Stakeholder engagement

We are committed to communicating with all of our stakeholders freely, transparently, and on time.

Our stakeholder engagement allows us to better define our business strategy, make smarter decisions, and improve our economic, environmental, and social performance. As a result, we attempt to understand our stakeholders’ perspectives and requirements, create expectations for areas of mutual concern, act on those expectations, and keep our stakeholders updated on our progress. We engage with our stakeholders through a variety of channels, including our website, bi-annual results releases, the integrated annual report, regulatory pronouncements from the BSE and JSE, one-on-one meetings, customer surveys, and continuous informal talks.

We will keep working to improve our engagement techniques, and we see communication and relationship management with our stakeholders as essential to our long-term viability and a key component of our business strategy.

Engagement enables us to:

• Improve our awareness of stakeholders' expectations, aspirations, and interests
• Strengthen the transparency and accountability through which we have built valuable relationships
• Consider stakeholders' concerns and interests when establishing our material issues and strategic response

Our people

Choppies' people-focused approach attempts to build an employee value proposition that will empower, recognise and reward the talent needed to achieve our objectives. Across all operations and business segments, employees are treated equally and given similar opportunities. We collaborate with our communities and are constantly on the lookout for new opportunities, technology, and ideas. Our workforce currently stands at 9 746 people across four countries.

As our frontline brand ambassadors, we seek to attract and retain high-calibre personnel who are critical to our success and long-term viability. The Company continues to place a premium on providing excellent working conditions as well as ample possibilities for advancement and development.

Choppies is an equal-opportunity employer that does not accept discrimination at any level. We employ the largest contingent of people with disabilities in the private sector in Botswana and encourage this in our other countries of operation. No incidences of discrimination and labour unrest were reported during the year.

A whistleblowing system is in place and all complaints received during the year were addressed.

Our communities

Choppies has an effective corporate social investment (CSI) policy in line with the Company's commitment to the upliftment of communities in which we operate. As at 30 June 2021, the total CSI contributions amounted to BWP887 344 (2020: BWP6.2 million). The prior year included once-off contributions to the Covid-19 Presidential Relief Fund of BWP3.4 million. The Group's CSI policies aim to ensure that we properly maintain our social licence to operate by considering human rights as well as the social, economic and environmental impacts of what we do as a business. Choppies is committed to ensuring that any business undertakings are conducted as ethically as possible.

Our environment

Choppies operates in four different countries and is committed to ensuring a minimal impact on the environment in all regions of operations. The Group has made significant progress in determining and enhancing the organisation's environmental performance.

An environmental policy was drafted and approved by the Board during the year. The Group made pleasing progress towards meeting its environmental goals. The Group placed greater emphasis on waste management during the financial year, whereas in previous years the focus was on safe garbage disposal, to ensure that minimal waste was generated.