Governance
The Company recognises that good corporate governance is a continuous exercise. Adherence to transparency, accountability, fairness and ethical standards are an integral part of the Company’s function. The Company’s structure, business dealings, administration and disclosure practices are aligned to good corporate governance philosophy. The Company has an adequate system of control in place to ensure that the executive decisions taken should result in optimum growth and development which benefits all the stakeholders. The Company also aims to increase and sustain its corporate values through growth and innovation.
At BCML, our governance platform comprises a strategic clarity on the way we intend to do business. It enhances organisational predictability, attracting like-minded stakeholders who also believe in doing business our way. This is visibly reflected in the fact that a large proportion of our trade partners have remained with us for years, enhancing relationship predictability
The following elements comprise our governance commitment:
Controlled growth: At BCML, we believe that business sustainability is best derived from controlled growth as opposed to one-off profitability spikes. In line with this conviction, the company has allocated accruals into incremental investments without stretching the Balance Sheet. The result is that the company has grown revenues across the long-term.
Balanced approach: At BCML, we have selected to balance caution and aggression (strategic aggression and tactical conservatism), resulting in a relatively de-risked approach. As a part of this approach we focus on capital investments generating an attractively short-term payback, maximising cash flows over paper profits and reinvestments ploughed into the business. The measure of our strategic balance is an attractively low gearing and ability to largely fund our expansions through accruals and sustain our finished goods inventory through working capital that can be progressively liquidated as we sell.
Board of Directors: At BCML, we believe that our strategic direction is largely influenced by our Board of Directors. In view of this, we have placed a premium on our Board composition and gender diversity, which comprises professionals and industrialists of standing. These individuals have enriched our values, experience, multi-sectoral business understanding and strategic quality.
Trust: At BCML, we believe that there is one word that encapsulates all that we are and all that we do – ‘trust’. We believe that trust is the underlying element why customers buy from us, why employees engage with us, why vendors sell to us, why investors provide risk capital, why bankers lend debt and why rural communities support us.
Long-term: At BCML, we have selected to build the business around long-term patience and commitment. This approach has influenced our investments in assets, technologies, brands, people, locations, products and trade partners. We believe that this approach has translated into the highest standards of technology, integrity and competencies.
Singular focus: At BCML, we believe that core competence is the biggest insurance against cyclical downturns. In view of this, we have selected to position ourselves not as much as a standalone sugar company as much as an energy organization with the foundation of sugar. This positioning has enhanced our strategic clarity, opened us to emerging sectoral opportunities, attracted knowledge professionals and strengthened product / process research.
Data-driven: At BCML, we are investing in analytics that will progressively generate data-driven ground realities, resulting in informed decision-making. This will mature the organisation to one driven largely by technology-aided information sharing and informed actions.
