The more time passed, the more everyone realised that Malta’s strength was its human resources, which have to rank as some of the most adaptable workforces around, said Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi yesterday.
Dr Gonzi was speaking after a tour of the new storage and office compound recently constructed by Nestlé Malta in Lija.
The Prime Minister and his delegation, including Investments, Industry and IT Minister Austin Gatt and Competitiveness and Communi-cations Minister Censu Galea, were shown round the compound by managing director Giorgio Mondovi.
Mr Mondovi explained: “These new premises represent a move towards achieving further potential, increasing our efficiency and improving the way we perform in all aspects of our activities.
“Nestle Malta has invested Lm2 million in these new offices, as well as new stores spread across 6,000 square metres. These stores have already started to show an improved efficiency and have centralised a number of the company’s day-to-day operations.”
Mr Mondovi said the company expected to invest an additional Lm2 million in the complex over the next few years. The company has 44 employees, but also gives work to 10 distributors and their own teams. He also pointed out that the company had been represented in Malta since as far back as 1900.
Nestlé was the largest food and beverage company in the world, said Mr Mondovi, with a turnover of some Lm26.6 billion in 2006 – 93 per cent of which was made up of food sales. This, he said, translated into a total 1.5 per cent of the global market share. Globally, the company employed some 265,000 employees in 100 stations, in addition to which there were also 481 factories in various countries.
Although people associated Nestlé with chocolate, sales of chocolate only accounted for 11.6 per cent of the total – as much as the company’s pet care branch. There were some 6,000 brand names and 10,000 products under the Nestlé umbrella and Mr Mondovi said that the company had recently launched a brand of Nescafé coffee specifically for Malta, which includes a free-phone for customer care. Another important aspect of the company’s philosophy was to educate children on the importance of healthy eating.
The Prime Minister, after meeting all the employees, paid tribute to them and said they were a shining example of how capable and adaptable the Maltese worker was. He said that workers were the most important resource that the country had. He also paid tribute to the company and said the fact that they were expanding showed that the economic climate was one conducive to investment and expansion.