When fairafric was founded 5 years ago, we only had seven Ghanaian colleagues in our partner company in Tema. Today our team in Ghana consists of 62 people and is constantly growing. As with our team in Germany, there are now several departments: production, quality management, technology and administration. In the latter works Adjoa, our Ghanaian HR manager. For this blog post, we asked her a few questions about Team Ghana, how they work together and what everyday life in the factory looks like.
Adjoa, how do you take care of each other and work together as a team?
We work together by being supportive, honest and respectful to each other. We appreciate each other’s efforts, but we also want to give each other room to grow. We give regular feedback, and we always reward the achievements of our colleagues. Communication within the team is essential for a good working relationship. We have training and development program to help us learn, and we offer benefits above and beyond the basics. That is how we keep everyone happy and at the same time have the best results in our work.
Do you have a system in place that addresses the team needs?
Yes, for example we have a suggestion box where employees can put in their suggestions. Also our colleagues can approach their supervisors easily all the time and talk with them about their individual needs. Anyways, there is an appraisal at the end of every quarter, where all employees are appraised by their managers. This helps us to identify and address the individual needs of every employee to further help build his professional career and support them to become the best at their respective job.
Are there training opportunities or workshops outside of daily work?
Yes we have training opportunities and workshops during the whole year. For example we have training for good manufacturing practices in food production, cleaning and personal hygiene, Machines Operating, Customer experience or first aid. Some are held by internal and some by external professionals. There is a training plan for the year showing all opportunities.
What is your usual day at the office like?
We normally arrive around 7:00am and have breakfast together till 7:30am. Work starts from there through to a one hour lunch break. We usually eat together in small groups or sometimes individually at the canteen. And then we close for the day by 5:00pm.
What do you do as a team for fun?
We normally chat and laugh or eat together on workdays. On holidays, we usually organize soccer matches when we are not at home to relax.
4 Questions to: Managing Director Michael
Last but not least, we have asked our Managing Director Michael four short questions. We already did this with Julia, our German Head of Sales, in our Team Germany blog post. You can find the videos of their mini-interviews on Instagram and Facebook.
What would your personal chocolate creation for fairafric look like?
Mhmm…I would love for fairafric to produce a 43% milk chocolate with a little bit of Irish Cream in the middle. That is something I would really enjoy!
How would your perfect working day start and end?
My perfect days have always been the ones where we had a line of activities for the day and then successfully managed to get them done by the end of the day. For example, when we had to organize everything for our certifications, went through each area step by step, and then passed the exam at the end. That is simply the best feeling.
Which chocolate and which Amanase product are your favorites from the current range?
Of the 12 products we currently produce, the 43% chocolate with milk and hazelnut is my favorite. And as for Amanase, I love pineapple and mango dipped in 80% dark cocoa chocolate. I could chew on this all day long!
Describe fairafric with a gesture!
