18 Jul 2017

Wilderness Company group chief operation officer for all regions, Mr Grant Woodrow has emphasised the need to keep on investing in personnel in order to strive for excellence in business operations.

He described their company as huge among their competitors, stating that the employees were the best asset, who could maintain the business standard and show the world how best they did business.

He made the remarks during the Brand Champion launch, an initiative that aimed to instill the company’s core values and mission among its staff to support the organisation’s promise that its journey changed lives.

He said the initiative would create a culture where all employees would feel part of the system and contribute meaningfully with an aim to make a difference in their lives, workplace and in the community at large.

Mr Woodrow said as a business, they had the obligation to distinguish themselves from their partners and competitors, adding that, ‘we want to be unique and lead by example, hence we introduced the initiative’.

Chief operation officer is optimistic that once the initiative is rolled out, it would  encourage growth of partners in securing future businesses and also create long term visibility of the company and provide certainty to their partners .

Mr Woodrow noted that there was a need to keep on re-investing on what they were, how they did business by telling their successful stories, adding that they had come up with a set of 14 reasons to believe in wilderness and why people should travel with the leading safari company.

The reasons include the likes of the company’s pioneering community partnerships,  rhino moves and re-introductions,  human/wildlife conflict,  new Rwanda project,  rehabilitation of North Island, Wilderness Wildlife Trust, Children in the Wilderness and more.

Earlier on, the company managing director, Mr Kim Nixon pointed out that development of staff skills was critical, noting that well skilled staff improved productivity in the workplace.

He said they aimed to focus on that area and ensure their employees excelled beyond their customers’ expectations.

The industrial relation officer, Mr Caiphus Mbonisi stated that all the employees were brand champions,  adding that the initiative would actually act as a guideline for the company activities.

He said all employees would understand clearly their role, how they could translate the company values into their roles and also how they fit in the whole business.

“Actually the concept is meant to ignite the fire within the company employees and ensure they strive for excellence,” he added. BOPA