Unless otherwise stated, this report

covers a snapshot of the current

activities performed by Choppies
Enterprise Ltd, also it briefs on some
of the substantial policies and
operations for the future endeavor

Choppies
Enterprises
Limited
CSR and Sustainability
Policy Draft

Sherin V S, IIM Calcutta

Choppies Enterprises Ltd.

1. Annual Corporate Social Responsibility Balance Sheet

When looking at the past performances, Choppies Enterprises Ltd has strong roots in
community based activities. The collaborations with many organizations is maintained
throughout the year. Choppies is one of the leading job creators in Botswana. Also
Choppies considered to be the primary destination for customers because of the
benefits, which features deals and discounts. Besides, the in house brands of Choppies
maintains the procurement from within the country. So an annual balance sheet just
highlighting these numbers is recommended.
Contents of the CSR Balance Sheet:

CONTRIBUTION
TO ECONOMY
Total Employment
New Jobs added in the
current financial year

CONTRIBUTION TO
COMMUNITY
Investment in Community
Programs
Staff Volunteering

SERVING TO CUSTOMERS
Customers Served on
average every week
Value for money
Reduction in Average
Prices (Deals and
Discounts)
Nutrition Label in Own
brand food products

Jobs Created Indirectly in

Botswana, RSA and
Zimbabwe
Total Wages Paid in the
current financial year

Number of PWD Employers

BUILDING THE BEST RETAIL

TEAM
New employees joining
Choppies every month

ENVIRONMENTAL
STEWARDSHIP
Energy / CO2 cumulative
saving

LOCAL SOURCING

Investment in training our

team
Reduction in lost time
(Average serving time of
employer per customer)

Waste / Shrinkage
Reduction
Water Savings

Home grown fresh fruit and

vegetables
Local sourcing on Own
brand products

Home grown fresh meat of

total sale

Reduction on transport
emissions per pallets
delivered
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2. CSR Policy Outline

At Choppies, our success depends on knowing what matters to our stakeholders,
and delivering it so they can do more.
For this Report, we need to systematically address stakeholder representatives
concerns and their insights about Choppies, our industry, and the larger issues
and trends they care about. We then put all these inputs together to identify the
aspects of our business that are most material to our sustainability.
These material aspects are more than primary topics for sustainability reporting.
To an increasing degree, they also drive our strategy, planning and operations.
We know that to remain a leader in our industry, we have to keep evolving and
innovating in the ways our stakeholders care about most.
So the CSR and Sustainability Policy can be further narrow down according to
their nature

Resource consumption and operations policies

Community based CSR Initiatives and sustainability

programs

Investments in other organizations considering

tangible benefits

Ethical Practices and Corporate Governance

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2.1. Resource consumption and operations policies

This area will focus mainly on addressing environmental impacts such
as Carbon Intensity, GHG Emissions etc. Also to know the Key
Performance Indicators for future operations is also a mission.
The solutions will derive from measuring the efficiency of the current
operations and logistics system. Based on this information a new
standard should be decided/derived and further operations will go in
line with this new standards.

Understanding the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Pallet per Distance measure
Fuel Efficiency of Trucks
Path Optimization Mechanisms

Reducing Carbon Intensity:

We typically measure the efficiency of transportation in ground fleet using units of

energy consumed or emissions generated relative to distance traveled or shipping
volume. Thats because it takes energy to move goods and materials over distance. If
we can reduce the distance we cover in meeting our store requirements that makes us
more efficient and reduces energy consumption. We can also get more efficient by
reducing the amount of fuel required to travel a given distance or to carry a given
amount of cargo or packages. Combining these achievements helps reduce our
overall carbon intensity.

Reducing Fuel per Mile:

According to the number of miles we drive each year, we must focus on minimizing the
amount of fuel we use per mile, because that can reduce the carbon intensity of our
ground fleet even as our miles traveled and goods delivered go up.
Highlights for Reducing Fuel per Mile include the following:
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Choppies Enterprises Ltd.

Selecting route options that minimize idling time spent waiting for lights and turns,
thus reducing fuel use and emissions even if miles driven remain the same
Selecting vehicles for routes on which they will deliver the best fuel efficiency
Conducting proactive, just-in time maintenance on our vehicles to keep their
miles-per-gallon performance as high as possible
Alternative Fuel and Advanced Technology Vehicles

Reducing the Miles We Drive:

Minimize the miles we drive by package routing technology, driving techniques and
other strategies. This approach enables us to consistently minimize miles driven in the
following ways:

We allocate pick-ups and deliveries to the most efficient number of vehicles

each day at each facility, thus keeping vehicles off the road wherever possible
We route vehicles so that they reach all required destinations in the least amount
of time and miles driven, to have an optimized route map which will help to
choose the shortest path for deliveries
We use loading and unloading locations that enable multiple deliveries
We dynamically re-route drivers based on events such as changing delivery to
avoid wasted miles

Actions required:
Estimating Fuel Efficiency of each vehicle we owns in a frequent basis is essential
Develop an on-road integrated optimization and navigation mechanism to
identify the best route mapping to reduce the miles
Identifying the hotspot stores which required frequent supply and consider the
possibility of Mini Distribution Centers

GHG Emission Control:

GHG Emission control mainly focus on following aspects;

Technological advances in energy-efficiency equipment and projects

Focused reduction efforts in refrigerant losses
Reduction in wastage and consumption of renewable energy

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Technological advances in energy-efficiency equipment and projects:

The three major components of a Choppies Store;s energy consumption in buildings
include HVAC, refrigeration and lighting. Weve to set the stage for significant changes
in these areas. The largest hurdle is to replace the current lighting with the LED sales floor
lighting. Lot of other organizations including schools, hospitals etc. are already taken this
into consideration. This is a landmark development, as the installation of LEDs on a large
scale creates the potential for us to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy
consumption over time.

Focused reduction efforts in refrigerant losses:

Refrigerants account for large percent of our total corporate GHG footprint,
contributing nearly twice that of the fuel used in our trucks. The first objective is to
reduce leakage of refrigerants in our stores, distribution centers and mobile refrigerated
fleet.
In addition to reducing leaks, we should continue to focus on feasible alternatives to
conventional refrigerants that have a lower climate change effect. Phasing out hydro
fluorocarbons (HFCs) and to transition toward natural refrigerant is the option we have
here. Widely used natural refrigerants are glycol and carbon dioxide, also cryogenics
system enabled freezers (which provide a magnetic cooling mechanism which is known
as green refrigeration) are also an alternative.

Reduction in wastage and consumption of renewable energy:

Plastic bag reduction and Food wastage reduction will take care of the wastage issue.
We need to look for environmentally responsible solutions, particularly in markets where
we still use one-time-use bags. We need to find ways to incorporate more recycled
materials into one-time-use shopping bags and reinforcing associate training to ensure
optimum use of the ones we have, while developing, promoting and selling reusable
bags in our stores. Continually communicating the importance of responsible one-timeuse bag consumption and recycling to our customers will drive further success in this
area. Also collaboration with social entrepreneurs concentrating on reusable and
degradable carry bags production can be a solution too.
While considerable attention is being paid to producing more food to meet growing
population demands, one of the most immediate and effective ways to alleviate some
of the pressure is to waste less of what we already have. To this end, need to attend the
issues from within our organization. Reducing food waste in our emerging market stores
should be our primary concern. Amount of produce procured and percentage of them

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finally reached the customers will give us the numbers. Our goal should be maintaining
100% rate and achieving zero waste.
We have a responsibility to lead in the global transition to renewable energy. Our
renewable energy activities should focus on: Demonstrable change through
partnership drives the production or procurement of renewable energy projects.
Building scale: Using our commitment, reach and size to accelerate the global
renewable energy transition. Whatever investments made in this department will derive
us a future saving.

2.2. Community based CSR Initiatives and sustainability

programs
Well this should be considered us the strongest part of Choppies Enterprises Ltd.s
CSR policy. We were able to maintain strong collaborations with many NGOs
and Social Welfare Associations in the past. WENA Environmental and Education
Trust , promote the livelihood of vegetation species, Kalahari Conservation Society
(Oldest environmental NGO in Botswana), fostering the wellbeing of animal species,
Cancer Association Botswana, Anti-Tobacco Network (ANT), Zoological Garden of
Botswana, anti-venom, Botswana Substance Abuse and Support Network (BOSASNET)
were associated with Choppies in the past and many of this partnerships still going on.

Actions to take:
Grow Tree Initiative: Major environmental issues Botswana facing at the moment is
Drought and Desertification. One of the combat model to face this issue is
reforestation. A program involving grow trees enables us to not only plant trees, but
also honor customers, employees and stakeholders with trees through personalized e
certificates in collaboration with NGOs working with the same intention.
Womens Economic Empowerment: The majority of our customers are women, and
women control most of our annual revenue. With need to ensure more women join the
Choppies workforce in future, we want to take a leadership role in educating, sourcing
from and opening new customer markets for those women because it promotes
economic growth and better lives for their families. Most of the biggest organizations
around the world already changed their focus to women centric programs. Also

investments in NGOs like Womens Development Businesses (WDB), an NGO that

loans funds to women running their own small businesses in some of the poorest
communities in South Africa. These women are able to improve the quality of life
for themselves and their families.
Hindustan Unilever kick started a campaign in India few years back, which resulted in
increase in revenue in their rural market.
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Choppies Enterprises Ltd.

Giving: Creating opportunities so people can live better. A hunger relief campaign to
address the most critical issues today hunger. As the largest grocer in Southern Africa,
we have a unique opportunity and responsibility to positively impact on this issue.
Through Choppies work on sustainable agriculture, healthier food and our core business
model of low priced own brand products ensure healthier food to customer. And
besides this a food donation initiative can be a good step to take.

2.3. Investments in other organizations considering tangible

benefits
Collaborations and Investments in organizations focusing on Renewable Energy
and Alternative Fuels. Botswana based Solar Power generations were
generating good results recently. A partnership with them make us avail to low
cost energy. Similar sort of works are following in the alternative fuel sector. Our
competitors are already made their move. So this is something we dont want to
miss out in future.

2.4. Ethical Practices and Corporate Governance

Ethical Sourcing:
Worker safety initiatives
Going above and beyond general workplace health and safety, weve to
highlight industry standards for on-site living quarters and dining facilities, and
continue to focus on chemical and machine safety criteria in our stores. Fire and
electrical safety audit requirements, as well as expanded fire safety training
processes are key ways to address this.
Setting Standards
Our primary focus on ethical sourcing should start from our employees. We have
to ensure the wellbeing of them as well as our suppliers are required to display
the Standards, by associating with them we need to make sure that certain
standards are met. Provisions like;

No forced or child labor

No discrimination
Wages and benefits must meet country law
Appropriate hiring and employment practices are in place
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Choppies Enterprises Ltd.

Labor hours are consistent with the law and not excessive
Freedom of association and collective bargaining upheld according to
law
Health and safety of workers
Environmental compliance

Career Advancement Programs

Introducing QuickStart Program to Management and Leadership: Focusing on
our employees in Operations and aims to build skilled retailers with a focus on
diversity of experience and thinking across multiple brands early. The emphasis is
on identifying and developing talent for future management and leadership
roles.
Those selected onto the program come out of their current roles and have the
opportunity to work in multiple departments, sites and divisions, and work with
our best managers. Creating a strong vibrant group of future supervisors.

Recognition
Divisional recognition programs are based on the principle of recognizing
outstanding achievements. To further encourage the recognition of positive
behavior, we should introduce a company-wide in-store recognition program,
encouraging peer-to-peer nominations, via the employees itself to identify the
gems from our workforce.

Reward
Providing market competitive remuneration and benefits. Remuneration
structure which includes fixed and variable components, depending on the
employees position.
The objectives should be: Attract, motivate and retain key talent with market
competitive reward Set goals for high performance, which link to the
Companys strategic and nancial objectives Deliver reward that is
dierentiated by business and individual performance Align reward to
shareholder value creation.
The past criticism about us was based on our remuneration scheme. We should
highlight our policy to wipe out these sort of criticism.
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Listening to Our Employees

We need to gauge the effectiveness of our employment policies and practices
around the world on a systematic basis, including detailed assessment of
employee perceptions and engagement. One of our agenda should be an
Employee Engagement Program (EEP), which gathers information from all levels
and locations of the company. Many stores gather their survey results from a
subset of their employees in sufficient numbers to ensure that results are
representative for those stores. We will assess the entire EEP to all employees
including the Management Committee. EEP should consist of a Help line for
employees to report their concerns and feedbacks.

3. Summary
The importance of a strong and balanced CSR and Sustainability should
consider the empowerment of the society and people bound to it. At the same
time stakeholders benefits have to be maintained. This report mainly focus on
addressing issues like carbon foot print, GHG Emissions and Ethical Sourcing.
Some suggestions were made on the basis of evaluating the current CSR reports
of the group. Most of the organizations publish their annual CSR report along
with their annual report. I would suggest, Choppies to follow the same, with
clear indication of numbers related to our operations. Numbers are the key to a
well-structured CSR report. There are certain challenges associated with
implementing many of the actions mentioned above. While the return on
investment for many of our efficiency programs are expected to be relatively
quick, its not as simple as earmarking dollars. For example, in the case of LED
lighting- every specific lighting use and market presents its own unique
challenges and opportunities that must first be taken into consideration.
Whether or not the technology is available is balanced with utility cost,
environmental effect, sales/product impact and more. We need to weigh all of
these factors carefully in determining our strategic course of action. I hope some
of the details in this report are worthy enough for consideration.
Its a proud moment for Choppies to consider what we have accomplished till
now, but we know that becoming a more sustainable and more responsible
business is a journey. And that journey continues. Making big changes in a
single move is impossible and that our first idea might not always be the best
idea. Its important for us to continue to adjust and improve, while remaining
focused on achieving the results we are looking for.
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Choppies Enterprises Ltd.

Appendix
Calculating Carbon Footprint
1. Identification of emission sources: These could comprise of resource transportation,
Industrial emissions, emissions due to business travel, Electricity consumption. HVAC
emissions (if there are instances of refrigerant leakage). You can create a basic chart
and then decide which sources are significant. As a rule of thumb you can ignore the
sources which contribute to less than 5% in the total emissions.
2. Creating a data collection Plan: This would comprise of frequency of reporting,
calibration records of measurement equipment, the way you want to record, i.e. you
can make actual measurements from an electricity meter or rely on the electricity bills.
3. Finding the emission factor for all emission sources: Electricity grid provides the
emission factor. This means the amount of CO2 that would be released when you use
one unit of the energy. This value would be different for different grids as the energy mix
for each grid is different. Similarly, every fuel has an emission factor and you can use this
value to calculate the carbon emissions from transport, air travel etc.
Emissions from all the sources can be added up. This value when divided by the number
of employees would provide you the average carbon emissions per employee of your
organization. However if you would like to have a better picture, divide the carbon
emissions by the revenue generated by the company, this can be further sub-divided
into emissions/business activity. You can visualize the emissions sources and there
significance better this way.

List of Carbon Footprint calculating Softwares

Access Dimensions Carbon accounting tool within mid-market financial management
software
BIOMITRE Biomass based climate change, for biomass energy usage may be harmful
to the environment, as it will also release additional carbon emissions
Brighter Planet's Carbon Middleware provides a Restful carbon emissions calculation
API. All calculations include live methodology statements and the calculation models
themselves are open source.
Carbon Management Software & Services Directory provides list of Carbon
Accounting Software Tools.
CAMFor Carbon accounting model for forests
CAMSAT Carbon management self-assessment tool, for companies to measure their
offset
CapISA SPM Sustainability Performance Management software.
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References and Sources:

AMPHORA- REFRIGERATION PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE

ADVANCES IN SUPERMARKET REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS (Van D. Baxter, Oak Ridge
National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6070)
ANNUAL CSR REPORT (www.woolworthslimited.com.au)
UPS CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2013
SHOPRITE HOLDINGS LTD INTEGRATED REPORT 2014
MASSMART HOLDINGS LIMITED (MSM) - FINANCIAL AND STRATEGIC ANALYSIS REVIEW,
THOMSON REUTERS
CHOPPIES ENTERPRISES LIMITED-Growth profile warrants a high rating (Research report
distributed by Auerbach Grayson, Prepared by IMARA INVEST IN AFRICA)
CHOPPIES INTERIM FINANCIAL REPORT 2014
FRUIT AND VEGETABLES & UK GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS: EXPLORING THE
RELATIONSHIP - (WORKING PAPER PRODUCED AS PART OF THE WORK OF THE FOOD
CLIMATE RESEARCH NETWORK, TARA GARNETT CENTRE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGY
UNIVERSITY OF SURREY 2006)

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