FOSKOR – Employee Wellbeing Top Priority for Foskor

The history of South Africa’s fertiliser industry dates all the way back to 1652, when Dutch settlers are reported to have used manure to maintain the Governor’s Gardens in the Cape, at the time of its foundation as a refreshment outpost.

Small quantities of chemical fertiliser began to be imported at the close of the 19th century, followed closely by the commissioning of the first phosphate plant using animal bones in Durban. Midway through the century, in 1951, Foskor was founded by the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) to produce phosphates for South Africa’s agricultural sector.

It is the only vertically integrated producer of phosphate ore, phosphoric acid and granular fertiliser in South Africa.

Phosphorus is known to be essential for the creation of DNA, cell membranes, and for bone and teeth formation in humans and is one of three elements, alongside nitrogen and potassium, required for commercial fertiliser and mass food production.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The Foskor Group’s core activities are the mining of phosphate rock and the production of phosphoric acid and phosphate-based fertilisers. Foskor’s Mining Division mines and processes phosphate rock concentrate at the phosphate-rich Phalaborwa in South Africa’s Limpopo Province, from two open-cast pits at a rate of over 24 million tons per annum. From here, it is carried by rail to the production facility at Foskor’s Acid Division in Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal.

“From the humble beginnings of a single mining operation, Foskor has grown into one of the world’s largest and most dynamic phosphate and phosphoric acid producers,” the company says. “Strategic expansion took Foskor from basic mining to an holistic operation that extracts ore which is then produced into and products that are used locally and exported around the globe.

“One of the world’s largest producers of phosphate and phosphoric acid, Foskor is proudly South African, but internationally focused.”

Foskor’s Acid Division exports phosphoric acid to India, Japan, Bangladesh, the Netherlands, Mexico and Dubai, and has been a prime focus of the company’s sustainable investment approach. Phosphoric acid has agricultural, industrial, medical and retail applications, and its end products include catalysts, rust proofing materials, chemical reagents, latex and animal feeds, among others.

As is the case with any company that employs heavy industrial machinery, Foskor is required regularly to make significant upgrades to remain competitive, as Shivaji Gadhave, GM Strategy, Projects & New Business Development, told Enterprise Africa. “We have some plant that is around 40 years old,” he outlined, “so we now have the requirement to replace a portion of the plant in the Acid Division in Richards Bay.

“We have had the funding approved from our shareholder, the IDC, for the acid equipment and we have initiated the project. What the project is going to do is improve the utilisation of plant, the reliability of the plant and the efficiency of the plant – currently because of the age of the plant, we are struggling with these parameters,” Gadhave explained.

“New plant will mean sustainability and improved efficiency and that improves cost of production,” he added. Foskor has invested considerable resources in addressing legacy issues in its Acid Division, correcting the perception that it is an environmentally hazardous operation.

“Foskor recognises that sustainable development links opportunity with responsibility,” it drives home. “Sustainable development raises competitiveness and allows for more informed production, taking damage to the environment into consideration.”

Foskor chairperson Bobby Godsell reported in August that the company’s board was conducting a comprehensive review of the group’s operations, and is on the cusp of developing a sustainability plan to determine its future movements.

Having recorded losses in consecutive years, Godsell said the review would investigate why Foskor “has underperformed in production, why it has underperformed in costs and why it has underperformed in profitably selling its products, both domestically and abroad.”

IDC CEO TP Nchocho indicated that this could translate to securing a strategic equity partner or technical partner for Foskor, noting that leadership changes had been made at both the board and executive levels in an effort to turn around the company and improve labour relations.

TOP EMPLOYER

It may seem an obvious statement, but employee satisfaction is supremely important to an organisation; it is central to productivity and leads to superior quality of performance and growing profits.

It has been identified as a particularly pertinent issue in sub-Saharan Africa, the only region in the world where the youth population continues to grow. “It is also a region where ensuring that young people find rewarding employment is a major policy concern,” adds a report from Andy McKay, Andy Newell and Cinzia Rienzo entitled ‘Job satisfaction among young workers in Eastern and Southern Africa’.

“226 million 15 to 24 year olds lived in this region in 2015, and this is the only world region where the youth population is growing and projected to continue to grow for much of this century,” it goes on.

Top Employers Institute is a global organisation dedicated to accelerating the impact of people strategies to enrich the world of work, certifying organisations in single countries, regionally and globally. The cutting-edge international research conducted by the Top Employers Institute each year determines whether an organisation meets the required standard of HR excellence for certification as a Top Employer.

A record 230 organisations registered to take part in this year’s programme, with 210 organisations spanning 32 African countries and 23 industry sectors certified throughout the evening.

96 organisations will now carry the South African certification, while 114 Top Employers from 31 other African territories will carry their country specific certification. Top Employers Institute also recognised 17 continental Top Employers who have achieved certification in four or more countries.

“Our comprehensive independent research revealed that Foskor provides exceptional employee conditions, nurtures and develops talent throughout all levels of the organisation,” read the company’s sparkling review at the 2020 iteration of the awards. “It has demonstrated its leadership status in the HR environment, always striving to optimise its employment practices and to develop its employees.”

Billy Elliott, Top Employers Institute Regional Manager: Africa said: “The Top Employers Institute is not just about certifying Africa’s Top Employers.” It is a testament to employers and an important quality metric that enables them to position their brands more effectively in the attraction, retention, and engagement of top talent.

“We have seen a progression of HR in Africa over the last few years, and it is our role to empower and advance people strategies across the world. We are driven not just to certify but to benchmark and connect outstanding employers around the world,” Elliott finished.