FIDC: MORRIS AT THE HELM
A report for BBC World Service "Calling the Falklands" by Jenny Hargreaves (JH)
Just as the new Chief Executive begins to settle in, it will be the turn of the new General Manager of the Falkland Islands Development Corporation, Julian Morris (JM), who will be arriving in the Islands via Australia. He had extensive experience in Business before setting up his own very successful company, which he has recently sold. Julian Morris was attracted by the wide range of his new job and the good reports he had heard of the Falklands. This will be his first visit to the Islands as such, though he is familiar with the Southern Ocean.
JM: I’ve sailed down in the Southern Ocean in a race called the Whitbred race, now called the Volvo. So, I’ve got some idea of the weather there but the Falklands look sunnier than I remember it. I remember week after week of grey, very windy weather. But the Falklands seem drier and sunnier than certainly I recollect it.
JH: Now, looking at all the things you’ve managed to cram into your professional life already, there’s one aspect in particular that would obviously be of tremendous use to the Islands and that’s organic production and retailing. You actually turned around an organic meat company that was failing.
JM: It was a classic case of just because you’ve got a good product, that does not guarantee commercial success. For commercial success, you need to not only have a good product but you’ve got to get it to the market cost-effectively and you need to make sure that the quality of the product you supply is what your customers are looking for. So, it was a very interesting assignment and I’m very pleased that that company was turned around. It was very important to all the people concerned. The company was based in a rural location. So, if the company would have failed, it would have had a big impact on people’s lives, lack or alternative employment and it almost certainly would have affected other businesses in the area. And I am delighted that the business is continuing to trade profitably now.
JH: There seems to be a particular difficulty in getting organic produce to the market. It was only very recently I saw the statistic that 80% of the food bought in this country is bought from supermarkets, which somehow is very shocking, and that organic food loses out in this whole system. So, how do you get it to the consumer?
JM: Obviously the consumer can buy organic produce from a supermarket but there are other channels to the marketplace, whether or not it be the catering marketplace, whether or not it be the manufacturing marketplace in terms of prepared food. So, there are other avenues as well. Ultimately, if one is targeting the end consumer in terms of what they are going to prepare at home, then you've got to do business with a supermarket. You’ve then got to do business in a way that matches the supermarket’s criteria. But with a concentration of buying power, particularly in the UK, it’s going to be harder for supermarkets to compete between each other and differentiate between themselves. So, I think they are, in turn, looking for more ways of competing between themselves. Here there may well be a good opportunity for the Falklands.
JH: Obviously, that’s one of the major concerns for the Islands. They have managed to get organic status from the EU and they want to market their organic mutton. So, are you already beginning to get ideas?
JM: It is safe to say that at this stage the person who knows least about the Falklands is myself. And, whilst I may have some ideas, first of all, what I have to do is talk with and listen to people. And, I have to see the work that’s already been carried out by FIDC which has impressed me greatly, looking at it from here. I think the first thing for me to do is to really assess what is happening before coming up with any ideas or recommendations.
JH: I was interested to see that your latest job was your own company where you were giving specialist consultancy advice to Medical, Arts and Entertainment businesses. What sort of experience has that given you that you might be able to re-deploy in the Islands?
JM: I think one of the most important things that it’s given me is experience of actually starting a business myself. Until I did this, I had always been advising businesses, starting off life as a Chartered Accountant and then Adventure Capital providing advice to businesses and then I had been a director of a number of companies including multinational companies. I had that experience but I had never had the raw terror that comes when you start a business and there is just yourself and possibly another person starting off with "We have got to make this thing work." I think, having come at it from the other side, it’s given me a much greater understanding of when one is working with people to make a venture successful, not only the practical things in terms of marketing, finance, organisation, processes, IT but also the emotional side of what is required to make something successful or make something more successful.
JH: Well, you will be going down to the Islands at the end of March. What are you particularly looking forward to about being there?
JM: Firstly, I am looking forward to the lack of traffic, although Richard, my predecessor, who is coming back, assures me that at lunch-time there is a traffic jam of Land Rovers all trying to get home for lunch. But I am certainly looking forward to the lack of congestion and I am certainly looking forward to living in a smaller community. I currently live in a village but I am looking forward to being in a community where people know each other and where you have access to the wonderful natural environment.
JH: Were you yourself brought up in a village or in a town? Can we know a little bit about your background?
JM: I was brought up in a town, Reading, just outside of London and I’ve travelled a lot during my career all over the globe. And, for the last 9 years I have lived in two villages. So, I wouldn’t say that I’ve got experience of living in an environment quite as intimate as the Falklands but I know what it’s like living in a village and getting on with people. My wife is a farmer’s daughter and she was brought up in a rural hamlet in Yorkshire so she is certainly familiar with it.
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