It’s Not a Sweat Shop
----Palm Fruit Bunch----
So my friend Matt Hall was out here last week for his Anesthesiology boards (yeah, he’s a doctor). Jokingly, he kept ribbing me about the company I was joining, asking if we let the kids in our sweat shops take breaks for water.
Haha, Matty.
Nonetheless, our humorous banter that day made me want to share a little more of the story. Let you know that we have no “sweat shops” and the dignity filled work we grant is helping a ton of people.
Because the company went public today, I can actually share more information.
Global Palm Resources Holdings Limited (visit our website) is now a publicly listed company on the Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX). We were just able to raise S$46.5 million through our initial public offering (this is about $34 million in US Dollars).
We have around 2000 employees and another 1400 families that are given land through the Plasma Program. Find out more about this program and how we care for our employees here. The company is so well respected that over 80% of our employees have been there for 7 years or more. Wow.
And they are not children.
Dr. Suparno who runs the company likes to talk about how our profit ultimately comes from above. He and I worked together to write up the rationale behind the logo. It’s on the website here, but I’ve also included it below:
The Identity of Global Palm Resources Holdings Limited
Our corporate logo features a circular formation of five symbols in different colours, each representing the natural resources and gifts that we depend on for the growth of our oil palms. [click here to see logo on top left of the page]
Starting at the top, the golden symbol represents sunshine, which is freely given to us. The sun’s light, beaming down on our oil palms over time, produces the photosynthesis that allows them to grow from a small seed to a giant, fruit bearing tree.
To the left, the blue symbol represents the natural watering of our plants that occur through the abundant rainfall our plantation receives each year.
The third symbol in green serves to depict the natural environment around our plantation. Lush with life and resplendent with the ability to produce healthy vegetation, it is in this environment that our oil palms thrive and bear fruit.
The red symbol represents the nutrient-rich soil that we inherit with the land. With the capacity to fertilize and serve as a catalyst for growth, this soil is yet another reminder of how strategically located our oil palm operations are in Indonesia.
Each of these natural resources, freely provided to us, contributes to the success of our business. This success is displayed by the last golden symbol which not only represents our golden palm oil but also alludes to our core value of excellence.
To whom much is given, much is required. We aim to be responsible with all that has been entrusted to us. We see ourselves as stewards of these articles, and believe that it is our duty to act on them in an excellent, responsible and sustainable way; producing maximum fruit. This final symbol, completing the cycle with gold, represents the role that Global Palm Resources is committed to play.
Though small in comparison to the generosity given to us, the role we aspire to play is just as critical. We are firmly committed to take what we have and manage it in an efficient, environmentally and socially responsible way. In the process, we aim to deliver long-term sustainable value to our investors and stakeholders.
Inspired to humility by the external generosity of the entire process, we are committed to leave the land and its inhabitants better off than we found them.
Global Palm Resources Holdings Limited – Benefiting People and the Planet.
So glad to be joining a company that thinks like this.
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