This month’s Business Leaders' Forum, sponsored by Aptean, saw Food Manufacture speak with delegates to expand on some of the topics brought up during the day.
Collaboration is the major focus of the Business Leaders’ Forum, with members of the food and drink industry coming together to share their experiences, brainstorm solutions and develop closer working relationships.
On the topic of collaboration, Nimisha Raja – founder of Nim’s Naturally – said: “I don’t think I’ve ever been that big on collaborating and it’s never really been huge on my agenda, but I think coming to something like this today really makes it clear that you learn so much more from other manufacturers and people.
“Their experiences are very different to yours. You have something to teach them, they have something to teach you.”
Ramona Hazan, founder of humous brand Ramona’s, said it was important that there was more than enough success to go around, emphasising the need for the industry to help each other.
‘Say it out loud’
“There are tools, there are ideas, there are contacts – all these things are just so important - we need to be saying them out loud, [...] helping each other,” she added.
“Small things that we know, that other people don’t know really make a difference to other people’s journeys.”
Food Manufacture also spoke to Walkers Shortbread’s global head of strategic analytics, Sarah Stocks-Wilson to learn what she thought food and drink businesses should be investing in.
“The key areas are going to be in sustainable logistics,” she explained. “I think there’s a great deal that we can all do, but potentially working more closely together as manufacturers in terms of shared logistics.
‘Greater than the sum of our parts’
“I think there’s loads we can do just in terms of optimising the efficiency of our general infrastructure. Rather than each of us working independently and not being greater than the sum of our parts.”
Food Manufacture’s Business Leaders’ Forum brings together voices from the industry to discuss, under Chatham House Rules, challenges and opportunities they face in the food and drink sector.
It’s a unique event that invites collaborative-thinking and knowledge sharing, with the attendees shaping the agenda.
Mental health and well-being were big ticket items discussed at February’s event, with delegates sharing personal stories, challenges and improvements we can make in the future.
