Simon-Jan Terpstra
As I wrote in my first weblog, we are having a lot of problems with the construction of the new mango processing plant and warehouse. One of the biggest issues that we face is the incredible amount of bureaucracy in Mali. Things simply work differently here in Africa. It’s all about coming up with creative solutions.
The last container that we needed for the work finally arrived on Thursday a week ago. Now the sorting rooms for the warehouse can be finished. Of course there is still much to be done. I hope the contractor can finalize the most important details in the next one or two weeks, so we can start exporting the mangos.
I have had a lot of meetings in the last week. For traveling through the city I make use of taxis. Taxis in Mali are usually in very bad condition. It’s a big surprise when your seatbelt is working. There are all kinds of other mechanical problems as well that require creative approaches from the taxi drivers. Last week I was in one cab where the driver had to constantly turn the wheel to the left in to go straight forward. It was an experience on its own!
I visited four different warehouses in Bamako and a mango field. The new warehouse we are working on has cooling rooms, these four don’t. But they are making progress here. For example, I saw that they have made a lot of progress in hygiene. This is due the EUREPGAP certification, which are farm-level standards for good agricultural practices, which they are pursuing.
Only one warehouse, the smallest, had a mechanical sorting line. The others did all the sorting by hand. It was good for me to see for myself the standard of work today. It is low. I’m really surprised by the way they organized their logistics. They could save a lot of time with simple improvements. I think when labor gets more expensive they probably will have to improve.
We have had many meetings with the exporters. I am trying to get decisions made about certain things that need to be done. But it seems that decisions are not to be made during meetings. During our meetings we talk about the same issues (over and over again) without making any decisions. In comparison to what I’m used to in the Netherlands, this is quite different.
I think I’ll have to find out more on the Malian way of taking decisions to influence the speed – either that, or I am just going to have to learn to just accept the way things work here.
For eight weeks starting in April 2007 Albert Heijn supermarket manager Simon-Jan Terpstra is working to help the management of a mango packaging factory in Bamako as part of a pilot project for Albert Heijn, which, if the results after favorable will continue in 2008.
This is the second time mangos from Mali will be exported to the Netherlands for Albert Heijn. Last year it was one container with 20,000 tons of mangoes. This year the plan is to export eight containers.
Simon-Jan started working for Ahold in 2005 as an Ahold management trainee. In his first year he was project manager in the Albert Heijn Supply Chain and the, in his second year, an assistant supermarket manager for Albert Heijn. Since November 2006 he has been a supermarket manager.
Next to his work for Albert Heijn, Simon-Jan volunteers for an organization called World Servants, which carries out building projects with hundreds of volunteers in several developing countries, helping to construct facilities such as schools, health clinics or homes with people from the local community.