We believe in a world where everyone has the opportunity to thrive and succeed. We're passionate about making sure everyone across our berry world, from all backgrounds, has the opportunity to grow and succeed.

On International Women's Day, we want to reiterate our commitment to empowering women across our berry world. We recognise and appreciate the fantastic contributions made by our diverse team and are committed to making BerryWorld an even more inclusive space. In line with this, we are enhancing our talent development and leadership programs through 2024 and with the addition of our Wellbeing Strategy, we will ensure that our culture and wellness efforts provide ample support to the needs of employees and their families.

We're excited to be working hand-in-hand with Inclusive Employers on the six pillars of diversity & inclusion: Engage, Equip, Empower, Embed, Evaluate, and Evolve. Our mission is to raise our inclusive voice, spark meaningful engagement, provide everyone with the tools and guidance they need, and empower every single person in our organisation.

Breaking barriers

In addition, we're also going the extra mile to address some of the unique challenges our female colleagues face. For instance, lack of access to menstrual products and hygiene facilities is a global issue that prevents women attending school or work. The launch of our Women's Health Workshop is a testament to our efforts to address this issue within our supply chain.

Following the findings from our initial need assessment and survey across workers in South Africa, we initiated several measures to uplift women workers. We partnered with our blueberry grower Chiltern Farms in South Africa to run a Women's Health Arts-based Psychosocial Support Workshops, conducted by
SPIEEL and M-cup and funded by Waitrose Foundation (SA) reaching out to 78 women workers. These workshops have proven to be a powerful tool for increasing understanding and awareness of mental health and wellbeing practices around reproductive health. Following the success of these workshops, plans are to roll out more training opportunities to other sites across South Africa and Zimbabwe, starting off this week with 20 women workers at Madikwe Berry, South Africa. Other plans include extending our need assessments across other global sites to understand the barriers BerryWorld women workers face from not being able to attend work.

As we celebrate International Women's Day, we're more committed than ever to fostering a work environment that truly supports and empowers women. We will continue to learn, improve, and take actions to make a positive difference in the lives of women across our berry world.

Together we can cultivate a culture of equality, diversity, and inclusion that benefits us all.