Conducting business in an ethical, socially responsible and environmentally sustainable manner must be embedded in every aspect of Olam’s business.

We recognize that how and what we do to achieve our success, is just as important as success itself. Upholding high standards of behaviour is fundamental to the values and culture of Olam, and it is central to earning and maintaining the trust of our investors, customers, suppliers, employees, communities and other stakeholders.

To strengthen our ethical and compliance standards, we have established the Olam Ethical Business Programme (EBP). This sets out the standards and behaviours firmly expected, which are detailed in the Olam Code of Conduct, as well as our specific policies.

 

Our Code of Conduct sets out our commitment to “do what is right”, founded on the values and everyday behaviours that build our distinctive culture and setting the standard for what it means to be part of Olam. The Code is available to download in English language.

Code of Conduct

Sustainability is at the heart of our business, not just because it is the right thing to do, but because there are clear business benefits. It is as critical to our business as our adherence to corporate governance and operating within the ambits of extant laws and ethical best practices.

 

Sustainability Framework

As a part of Olam. we are committed to delivering on the group’s three-pronged impact in communities where we operate.

Our highly motivated workforce within different business units and functions pan-Nigeria, help us deliver on our targets and strategy, while also assisting us to develop business resilience for long-term value delivery for Crown Flour Mill and our stakeholders.

 

Social and Environmental Responsibility

We are committed to embed in every aspect of Crown Flour Mill’s business an ethical, socially responsible and environmentally sustainable process.

Our Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability framework is hinged on our determination to re-imagine agriculture and food systems within the sphere of responsible growth.

We ensure robust reporting on our progress in both our annual reports and a separate Global Reporting Initiative report. Kindly refer to our Investor Relations Library section by following the link to the Olam site for our most up-to-date report.

 

Sustainability Reporting

As part of the Olam Group, Crown Flour Mill’s firm belief is that sustainability is critical to the attainment of business objectives. As such, sustainability is pivotal to the delivery of the organisation’s strategic plan.

Our parent company, Olam, in our Annual Reports, gives a detailed report hinged on our sustainability goals. These reports can be accessed in the Group’s Investor Library accessible from this site. Our reporting framework is closely aligned with the Global Reporting Initiative and incorporated stakeholder focus areas. The Capitals’ approach to reporting enables us segment our reporting under Natural, Social, Intangible,  Manufactured,  Human,  and  Intellectual  Capital.

Other initiatives we report against include CDP and Cocoa and Forests Initiative, a product specific initiative. Olam is also signatory to the 10 Principles of the UN Global Compact.

 

Food Safety and Quality

We view quality and compliance seriously, which is why we take extra care to deliver our ingredients and products to customers without adulteration or blemish.

We run highly integrated supply chains. This allows us work with both artisanal and large-scale growers to offer training, quality seeds and other inputs. We reduce food safety risks with the highest standards of quality and microbiological control at our processing plants in origin and in destination markets.

 

Processing

We understand that continued investment in achieving safety, quality, health, and supporting sustainability is critical to delivering quality products reliably to our customers.

Prevention remains our guiding light, hence the adoption of the systematic preventative approach tagged Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP). This helps us address physical, chemical and biological hazards across the operation for prevention purposes rather than relying only on finished product inspection.

We have captured in detail in our 2019 Annual Report, under Manufactured Capital, these targets and process.

Our processed product range include: Mama Gold Flour, Mix & Bake Flour, Supreme Flour, Bake Well Flour, BUA Flour, Dangote Flour, Crown Premium Pasta, Crown Pasta, Dangote Pasta, BUA Pasta, Mama Gold Semolina, Supreme Semolina, Crown Tuwovita, Dangote Semolina among others.

 

Sustainable Supply Chains

Crown Flour Mill’s strategy for achieving a sustainable supply chains is based on sourcing responsibly, reducing its environmental impact, and creating supply chain partnerships that have agricultural value. Our supplier relationships are based on key principles including optimizing due diligence processes, building supplier capability with training where we can, and supporting local businesses by creating value.

Safety, reliability, efficiency and sustainability are at the top of the priority list for Crown Flour Mill. We operate a best-in-class supply chains that incorporates highly optimized inventory management, flexibility and speed with order fulfillment, customization with process implementation, and compliance, all of which defines our success. This has also helped us reduce costs, improve efficiency, in addition to optimizing our use of natural resources.

We recognize that our supply chain is a critical business process, and not just a business function. So, we have put significant additional resources into transforming our supply chain to be more responsive and integrated in order to meet market demands. This effort has successfully increased productivity, while reducing process cycle time and making inventory levels more efficient.

 

Sustainability Governance

We adhere to the principles of accountability, openness, and integrity in running the business. Coupled with that is our drive for a consistently robust financial performance.

 

We established our principles in our Code of Corporate Governance. We have a dedicated team responsible for implementing our Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (CR&S) Strategy.

For proper implementation and accountability, we have two tiers of governance. The Board CR&S Committee and the CR&S Executive Committee. The Board oversees the Executive Committee while the CR&S Executive Committee manages our progress against these standards.

Our Code of Conduct encourages whistleblowing by employees for unethical practice, without fear of reprisals.

 

Stakeholder Engagement

Our developmental engagement with different stakeholders is an integral part of our sustainability drive. In so doing, we work with several government and non-government critical stakeholders including industry regulators, policy makers, ministeries of agriculture and relevant parastatals and innovators. We also work closely with the Flour Milling Association of Nigeria (FMAN) and the Wheat Farmers Association of Nigeria (WFAN); two very critical stakeholders for our business.

 

Crown Flour Mill Development Efforts with the Flour Milling Association of Nigeria (FMAN)

Crown Flour Mill Limited, has consistently teamed up with other stakeholders in the flour milling industry, under the aegis of the Flour Milling Association of Nigeria (FMAN), to facilitate robust developmental activities and interventions to support the local cultivation of Wheat in Nigeria. This collaborative effort is empowering smallholder Wheat farmers   and is in sync with the Federal Government drive to improve the cultivation of crop locally. The key areas of this collaboration comprise:

1. Intervention support programmes aimed at boosting the local wheat production quality and quality – With a convergence sum of N250 million expended on training and retraining of local smallholder farmers, providing quality seed inputs and threshing facilities on local farms, Crown Flour Mill has continuously donated to FMAN’s initiatives to maximize local wheat yields which currently stand at 200,000 metric tons against local demand of 4.63 million metric tons.
2. Initiatives directed at equipping bakers with modern-day baking techniques – Through various partnerships with respected technical institutions, Crown Flour Mill Limited and other FMAN stakeholders embarked on technical training to equip Nigerian bakers in places such as Lagos and Kaduna with modern baking methodology in a bid to scale up food production quality in the sector. Alongside other FMAN partners, CFM contributed significantly to acquiring baking equipment worth N26 million to upgrade the bakeries’ operations.
3. CFM’s Baking School – The Flour Milling Association of Nigeria (FMAN), which comprises of the foremost flour millers in the country, has continuously supported local wheat production in Nigeria over the past 4 years with interventions totaling about NGN 250 million. These interventions include; NGN 20 million grant to the Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI) to aid research on improved technology, varietal testing and modern agronomy practices in the year 2016. FMAN also donated 50 units of multi-crop threshers to the Wheat Farmers Association of Nigeria (WFAN) in 2018 to help reduce post-harvest loss, and most importantly, guaranteed offtake to purchase yield produced that meet set criteria. Previously, FMAN also donated 2,500 water pumps and 225,000 kg of seeds to farmers.

 

Crown Flour Mill Support for Wheat Farmers Association of Nigeria (WFAN) 

On various occasions, Crown Flour Mill Limited has demonstrated its commitment to accelerating wheat production in Nigeria. Through collaborative efforts with the Flour Milling Association of Nigeria (FMAN) has taken an active role in proffering innovative solutions to the challenges confronting local smallholder wheat farmers. The roles played by the firm collaboratively with its partners have yielded the following benefits:

1. Empowering farmers – CFM and stakeholders at FMAN partner consistently with the Wheat Farmers Association of Nigeria (WFAN) by providing technical support, multi-crop threshers, irrigation facilities and high yielding heat-tolerant wheat seed to the members of the association across Kano, Jigawa and Kebbi states to increase the farmers’ profitability.
2. Boosting wheat development – Crown Flour Mill is working independently to improve the quality and quantity of wheat produced in Nigeria. For instance, the firm has entered into a partnership with Dr Filipo Bassi, a specialist durum wheat breeder and the Lake Chad Research Institiutue. Dr Bassi has been commissioned to work with smallholder wheat farmers. He is expected to develop a variety of heat-tolerant wheat which can withstand the temperatures of the wheat-producing regions in Nigeria.
3. Aiding food security – By working harmoniously with FMAN, in addition to making substantial independent efforts, to maximize wheat yields in Nigeria, CFM intends to bridge the wheat supply gap and ensure the baking quality of Nigeria wheat improves. These efforts would drive sustainable food prices for Nigerian consumers who have switched to the most affordable wheat foods such as pasta, bread and noodles to feed their households as prices of alternative food varieties skyrocket in the local markets.
4. Off-taking and competitive pricing agreement with smallholder wheat farmers  – Apart from working actively with wheat farmers in Nigeria to ensure that they can grow wheat effectively and efficiently, Crown Flour Mill buys the wheat produce that meets its standard quality in sufficient quantity, and at a competitive price, from smallholder farmers to ensure that they get a healthy return for their efforts.