By Yemisi Izuora-Lagos
Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc. has held its 2014 Employees Award Day at a colourful ceremony,during which the company honoured its high performing employees, retiring employees, long serving employees, “Duty Pilots” for its core values – PIILOT and graduating trainees.
Plaques certificates and other gifts were given to more than 100 deserving employees based on outstanding performance, promotion and excellence in demonstrating and exemplifying the company’s core values in their day-to-day activities.
Prominent amongst the awardees was the retiring Human Resources Director, Mrs. Mary Uraih, who served the company for over 30 years.
In his address at a farewell dinner held in honour of Mrs. Mary Uraih on the eve of the Employees Award Day the chairman of Flour Mills of Nigeria, Mr. John Coumantaros, said it was a “happy and memorable event which affords us an opportunity to publicly acknowledge the good works and great contributions of Mary to the progress and growth of Flour Mills Group.”
He said that “it was remarkable to note that Mary ended up spending most of her entire working career with Flour Mills,
Mrs. Uraih was commended by the chairman for having a distinguished career, spanning 30 years during which she “clearly instilled sound industrial relations practices and discipline in the Flour Mills Group and that she also demonstrated a high level of passion, competence and dedication.”
Speaking at the Employees Day Ceremony, the Group Managing Director, Mr. Paul Gbededo, said the ceremony was about celebrating enthusiasm, commitment, sheer hardwork and excellence. He said, “we are honouring those who worked late into the evening and early in the morning. We are honouring those who challenged the status quo, to winners who wouldn’t take ‘NO’ for an answer.”
He added that the awardees may have worked alone or in groups but they had the support and encouragement of co-workers, family and friends. Without that backup they would not have been able to do the work they have done.
Mr. Gbededo encouraged the awardees to continue the good work, stay encouraged and also transfer the skills and expertise acquired over the years to other team members who would take FMN to greater heights.
He concluded his address enjoining everyone present to take up the famous words, “All things are possible until they are proven impossible, and even the impossible may only be so for now”.
Mr. Coumantaros in his speech at the Employees Day Ceremony said that for FMN to attain its goal, it would need to offer customers and consumers consistent, superior and affordable quality products supported by exceptional customer service. He requested all the employees to rededicate themselves to the same goals too.
The chairman said, ‘I believe like my father that, if it is worth doing, do it now and do it well.” He urged the company to embark on the next chapter of the aspirational vision. He added that it is a chapter worthy of history in both reach and potential, adding that they were well positioned to revolutionize the food and agro-allied industries in Nigeria and beyond.
He gave assurance that FMN would continue to invest in people: recruitment, training, development and recognition, in strong brands, right products or marketing strategies, in further developing the world-class systems and processes of the company and in the most technologically advanced equipment. According to him, with over 12,000 people and multifaceted operations in food, agro-allied and supporting businesses, FMN can only be as strong as the weakest link in the chain. He further added that our success depends on our collective commitment to our vision and to our working together in achieving it. Our success depends as much on the “we” as the “me”.
He stressed that FMN was a customer-centric company, focused on both product and process innovation, always seeking to build shareholder value and that it will never lose sight of the nuts and bolts requirements in running the business.
He concluded that “our culture and values are underpinned by PIILOT: Performance, Integrity, Innovation, Leadership, Ownership and Teamwork and that with these values FMN would be able to meet the challenges of our day and seize the many opportunities that lie ahead”.