In the event of a positive Covid-19 case, we:

• Ensure compliance with government regulations and protocols
• Conduct a certified decontamination process
• Facilitate contact-tracing to prevent further spread
• Cover the costs of our Covid-19 tests
• Ensure no loss of income during a Covid-19-related absence
• Provide access to 24-hour counselling support
• Keep the DoH, NICD and our union partners informed of the situation

The same communities that nurture our employees, host the customers and consumers who facilitate demand for our products. Without looking after our employees and extended community, it is impossible for our business to thrive. Similarly, we cannot deliver on our purpose without responding to the social and environmental challenges that emerge in our operating environment. Now more than ever before, we are driven “to nourish and nurture more lives everyday”.

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See Operating Environment in IR

Covid-19 emerged as an unprecedented crisis, driving new and amplifying existing risks to the business. Our sector has generally been less impacted than others, yet the challenges have remained significant. In addition to the direct threat to business continuity and profitability, the crisis has deepened complexity in our operating environment, amplified intense competition in the food sector, pressurised our occupational-health and food-safety performance, and forced us to take-on the risks and rewards of an accelerated digital transformation. Nationally, the pandemic has further weakened our economy, wrought new changes to already muted and shifting consumer spending and exacerbated broader patterns of unemployment, poverty, inequality and hunger. Activism has been re-ignited through this new struggle, and this has amplified calls for business to “lead with purpose” and participate multi-stakeholder efforts to “build back better”.

These patterns look set to remain over the medium to long term and we cannot ignore them in our forward-looking strategies to create value. Our experience of this crisis has affirmed the development of our 2019 Sustainable Future strategy, which contextualises and strengthens our Covid-19 response. It sets us on the path to growing Tiger Brands as a business that is both future-fit and fit-for-purpose.

See Our Sustainability Strategy

“At Tiger Brands, our people are our biggest asset. Through them, we deliver on our purpose to nourish and nurture more lives everyday. The wellbeing of our staff and their families is therefore extremely important to us. We are committed to providing a safe working environment and protecting all employees from harm as far as reasonably possible and have introduced very rigorous measures to help protect all our people throughout this pandemic.”

Tiger Brands Covid-19 safety packs

At a time when the rate of Covid-19 infections was high and job losses escalating, Tiger Brands provided Covid-19 safety packs to all staff and their families, through an initiative designed to support safety, job creation and social inclusion. Each safety pack consisted of branded face masks, bottles of hand sanitiser, and a Covid-19 safety information booklet (also available online and in five languages).

The Skills Village supported Tiger Brands to manage the project, so that the positive impact on safety was extended to job creation and social inclusion. Tiger Brands’ order of 30 000 masks through the House of Monatic in Cape Town, helped employ 500 staff; 85% of whom are women from surrounding communities such as Elsies River, Parow and Bellville. The cloth bags that held the safety items were made by Intando-Yesiswe and the Hop Manufacturing Sewing Primary Cooperatives, while Ishishini Secondary Cooperative packed the bags and kept a count of progress. These activities supported the employment of 20 staff; 90% of whom are black women.

The project forms part of a series of Covid-19 initiatives undertaken by Tiger Brands, aimed at keeping our employees safe and continuing our community food support. The project was funded from a portion of the salaries voluntarily forfeited by our Exco and board members, providing an example of how our societal purpose – to nourish and nurture more lives everyday – inspired the actions of our leadership in their efforts to navigate the business through this crisis.

Tiger Brands responded deliberately to the Covid-19 pandemic

		Our approach
Ensure the availability of our products Keep our employees safe Continue our community food support		Ensure senior oversight on plans and actions Develop a clear understanding of Covid-19 and its transmission Align with government regulations and protocols Continual monitoring of the situation and our performance Continual engagement with internal and external stakeholders Continual adaption and re-prioritising the safety of our people		Exco Coronavirus Task Team that meets regularly Emergency Response Plan (ERP) to guide our business units OHSA-approved risk assessments conducted at each site Business Continuity Plans (BCPs) for all operations Specific health and safety protocols implemented at all sites Strong disciplinary action for employees in breach of safety protocols Whistleblowing facility (www.tip-offs.com) fully operational for reporting violations