Interview with new IOT general manager Nichol Elizabeth |05 January 2018

‘I want to make IOT the place to work for’

“If we work in good partnership, engage more Seychellois, increase production capacity, look at the cost of production internally and externally, I believe the IOT will be the great place to work for in 2018.”

This is how Nichol John Elizabeth, the new General Manager of the Indian Ocean Tuna Ltd (IOT), views the company as he aims to make it great again.

Mr Elizabeth was speaking to the local media in a press conference on Wednesday morning at the IOT headquarters at the Old Port.

Mr Elizabeth focused on some pertinent points he said he will tackle as soon as he takes full responsibility of the company on February 1, 2018 and these include working on the cost of production, increasing the tonnage so that IOT can produce 100,000 tonnes a year compared to today of 72,000 tonnes in a three-year to five-year strategy, also benefiting from the marine ingredient component and exporting Omega-3 rich from tuna heads and other parts, tuna in a plastic cup, investing half of 23 million euros investments in a cold store project, making IOT the employer of choice by removing the misconception many locals have about the company, getting more local staff on board at both low and middle management levels, better managing tuna unloading so that tuna vessels can unload their catch and go back to sea as soon as possible.

IOT forms part of The Thai Union Group company with factories in Asia (Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam), Europe (Portugal, France, Poland and Norway) and also in Africa (Ghana and Seychelles).

GM Elizabeth drew up his plans and targets for the company after conducting a two-month assessment of the current situation there, both internally and externally, following his decision to take charge of the company last October.

Mr Elizabeth has worked with IOT before and that was back in 1996 as the quality control manager with Heinz and became the first Seychellois production manager in 1997.

100-day campaign to rejuvenate IOT’s image

He has initiated a 100-day campaign which is about rejuvenating the image of IOT in Seychelles and among Seychellois. Previously General Manager of Thai Union’s Ghana Operations since 2008, and with 23 years of experience in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods sector, Mr Elizabeth spearheaded the business to become the top producing, processing and exporting seafood company for Ghana.

He also worked with Unilever under a research centre into tomato paste in the United Kingdom, before joining Heinz in Seychelles as the Quality Control Manager in 1996.

He also headed the Yield Improvement department, the first to be introduced in the Heinz group, and was the Production Manager before taking on the Ghana job.

Mr Elizabeth did his A-Levels at the then Seychelles Polytechnic where he majored in Biology, Mathematics and Chemistry. He obtained his BSc Degree in Food Sciences at the Nottingham University, United Kingdom, where he won the Sainsbury Award for best student for two consecutive years. He also holds a Masters degree in Food Processing Technology from the Leicester University in the UK.

With regards to IOT, Mr Elizabeth said the company is doing quite well now where it is producing around 320-330 tonnes per day but as the market is a bit slow at the moment, the factory is producing according to demand and not building inventory, even if we are producing mostly our own brands like John West, Mareblu and Petit Navire. Another factor is also the fish prices which are high with buyers reducing their stock levels. So IOT finds itself in a position where it cannot increase production capacity at this very moment.

“Our plan for the future is to increase tonnage from 72,000 - 75,000 tonnes a year to 100,000 tonnes a year on a three-year to five-year plan, but in three years’ time the factory should be producing about 90,000 tonnes a year. This will be through improving our competitiveness which means our cost of production, which is currently a problem at IOT, should be at a much competitive level than today.

“Many tuna companies are present in Asia with the Thai Union group company, which IOT falls under, having factories in various countries. So cost of production must be competitive enough to ensure production growth in IOT with 100,000 tonnes per year,” said Mr Elizabeth, who has described this target as a very big project for him personally.

He added that cost of production has even increased two-fold in the last seven years with the biggest impact being the cost of utilities – electricity and water ‒ which he says is very high compared to other countries including those of Europe.  “This is part of my mandate where I shall work with the government of Seychelles to look into the matter and see what can be done for IOT,” said Mr Elizabeth. The government of Seychelles holds a 40% share within IOT through the Société Seychelloise d'Investissement (SSI).

As part of his priorities, Mr Elizabeth will therefore focus on water and power consumption within the factory, investing in renewable energy facilities like photovoltaic, buying generators for IOT’s cold stores which consume a lot of electricity, almost 40% of total consumptions.

Quota on yellowfin tuna

As for challenges faced by the company, one of them is the quota set on the fishing of Yellowfin tuna in the Indian Ocean set by the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC).

“We are concerned with this Yellowfin tuna situation because at IOT we use it (yellowfin tuna) a lot for two principal markets ‒ in France (Petit Navire) and Italy (Mareblu). They will be really affected with the cut in production. We have to discuss with government, the Seychelles Fishing Authority and other stakeholders on how we can manage this quota. As we are in the Indian Ocean, I believe IOT should be given priority on the procurement, for clarity currently there is a quota established by countries (flags) and not by fishing vessels operating in that region,” said Mr Elizabeth.

But he hopes if through the monitoring of IOTC and the stock becomes healthier, maybe they can increase the quota again. And together with government and other collaborators/operators, this will be addressed as one big community.

The fact that reparation work is currently being done on their cold store and has reduced storage capacity by 60%, this year IOT is investing about 23 million euros and more than half of the sum will be invested in cold storage facilities.

“We are expanding our cold stores. We are buying equipment which will facilitate the unloading of fish as quickly as possible. Our plan is to unload a minimum of 600 tonnes of fish per day. All the fish will be sorted out straight after unloading and stored in the cold store at the same time. This is a massive project in this business and we are taking it really to the highest level as we expect both government and workers to realise that when we are investing we are really investing in the future of the business,” said Mr Elizabeth, adding that emphasis will be put on unloading, stocking and the way they buy fish henceforth.

Mr Elizabeth also wants to make IOT the employer of choice, by running a public relations campaign to make the factory more people friendly, offering attractive working conditions, holding open days for students and the general public, recruiting Seychellois staff at both lower and middle management levels, removing the misconception people have about IOT, and improving quality of work at the quays so that vessels can unload even at night to enable them to go back at sea quickly.

“I want to conduct a survey at IOT on salaries, working conditions because at one time IOT was one of the best paid companies in Seychelles,” he said, while expressing the intention of bringing in Seychellois to work on a part-time basis of two to three hours a day.

Other innovations Mr Elizabeth mentioned for IOT include his additional responsibility being in charge of the marine ingredient part of their business between Ghana and Seychelles. “This means all the sales of fish meal, fish oil extracted from the fish heads and eyes and other parts of fish will fall under my direct responsibility,” he said. The fish oil is refined in Germany and then sold as Omega3, 5 or 6 which are in great demand.

As for the ‘mirror project’, Mr Elizabeth said it is about switching from using a can to a plastic cup (biodegradable) with a plastic cover on top and this will be ready by June this year.

“This is a ‘no drain’ product with very little oil, spring water or brine in it. It is a product that sells very well in Britain. It is easy to peel as the product can be eaten anywhere,” he said.

IOT itself contributes a minimum of 100,000 million euros in foreign direct investment to the Seychelles economy, which can become even more as production increases in the near future.