Interview with Volkert Engelsman – Regal 2/2010
Kategorie: Tiskové zprávy | Klára.Máziková | 25.02.2010Volkert Engelsman
Interview – Regal 2/2010
More informed and fair shopping is ahead of us
This year of the conference Bio Summit will deal with topics of permanent sustainability and ethics in business. As a key note speaker there will be Volkert Engelsman, Managing Director of the Eosta company from Netherlands.
Can you please tell us a bit about the company Eosta and its initiatie Nature and More?
Eosta was founded in 1990. The Dutch company is presently Europe's largest importer, packer and distributor of organically grown fresh produce and serves major retailers and natural food stores in Europe, the USA, Canada and the Far East. Eosta runs warehouses and pre-packing facilities exclusively dedicated to organic products in Europe's main fresh produce centres.
All Eosta products carry a unique three digit Nature & More ‘trace & tell’ code that provides retailers and consumers with direct web access to the producer as well as to the unique ecological and social context in which the product was grown (www.natureandmore.com). Eosta is the first to offer TÜV certified Climate Neutral products in the European Foodmarket.
Eosta and the Nature & More “trace & tell” scheme have been awarded various prizes among which the Anglo Dutch Award for Enterprise, the National Award for Corporate Social Responsibility, a nomination for the Public Eye Award for corporate social responsibility at the World Economic Forum in Davos and the International Fresh & Cash Export Award.
What does sustainability mean for Eosta in daily business life?
For Eosta sustainability means distributing products that are fully traceable, healthy, organically grown, carbon neutral and fairly traded.
How have the consumers’ expectations change over time?
Consumers are increasingly concerned about their health, the environmental crisis and social justice. Today citizens support environmental and social values with their membership of NGO’s. Today’s citizen is tomorrow’s consumer. Consumers increasingly seek to make an informed purchase decision. This is the main reason why most of the dominating retailers in Western Europe have embarked on organic, fair trade and other sustainability communication schemes. Statistics demonstrate that 20% of the turnover in ‘sustainability’ products realize 80% of the total turnover. In other words: a following majority of buyers seems not to care about sustainability, but dramatic change in buying behavior can be expected from a critical trendsetting minority that supports sustainability at point of sale.
How do you think sustainability and ethical business are important in today’s economic climate?
The organic consumers has proven to be resilient to economic recessions. As a matter of fact demand for sustainable products grows in times of recession. The reason for this seems to be that the organic consumer rather belongs to an ‘awareness’ elite than to a financial elite. The rapid growth of all green banks throughout Europe in times of a recession demonstrates that investment in environmental sustainability is considered to be financially sustainable as well. As Al Gore puts it: the environmental as well as the financial crisis originate in the same mistake: exploit today at the expense of tomorrow. The times of making money out of inflated hot air at the expense of the tax payer or future generations is finite. The long term profitability of sustainable or ethical products and services clearly outperforms the short term profits that can be made at the expense of our children or the third world.
What do you thing is the future for organic food? Some speak about the need to go “beyond organic”.
Demand for organic products has consistently grown with an average of 15-20% per annum over the past 25 years. There are no signs that this growth will slow down. And in the context of growing consumer awareness it is expected that demand for organic products can even grow faster. The same applies to fair trade certified products as well as products that meet additional standards with regards to carbon footprint, water footprint, soil footprint, animal welfare, biodiversity, or social sustainability criteria. Tomorrow’s consumer has become mainstream and is no longer part of the old fashioned muesli ghetto. As such he has grown beyond organic and will expect transparency with regards to additional ecological and social values.
This is where Nature & More comes in as a ‘trace and tell’ scheme that empowers the modern consumer to make an informed purchase decision.
