In December, the most recent group of Food Lover’s Market management students graduated from Henley Business School with an Advanced Certificate in Management Practice. The FLM Graduate Programme is now in its 3rd year and the 2018 students have been the most successful yet, with all 12 graduates passing the course.
Each graduate was employed from day one, attended induction and was assigned Store Managers as mentors throughout the process. The mentors were: Renier Nel – Store Manager at Comaro Crossing; Nicholas Truter – Store Manager at New Market; John Billing – Store Manager at Woodlands; Bruce McLaren – Store Manager at Gateway; Dane Coppin – Regional Manager in the East Rand; and Roberto Gastaldi – Regional Manager Pretoria.
Each of the graduates was scheduled to work in two different stores throughout the 10-month programme to get a better understanding of store operations while Charmaine Mabena, Training Assistant, assessed their practical progress along with their respective mentors.
They attended Henley for 20 days and had 10 days of interventions with Senior Managers within the business. For example, Phillip Bergh, Finance Business Partner, took them through Group Finances, Mirella Gastaldi did Retail Law and in another session, they discussed and workshopped ‘A Day in the Life of a Regional Manager’ with our Regional Manager, Roberto Gastaldi.
Various team projects were assigned and on the final day, they had to present their Action Learning Project on topics such as Price Change Procedures; Shrinkage; and Product Gaps within Food Lover’s Market. The three presentations were judged by a panel of Henley and FLM delegates and Group 3 were announced as the overall winners (Product Gaps).
These business leaders of the future have now been placed in stores and will continue to be mentored for the next 12 months. Three of the graduates have been appointed in our two newest stores (Lenasia and Middelburg) as part of the management teams and will be assisting in writing Standards of Procedure documents on the new processes being trialled in these stores.
THE FUTURE
According to Anthea Wenn, Divisional HR Manager, “This year we hope to take up to 36 candidates from Inland and Coastal and we’re aiming at an 80/20 split of current employees and recruits. From the 80% current employees, we hope to offer places to our FLM partners such as FreshStop and Franchisees. We will be advertising internally and qualifying applicants will undergo an interview and selection process before they start mid-year.
