Reaching For The Sky

Reaching for the Sky 12/3/21, 4:41 pm
Reaching for the Sky

Name: Blue Skies Holdings Limited
Country / Territory: Ghana, United Kingdom
IP right(s): Copyright and Related Rights, Trademarks
Date of publication: November 13, 2012
Last update: October 21, 2016
Blue Skies Holdings Limited, Ghana

Founded in 1998, Blue Skies Holdings Limited (Blue Skies) is a company based in the
Republic of Ghana (Ghana) and the United Kingdom (UK) that exports freshly cut fruit to
supermarkets in Europe, and also produces and sells 100% natural fruit juice in Europe and
Ghana. All of Blue Skies’ products are harvested, cut and packed in the country of origin,
which is in line with the company’s founding philosophy of Joint Effort Enterprise (JEE). JEE is
a model for sustainable business that builds on adding value to its products at the source and
promotes diversity and a culture of respect between the company, its staff, farmers, and
partners.
Blue Skies airlifts freshly cut fruit from Ghana to international markets (Photo: Blue Skies)
https://www.wipo.int/ipadvantage/en/details.jsp?id=3237 Page 1 of 14
Through this philosophy, Blue Skies has transformed from a startup with three people to an
international company of over 2,000 employees. In order to augment its Ghanan factory with
fruits that are unavailable or out of season in the country, the company has factories in the
Federative Republic of Brazil (Brazil), the Arab Republic of Egypt (Egypt), and the Republic of
South Africa (South Africa). The social and corporate responsibility the company has
endeavored to maintain since its inception provides end consumers with fresh, high quality
products, and significantly contributes to the local communities in which it operates.
Research and development

While working as managing director of Orchard House Foods (OHF), a fruit specialty store
based in the UK, Mr. Anthony Pile came up with an idea to cut and pack fresh fruit at a factory
in the country of origin located close to where the raw materials are sourced. The fruit would
then be airlifted directly to retailers within 48 hours. Such a method would ensure that the fruit
was as fresh as possible. Furthermore, since a close relationship could be developed with
farmers to provide needed technology and expertise to improve their agricultural practices, the
fruit would be of extremely high quality. Airlifting the end product to retailers from the source
would also eliminate the need for ripening agents, artifical flavorings, chemicals, and other
additives that are typically used to extend the shelf life of food products. As a result, the end
consumer could literally enjoy fresh fruit that was in the farmer’s fields a mere two days prior.
The young entrepreneur’s idea was in stark contrast to traditional fruit production practices in
the UK, where the raw marterials are shipped over a period of weeks to the country for
processing.
Beyond providing consumers with some of the freshest fruit products available, Pile’s idea
would also maximize the benefits for local farmers, many of whom are in developing countries,
by providing much needed jobs and local economic stimulation. Intent on doing his research
first, Pile traveled to Ghana to assess the viability of his idea. Because he wanted to make a
positive contribution to a rural economy in need, Pile chose the Nsawam region of Ghana due
to its proximity to fruit producers and its extremely high unemploymant rate. Building a factory
there would bring much needed jobs and generate demand for other services in the region.
With a location and business plan in hand, Pile made his case to the Board of OHG.
Unfortunately, Pile could not convince the Baord, so he decided to go it alone. “I wasn’t a born
entrepreneur,” he explained. “I found myself with an opportunity and was able to take it.”
Unable to secure financing via traditional lenders such as banks, Pile had to turn to his
friends, find private investors, sell his possessions, and mortgage his house. With the help of
Mr. Seth K. Dei in Ghana and another partner, in 1998 Pile formed Blue Skies and set up the
company’s factory in Nsawam. Working with local farmers, the Nsawam factory quickly
supplied retailers in Europe with a steady supply of tropical fruits, specifically sugarloaf
pineapple (a small, elongated, white-flesh pineapple), papaya, and coconut. By 2012, the
company employed over 1,500 people at its Nsawam factory, and expanded its operations to
include factories in South Africa, Egypt, and Brazil.
Anthony Pile (pictured at right) takes a hands on approach in his company, R&D, and community outreach projects (Photo: Blue Skies)
The factories outside of Ghana have allowed the company to increase its range of products to
deciduous and citrus varieties of fruit that cannot grow in Ghana. Furthermore, they also
strengthen the company’s supply of fruit that is only seasonally available in Ghana, such as
mango, which is supplied by Blue Skies’ Brazilian factory during Ghana’s mango offseason.
Because all of the company’s products are processed at the source (that is, in the same
country and region where the fruit was harvested), local communities such as Nsawam – one
of the most deprived regions in Ghana – have benefited immensely, and high quality products
are delivered to consumers.
The company also places importance on new product development, which it believes is
significant to its continued growth. Committed to increasing the variety and longevity of its
products – without compromising quality – Blue Skies has a dedicated research and
development (R&D) team at each of its locations that is responsible for developing new
products, particularly in response to changing market trends. The company’s overarching
R&D goal is to remain ahead of its competition in quality and innovation, while continuing to
add product value in the country of origin and adhere to its JEE philosophy.
An equally important part of Blue Skies’ R&D is to continually update and modernize its
processing facilities. In 2007, the company built a new factory at its Ghana location, which
includes state-of-the-art refrigeration and high-tech communication systems, along with an
information technology (IT) center with computers with Internet access and a sports facility for
staff. Completed in three months, the new factory can produce twice as much fresh fruit
products and juices as the old one, and provides staff with educational and recreational
opportunities (such as computer classes and a basketball court). Furthemore, the company
brought in additional new technologies such as biodegradable packaging, biomass energy,
and bio-ehtanol fuels to cut down on energy consumption and remain as eco friendly as
possible. All of these initiatives ensure that waste is minimal and quality and freshness are not
compromised.
Partnerships
Blue Skies does not enter into formal contracts with its farmers. Instead, the company has
developed a close and informal relationship with the local farming community, purchasing the
fruit directly from them just as anyone else in the region would. The company relies mostly on
small-scale farmers (also known as smallholders) because it believes they can spread the
benefit reaped from their transactions more equally among the community without any
potential restraints that a complicated legal partnership agreement could entail. Although Blue
Skies does have a general price and volume agreed upon with the farmers for the year, the
company has found that, for its purposes, an informal relationship built on trust and
transparency is more profitable than formal contracts.
Such a model has proven to be sucessful for both Blue Skies and its suppliers, which is
evident in the establishment of the Blue Skies Organic Collective Association (BSOC), the
company’s first cooperative partner. Based in Nsawam, BSOC is a collaboration between Blue
Skies and local farmers, and as of 2012 comprised of over 80 farmers (including four women)
who are members of four villagel-level collectives in the region. BSOC farmers provide the
company with sugarloaf pineapple, a unique variety that local farmers have been cultivating
for decades. A steady supply of quality sugarloaf pineapple is essential to Blue Skies, as the
fruit’s sweetness makes it exceedingly popular.
Blue Skies' success hinges on close relationships with farmers (Photo: Blue Skies)
When Blue Skies first started working in Ghana in 1997, the company’s network of farmers
desired to have access to foreign markets. However, the farmers’ production methods and
equipment were lacking, and they did not have an effective means of distribution abroad.
Furthermore, at the time access to European markets required EurepGAP certification, which
was a common farm management standard created in the late 1990s by the major European
supermarkets and their suppliers. The aim of EurepGAP was to rely on agreed-upon Good
Agricultural Practices (GAP) to bring conformity to different retailers’ supplier standards, as the
diversity in standards caused many problems for farmers, including those in the Nsawam
region. For example, before EurepGAP, if farmers such as those in Nsawam were to sell their
products to retailers in Europe, they would have to meet many different standards. This
presents a signifcant hurdle for farmers without advanced equipment and processing
methods. However, EurepGAP brought one common standard, which Nsawam farmers were
eager to achieve EurepGAP certification to have access to Europe’s major supermarkets and
suppliers.
EurepGAP changed to GLOBALG.A.P. in February 2009, and by 2012 it is the world’s most
widely implemented farm certification initiative. The GLOBALG.A.P. standard is desiged to
reassure consumers about how food is produced by minimizing deterimental environmental
impacts from farming, reducing the use of chemicals, and ensuring responsibility when it
comes to worker health and safety and animal welfare. With the help of Blue Skies, BSOC
farmers were able to acquire the necessary systems and know-how to conform to the
GLOBALG.A.P. standard. Blue Skies was the first company in the world to help a collective of
farmers meet GLOBALG.A.P., and it also helped them achieve organic certification by the Soil
Association and the Organic Food Federation, as well as Fairtrade certification from the
Fairtrade Foundation.
Blue Skies has also provided assistance to BSOC through a number of schemes. Financially,
the company has given farmers loans to enable them to expand, and to also build roads to
farms and pineapple collection points. Every day a Blue Skies vehicle stops at all of the
collection points to pick up the days yield, which saves farmers significant time and money
because they do not have to use their limited resources to transport their fruit. Technically,
Blue Skies provides ongoing traning on G.A.P. (specifically with how to meet GLOBALG.A.P),
and also pays for related certification and auditing costs. Moreover, Blue Skies has helped
BSOC farmers achieve the prestigious Linging Environment and Farming (LEAF) certification,
which helps farmers produce food with care while meeting high environmental standards. With
GLOBALG.A.P., Fairtrade, and LEAF certification, BSOC farmers not only produce healthier,
higher quality products, but also command a preimum on the store shelves, which ensures
that the farmers receive a fair share for their efforts.
Branding
Although Blue Skies is a commercial entity, the company does not believe that profit should
come at any cost. Blue Skies therefore strives to deliver quality products that meet consumer
demand in a way that has a positive impact on the people and the environment. The company
refers to this approach as “sustainable business.” This model is integral to Blue Skies’
branding strategy, which is an overarching corporate image that links the importance of giving
back to local communities and the environment while striving to produce high quality products.
This link is built through the company’s JEE philosophy and certifications such as Fairtrade,
GLOBALG.A.P., and LEAF.
Blue Skies’ products have also achieved food safety standards from the British Retail
Consortium and the International Food Standard. Moreover, because the company adds the
value to the product at the source, rather than shipping whole fruits off to Europe and other
markets for processing, up to 70% of the value of the product is returned to the country of
origin. Blue Skies ensures that this is reflected in its product names, slogans, and corporate
image. Through these efforts, the company has developed a strong brand that differentiates
itself from the competion.
A sustainable business model has resulted in strong brands (Photo: Blue Skies)
One important way in which Blue Skies connects its brand image with its customers is through
unique product names, labels, and slogans. For example, in an effort to increase local sales
by 20% over five years, in February 2012 the company launched exciting new lables for its
freshly squeezed juice products in order to differentiate them from the many imported drinks in
the Ghanaian market. The labels are designed to illustrate the simple and natural way in
which Blue Skies juice is made through a colorful graphic illustrating the entire production
process. The labels serve as a visual aid to explain how Blue Skies’ juice is sourced from fruit
in farmers’ fields, crushed, and then squeezed into a bottle. Furthermore, the labels reflect the
company’s core values, convey the company’s pride in producing their products in Ghana,
and helps Blue Skies juice better compete with multinational global brands. Along with the
new labels, the company also introduced a new slogan – “Revitalize the Ghanaian in You” –
which emphasizes the products’ connection to the local market and a natural, healthy
composition. Blue Skies’ new fruit juice lables have proved to resonate with consumers not
just in Ghana, but in international markets as well. Before they were officially launched, the
labels won an award for brand identity at the 2011 International Food and Beverage Awards in
London, the UK.
Efforts such as the new labels and slogan are just one way in which Blue Skies has developed
a strong brand. Another aspect of the company’s overall branding initiative is Caretrace, which
is a website that can be used to trace the story of its products. Launched in 2007, Caretrace
was specifically designed as a tool to trace Blue Skies products that are supplied to Waitrose
Limited (Waitrose), a leading UK supermarket. Caretrace allows people to find out where their
products come from and gives producers an opportunity to share their story, both of which
Blue Skies views as fundamental rights in the consumer-producer relationship. Through
Caretrace, Blue Skies provides the story of its products so people can understand the impact
the products have on the environment. The company thus empowers people to make
educated purchases, which contributes to conscientious shopping.
Trademarks, copyrights and domain names

Throughout its history, Blue Skies has made a great deal of effort to provide high quality
products to consumers while protecting its farmers, staff, and the environment. Protecting the
company’s intellectual property (IP) is one of the most effective ways in which the company
has been able continue to meet these goals. To this end, Blue Skies has registered its own
trademark and tapped into the strong trademarks of its certification partners. For a small
company like Blue Skies, maintaining a distinguishable brand name is vital. Although the IP
system is still developing in Ghana, the company has registered a community trademark for its
innovative Caretrace service in the European Union (EU) through the Office of Harmonization
for the Internal Market (OHIM). Beyond the corporate-owned mark, the trademarks of the
company’s partners are equally important for Blue Skies and its farmers because they
epitomize the company’s branding strategy. Since Blue Skies’ suppliers – local farmers – are
GLOBALG.A.P., LEAF, and Fairtrade certified, all of these trademarks and certification marks
can be utilized on the company’s products. With these popular worldwide marks, the link
between the company’s corporate strategy of adding value at the source and its products is
solidified with its customers, thus increasing Blue Skies’ brand awareness and competitive
edge.
In an effort to reach out to its farmers, partners, and customers, and also to be as transparant
as possible, Blue Skies publishes copyright-protected literature. The company’s annual
reports (which were launched in 2009), for instance, highlight its efforts in making a
sustainable business through Blue Skies’ JEE philosophy. The company also published its
Sustainability Code of Practice and publishes the monthly Pelican News (a company
newsletter), both of which are available on its corporate website and blog. Keeping up with the
fast pace of the digital age, Blue Skies has relied on the Internet to quickly and effectively
disseminate its publications and other corporate information on its registered website,
blueskies.com. In addition, the company owns a domain name for Caretrace at caretrace.com.
The combination of these publications and domain names has helped Blue Skies reach out to
consumers throughout the world and continue to build a strong brand image.
Commercialization
From the outset, Blue Skies has stayed true to its commercialization formula: select only the
best fruit harvested by local farmers and then process and package it at the source, without
any additives, artificial flavors, or preservatives.
The company also produces and sells popular fresh juices (Photo: Blue Skies)
When the company first opened its factory in Ghana, it was focused on producing prepared
fruit such as sugarloaf pineapple, mango, papaya, coconut, melon, and pomegranate. After
the fruit is brought from farmers, it is cut, prepared and air lifted to its destination and put on
the store shelves within 48 hours of being harvested. Blue Skies’ prepared fruit has been sold
in Europe since 1998, and following the success of the Ghana operation, the company
opened factories in Brazil, Egypt, and South Africa to complement their main factory in
Nsawam. Prepared fruit products have been the mainstay of the company’s porftolio since its
inception.
As the company’s popularity grew, it started to diversify its product range to include 100%
freshly squeezed fruit juice for international and local markets. The company opened a new
juice factory near its Nsawam prepared fruit factory in Ghana. Similar to its prepared fruit, the
company’s fruit juice contains no artifical colors, additives, or preservatives. The juice,
moreover, is processed and packaged where the raw materials are sourced and then air lifted
to markets throughout Europe and Africa. By 2012, the company supplies its Fairtrade,
GLOBALG.A.P., and LEAF certified cut fruit and fruit juice products to seventeen major
supermarkets (such as Waitrose and Marks and Spencers in the UK and Albert Heijn in the
Kingdom of the Netherlands) in seven countries throughout Europe.
Over the next few years, the company plans to expand its commercial activities in Brazil in
order to focus on reaching the North American and European markets. In addition, Blue Skies
sells its products locally in the countries of origin, and by 2012 its fruit juice products have
become particularily popular in Ghana and South Africa. Furthermore, the company’s
commercialization strategy has been recognized as a model for developing countries. Blue
Skies’ Ghana factory, for example, regularly receives delegations from development related
agencies working throughout Africa to see company’s sustainable business model in action.
Public health and environment

With a history of caring for the local community, Blue Skies combined its know-how and
regional presence with the financial backing of its two largest partners – Waitrose and Albert
Heijn – and formed the Blue Skies Foundation (the Foundation) in July 2009. The goal of the
Foundation (registered as a non-profit organization in Ghana) is to empower and uplift Blue
Skies’ employees, the small scale farmers that provide the raw materials, and the
communities they live in by funding various social, cultural, educational, and health projects.
All of the Foundation’s development initiatives are identified by the people and communities
where Blue Skies and its employees, farmers, and their families live and work. Such an
approach ensures that beneficiaries will receive the development projects that are of the
greatest need.
The Akraman KVIP Project (Photo: Blue Skies)
In the Foundation’s short lifespan, it has already invested over 200,000 UK pound sterling (£)
in a number of successful development projects. From 2009 to 2011 alone, the Foundation
met its goal of completing six projects (including the implementation of new sanitary systems),
all of which had a lasting impact on Blue Skies employees and their communities. In many
parts of rural Ghana, toilet facilities are a luxury at home and public facilities are limited. This
can lead to the easy spread of disease and other serious health complications. In the villages
of Atakrom and Amanfrom in the eastern region of the country, for instance, the population of
2,000 people had no access to safe public or private toilet facilities. This led to a number of
deaths from cholera in recent years, and because the region is home to six Blue Skies
farmers, the company felt it was an ideal location for the Foundation to start its efforts.
The first project was the development of a Kumasi Ventilated Improved Pit (KVIP) toilet facility,
which is a pit-based latrine commonly used in Ghana that collects rain water for hand-washing
facilities, in the central Atakrom-Amanfrom region. KVIP facilities are designed to control odor,
insects, and be easy to maintain so the prevelance of disease can be decreased. Officially
opened in October 2009, the new twelve-seat facility has been a big success with the local
community. Since its construction, no new cases of cholera have been reported in the region.
Recognizing the importance of public sanitation facilities, in 2012 the Foundation launched
two more similar projects – the construction of a twenty-seat public toilet facility for the town of
Nsawam and a ten seat KVIP for the neighboring region of Akotuakrom.
The Foundation has also recognized the importance of access to quality educational facilities,
which are lacking in many of the communities in which Blue Skies operates. Children were
typically going to dilapidated schools, or simply attending their classes outside under trees,
thus leaving them at the mercy of the elements and without acess to desks, chalkboards, or
sanitation facilities. In order to change this, from 2010 to 2011 the Foundation constructed a
six classroom primary school for 120 students in Akraman, Ghana, which includes an office,
staff common room, and toilet facilities. Simalrily, the Foundation restored the Sekykrom
Kindergarten near Nsawam to a usable condition, which included the addition of doors,
windows, structural repairs, sanitation facilities, and new paint.
While the Foundation has specific goals for its develeopment projects that contribute to public
health and education, the company also prides itself on its other corporate social responsibility
initiatives. In 2008, Blue Skies drew upon its extensive experience in air frieght logistics and
partnered with British Airways to transport 2,000 footballs donated by the Champions League
to Whizzkids United (WU) – a non-governmental organization (NGO) running a youth HIV
educational initiative in northern Ghana. WU is a program run by Africaid (an NGO based in
the United States of America) that uses football as a fun and educational way to deliver HIV
preventation, care, treatment, and support to youth throughout Africa.
In 2012, the company is also implementing its first biogas plant at its factory in Ghana. This
plant takes waste from the factory and surrounding communities and converts it into energy.
Not only will this help the company reduce its energy costs, but it will also improve its waste
management system, which will generate compost that local farmers can use. Moreover, it will
ensure that waste in the surrounding communities is properly managed, which the company
hopes will lead to further reduction in waste-borne diseases. After the first biogas plant is
successfully completed by the end of 2012, the company plans to implement similar plants at
all of its factories over the next ten years.
At each of Blue Skies’ locations the company strives to maintain programs that assist staff,
their families, and their communities with facing relevant health and safety issues. All staff
members receive company-sponsored educational courses on AIDS, malaria, personal
hygiene, environmental hygiene, and hepatitis. In addition, the company implemented what it
refers to as a “Safe Systems of Work” that ensures job rotation when necessary and proper
safety training on the handling of factory equipment. Regular health checks and free medical
treatment when required is also provided to all staff, as well as free contraception and
mosquito nets. With all of these initiatives, and those of the Foundation, in place, Blue Skies
has made a lasting positive impact on the health and education of its employees, their
communities, and the local environment.
A school built with the help of Blue Skies Foundation in Abortia, Ghana (Photo: Blue Skies)
Business results
Blue Skies’ branding strategies and public initiatives have brought the company and local
communities a good deal of financial success and recognition. In 2010, the company earned
£15.4 million in sales revenue from its Ghana operations, and earned another £5.4 million,
£3.5 million, and £1.4 million from South Africa, Egypt, and Brazil, respectively. As of 2012,
Blue Skies accounts for over 25% of Ghana’s pineapple exports and one percent of the
country’s total exports. The company is also the only one in Ghana that has over 2,000
employees worldwide, and its success has allowed Blue Skies to provide some of the highest
salaries available to local communities in the region. In addition to the company’s many
factories(including the facility in the UK which serves to keep a temporary supply of products
in case of an interruption in air-freight availability), Blue Skies’ achievements were recognized

when it received The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise: Sustainable Development in 2008 and
2011. This prize is one of the UK’s most prestigious awards recognizing success in business.
In addition, in April 2012 the company received the Waitrose Way Supplier Award, which
recognizes suppliers that uphold the Waitrose philosophy and its principles within their supply
chain.
From Ghanaian skies to yours

When Mr. Pile first pioneered the idea for Blue Skies, few of his former colleagues thought it
would work. However, he saw demand in Europe for fresher and healthier fruit, and with
creativity, the right partnerships, and a strong brand name, the entrepreneur turned Blue Skies
into a one-of-a-kind company. Relying on an air-freight transportation system, the company
provides some of the freshest fruit products available, going from the farmer’s field to the store
shelves in 48 hours or less. Proud to be from Ghana, Blue Skies continues down its path of
sustainable business, all while benefiting local farmers, their communities, and consumers
throughout the world who are looking for fresh, organic, and sustainably produced fruit.
Sources, references and related links

This case study is based on information from:
Blue Skies
Caretrace
Waitrose
Albert Hejin
African Investor: The fruit of our labours
The just-food interview - Anthony Pile, Blue Skies
Ghana's juicy economic lesson
Blue Skies Eyes Ghanaian Market
Lack of domestic suppply causes processing companies in Ghana to look offshore
Manufacturing in Africa Can be Profitable - And Developmental
Brazil: Attractive domestic market and drought reduce melon exports
EDIF Support Pineapple Farmers with Inputs
Global G.A.P.
Whizz Kids United
AfricAid
Linking Environment and Farming (LEAF)

Orchard House Foods
Different Ways of Understanding Ethical Trade, Ghana

Reaching For The Sky

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Reaching For The Sky

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Reaching for the Sky 12/3/21, 4:41 pm

Reaching for the Sky

Country / Territory: Ghana, United Kingdom

IP right(s): Copyright and Related Rights, Trademarks

Date of publication: November 13, 2012

Last update: October 21, 2016

Blue Skies Holdings Limited, Ghana

Research and development

Trademarks, copyrights and domain names

Public health and environment

The Akraman KVIP Project (Photo: Blue Skies)

in case of an interruption in air-freight availability), Blue Skies’ achievements were recognized

From Ghanaian skies to yours

Sources, references and related links

Linking Environment and Farming (LEAF)

You might also like