME

CREATING VALUE FROM WASTE, ONE #DoMoreBag AT A TIME

As a leading South African food manufacturer, we believe that it is our responsibility to give back to the communities we operate in. That’s why our DO MORE FOUNDATION has been taking an active role in empowering youth from impoverished communities with the skills and training to sew, while reducing plastic use and turning “waste” into #DoMoreBags.

RCL FOODS Joins the South African Plastics Pact

RCL FOODS Joins the South African Plastics Pact

OUR SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS DRIVE is about CREATING THE FUTURE. Part of this is about finding MORE environmentally responsible solutions that protect the environment and enrich the communities we operate in. At RCL FOODS our Sustainable Resources framework consists of 3 pillars- MORE Energy self-sufficient operation, MORE water-smart operations and MORE waste-free operations. The MORE waste-free

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RCL FOODS says Y.E.S to youth

RCL FOODS says Y.E.S to youth

Creating a secure future for our company and country starts with inspiring great people – youth included. Against a backdrop of rising youth unemployment, RCL FOODS has been working to make a difference to young people’s lives both within and beyond the organisation. Our participation in the Y.E.S. (Youth Employment Service) Programme is one initiative

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Enterprising twin sisters cut into a male-dominated field

Enterprising twin sisters cut into a male-dominated field

Kate and Carol Repinga may have been the daughters of the man who introduced rural Nkomazi small-scale farmers to cane growing in the 1990s, but neither thought they would ever work full-time in the cane industry. Both studied commerce degrees and, with few employment opportunities in the region, both moved to Johannesburg where Kate became

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Vector Logistics, Going Beyond During Covid-19

Vector Logistics, Going Beyond During Covid-19

On the 23rd March when President Ramaphosa announced a 21-day nationwide lockdown, many South Africans woke up to the reality of being isolated for three weeks in their homes. In city centers across the country however, the harsh reality set in that as a community, the homeless are extremely vulnerable to a pandemic like this

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MORE FOOD TO MORE PEOPLE, MORE OFTEN.

MORE FOOD TO MORE PEOPLE, MORE OFTEN.

It’s what we do, and we will keep doing it during the lockdown. As a proudly South African food manufacturer, we want you to know that we will keep producing and distributing our much-loved food brands during the Covid-19 lockdown period. It’s our way of doing that little MORE to make a positive difference to

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Being water-smart must become the new normal for business.

Being water-smart must become the new normal for business.

It requires seeing and doing things differently to reduce, reuse and create water While load shedding continues to keep energy security top of mind for South Africans, the need for collective action to address a looming water crisis has recently been raised at the highest level. In a recent statement coinciding with the announcement of

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Partnering with the LIVEKINDLY CO. is Helping RCL FOODS Bring That Little More Protein to South Africa

Partnering with the LIVEKINDLY CO. is Helping RCL FOODS Bring That Little More Protein to South Africa

RCL FOODS is excited to be partnering with the LIVEKINDLY co. in its commitment to transforming the global food system by collaborating with forward-looking poultry production companies seeking to embrace and contribute to plant-based options, like ours. We are especially glad to welcome the well-known South African brand, the Fry’s Family Food Co. – affectionately

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Water-Saving Innovations Help RCL FOODS Do More With Less

Water-Saving Innovations Help RCL FOODS Do More With Less

At RCL FOODS, “seeing and doing things differently” is one of the values that drives us in our quest to provide “more food to more people, more often”. That includes finding innovative ways to do MORE with less, environmentally speaking – like saving water, using novel methods in our cane agriculture space. A few years

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Vector Peninsula makes a splash-without wasting a drop of water.

Vector Peninsula makes a splash-without wasting a drop of water.

By massively reducing its fresh water consumption, our Vector Peninsula team has proven that seeing and doing things differently is all it takes to save our precious water resources, one drop at a time. In the process they not only helped Cape Town beat Day Zero but are shifting the way we could think about

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RCL FOODS – Still Leading the way in Climate Change Management

RCL FOODS – Still Leading the way in Climate Change Management

Every year we take part in the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) Climate Change survey – and in 2018 we came top of our category, again! Even though a stricter scoring system was implemented, we managed to score an A- for the second year running, coming in ahead of the rest of the local Food, Beverage

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Land Reform that Works

Land Reform that Works

In 2012, when part of the land where our cane was growing near Malalane was under claim, we took this as an opportunity to implement some much-needed transformation in the local agricultural space. We did this by partnering with the beneficiaries and established a 50/50 joint venture company called Sivunosetfu (which rents the cane land

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