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Pelican News

Blue Skies has published a new report outlining the core values of its award winning business model, the Joint Effort Enterprise (JEE). Put simply the JEE espouses the idea that a business works best if it is inclusive, socially equal and profitable. The paper describes the thinking behind the JEE and

explains why our diversity, culture and profitability are important to the sustainability of the business. It also includes the JEE Virtuous Cycle which encompasses the values of the organisation with respect to people, fruit, profit and wellbeing. A copy of the report can be downloaded from the Blue Skies website at www.blueskies.com/jee

Our diverse range of skills, experience and

perspectives helps us to generate the best ideas.

Our culture of respect raises our morale and

helps us to conserve the resources we rely on.

We need to be profitable so as to generate the

funds that enable us to survive and grow.

Above: The core values of the Joint Effort Enterprise model.

The 100th edition of Pelican News will be published in June. To celebrate we will feature headlines from the past 100 editions. The first newsletter was published in February 2006 for Blue Skies Ghana and featured a competition to guess how many ties Reggie (Ghana operations) had in his collection, and news on our new bottle blowing machine. If you have any thing you would like to contribute to our 100th edition, please send it to simon.derrick@blueskies.com ---------------------------------------------

www.facebook.com/blueskiesproducts ---------------------------------------------

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Blue Sky Products Gh. Ltd in conjunction with Blue Skies Juice Gh. Ltd celebrated the World Malaria and Health and Safety day on 25th April, 2014. The theme for the malaria day was “Invest in the future, Defeat Malaria” and the theme for the safety day was “Safety and Health in the Use of Chemicals at Work”. Activities marking the day included a procession (float) from Blue Skies

through Dobro township, medical eye screening, a quiz and a talk on Malaria and Chemical safety. Games such as Volley ball, bend ball, Tug of peace, sack race and aerobics were part of the celebration. The procession ended up at the Daniel Safo sports complex with an aerobics exercise by the participants. Abigail Koranteng-Mantey of Juice factory won the malaria quiz competition with 39 points, followed by Obed Frimpong of FIAT/Intake with 38 points, Kenneth Prince Forson and Amenyo Victoria won the third and fourth positions respectively. There was a talk on chemical safety by Caesar Nyadedzor (Toxicologist) from Ridge Hospital Accra and a talk on how to prevent Malaria by P.A.Noble Asiedu ( Medical Assistant) of Blue Skies Clinic. There was a medical eye screening sponsored by the Standard Chartered Bank for interested staff. The celebration continued into the afternoon with games such as volleyball, bend ball, tug of peace and sack race among the Safety Committee, the Keep Fit Club, Blue Sky Products Ghana Ltd and Blue Skies Juice Gh.Ltd. All the quiz contestants and the winning teams were presented with awards. The awards were presented by the General Manager Blue Skies Juice Gh. Ltd (Perpetual Ofasi), Marketing Manager Blue Skies Juice Gh. Ltd (Juliana Agyemang), Production Manager, Blue Sky Products Gh. Ltd (Paul Atsu), the CEO of Sustainable Ghana (Desmond Appiah), Human Resource Manager (Emily A. Boateng) and Eric Amparbeng (Assistant Human Resource Manager)

Staff ready for the float Aerobics display by participants

Report compiled by Wisdom Tukpih (OSH, Blue Skies Ghana)

Blue Skies Brazil achieved their second successive zero non-conformances BRC audit result, and their second successive zero non-conformances SQMS audit result which is the standard used by McDonalds. The management team at the site is very small and this outcome is very largely attributable to Flavia personally. Edivaldo and Wilson were able to complete some last-minute work very diligently, and Daniele with her team managed production very well during the audit, but Flavia’s calm competence and beautifully organised quality system were very impressive and achieved the result she deserved. Very well done again Blue Skies Brazil! Report by Stephan Morris. ---------------------------------------------

Above: MD George Hutton unveils the latest edition to his growing collection of super cars.

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The Blue Skies Ghana Football team (The Pelicans) who are participants in the National Cooperate league sponsored by Samsung have been named Team of the Month. In a short ceremony at the factory, the organisers of the league visited the factory to present the giant decorated trophy to Management and inform them of the team's performance. The head of sports from Lizzy Sports Complex indicated that as first time participants, and the rate at which we are knocking off all the other heavy weights in the league, he is sure we are in for a surprise. Receiving the trophy on behalf of the GM, Emily thanked the team and assured them that we are surely going for the ultimate prize especially now that we on top of the league.

The trophy was later presented to the Mrs Ruth Smith Adjei the General Manager who joined the team in singing and dancing, finally he encouraged them to be disciplined as they march toward the ultimate prize. She said where ever they find themselves; they should be worthy ambassadors of Blue Skies. The league continues and readers will be updated on progress.

Report by Alistair Djimatey. Foundation Manager, Ghana. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This month we meet Lorna Dix of the UK Operations Team and find out about her ambitions to conquer a series of impressive feats for charity.

I am doing a number of challenges this year partly for fun and also to raise some money for charity. My first challenge was the Three Peaks, which involves climbing the UK’s 3 highest mountains (Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon) in under 24hours. In total it consists of 24miles of walking; 10,000ft of ascent and 450miles of driving. I completed this as part of a team on Sunday 18th May at 7:30am. We tackled road closures; very tight country roads in a minibus; minimal sleep; snow; minor injuries and exhaustion. The team spirit and positive attitude was incredible, only to be

matched by the views- including a beautiful sunrise half way up our climb of Snowdon. It was a very tough but hugely rewarding experience!

Next I will be competing in my first ever triathlon at Pitsford Reservoir (just round the corner from our office) and finish the summer by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. I am hoping to raise money for Cameroon Catalyst (through the Mosame Trust) which is a fabulous charity co-founded by my friend while she was in university- the charity aims to bring about sustainable development and improve quality of life in rural Cameroon. The attitude and approach is very similar to that of our own Foundation- targeting projects that communities really need. If you would like to know more about Cameroon Catalyst please go to http://camerooncatalyst.org/ or if you would like to sponsor me you can do so here http://www.justgiving.com/Lorna-Dix1

By Lorna Dix, Blue Skies UK Operations.

In the first season Blue Skies sponsored Pitsford Rangers secured their first league sanctioned trophy win by defeating Park Royal 2-1 at Kislingbury FC. Pitsford Rangers entered their first ever cup final with a quiet confidence. Having lost against Park Royal three times this season, they knew that these results weren't reflective of the quality between the two teams. The win in the Junior plate has topped off a great first season and has been a reward for all the hard work everyone has put in, not just the first team but also including the Reserve squad and club volunteers.

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Food technologist Joe Revell has been lost in a vast jungle of plants by his desk in the Blue Skies office in Pitsford. Joe was last seen in April eating a bowl of pasta; however he soon vanished after the plants lost control and took over an entire corner of the office. After an emergency response meeting lasting several months Blue Skies has decided to deploy an elite search and rescue team in an attempt to find Joe and tidy up his desk.

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Our Foundation representative in South Africa, Waydu Matlala, recently made a series of presentations to nearby communities to raise awareness of the Foundation and find people willing to volunteer on the Foundation committee to help prioritise and manage future projects. The presentations were

arranged with the support of the Mayor and local Councillors. One Councillor commented “I have never see such a thing, what the foundation is doing for the people of Dipaliseng is big and we are appreciate all the efforts you are all doing for our community.” -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The views expressed in this column are the views of individuals and do not necessarily represent the views of Blue Skies or Pelican News

This month our former agronomist Shakespeare Djokoto makes a return guest appearance with some more words of wisdom for Pelican News. Z

Who are your friends?

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great." – Mark Twain One of the greatest challenges facing most people today is their weakness in choosing whom to relate to or associate with. The question you will always have to ask is who my friend is and why is he/she my friend? As a human being you have the power of choice. A wrong choice in life – carrier or profession, partner, friend, location and job can squeeze out of you all that was intended for your progress forever. Furthermore bad habits will then slip into your life and frustrate you. I have personally seen several guys struggling with life because of their acquaintances. The repercussions connected to this can never be reversed unless by divine interruption. The most precarious setbacks of most employees of an organization is their vulnerability. People can get hooked up with vicious people but are blinded due to some petty benefits they derive from them. There are groups or factions who behave like friends but in reality they are just interdependent. Such “friendship groups” normally create some hedges around themselves to protect their interests sometimes to the detriment of their organizations. Interestingly you tend to have different categories of these cliques with unsafe agenda. The worrying aspect of such friendships is their protection of each other against their organizations interests when they are caught in a web. It is time to choose or befriend people who will help you to achieve your dreams to the growth of the organization. By Shakespeare Djokoto Formerly of Agronomy Department, Blue Skies Ghana.

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The Blue Skies Foundation has completed its first 2014 project in South Africa after assisting in the refurbishment of a waiting room for a clinic in the town of Balfour. The Foundation provided seats for the clinic to replace the old chairs which were falling apart and discouraging patients from visiting the clinic. ---------------------------------------------

The Blue Skies Foundation has distributed over 140,000 pens to 23 schools in four regions of Ghana. The pens were donated by the UK Charity Pens for Kids who receive pens and other stationary items from various organisations in the UK. Municipal Director of education, Mrs Sabina Obeng said the pens will make an enormous difference as some children drop out of school just because parents are unable to afford stationary required to attend school

www.blueskies.com/foundation