Flamingo Group International i54 Winter 24

EXECUTIVE INSIGHT LEADING THE PROFESSIONAL CHARGE

WINTER 2024

ISSUE 54

RAISING CROPS,

ELEVATING LIVES

Flamingo Group International is set to provide natural, sustainable and reliable products that enhance people’s quality of life.

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Raising Crops,

ELEVATING LIVES Flamingo Group International, one of the world’s leading growers and suppliers of fresh cut flowers, plants and premium produce, is set to provide natural, sustainable and reliable products that enhance people’s quality of life.

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Managed Cyber Security and Data Protection services Give your teams a leg to stand on NormCyber isn’t your average Security Operations provider. We are a multi-award-winning Risk Management expert, specialising in cyber security and data protection services.

From vigilant monitoring to swift response and compliance, we stand guard and proactively protect organisations, delivering complete peace of mind in an ever-evolving cyber landscape.

That’s why we are Flamingo Group International’s preferred security partner of choice.

For more information about NormCyber visit normcyber.com or call +44 (0) 203 855 6215

Flamingo Group International Cyber Security Strategy NormCyber, a multi-award-winning risk management specialist has been working with Flamingo Group International, the world’s largest grower of cut roses, since 2021 to help protect its global operations from cyber attack.

Flamingo grows and supplies a wide range of fresh flowers, premium produce and plants to the UK’s major supermarkets as well as to retailers across continental Europe. The group employs a team of 22,000 based in the UK, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Ethiopia and Kenya.

As a high-volume supplier of perishable goods, it is vital that Flamingo’s IT infrastructure is as resilient as possible; any disruption to operations would come with a high financial impact. This makes cyber security a top priority.

With NormCyber Flamingo’s multinational, group-wide operations are monitored around-the-clock, minimising the risk of attack.

Multinational support

Over 22,000 employees

Cyber security as a Service

Partnership approach

The challenge When it comes to cyber attacks, it is no longer a case of ‘if’ an organisation will be targeted by criminals but ‘when’, as Flamingo found out in late 2020, when part of its infrastructure was infiltrated by hackers. While the group was able to restore operations, some of its services suffered disruption.

This attack was a watershed moment. To minimise the chance of something similar happening again, the group’s senior management team and investor, Sun Capital, spearheaded a strategic review into the way Flamingo secured its IT infrastructure. It was vitally important that the group was on the front foot in case of future attacks.

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As Gareth Evans, Flamingo’s Head of Group IT Security & Compliance explains, “The nature of our business means we only have a short window of time to get our products from the grower to supermarket shelves. If a cyber attack interrupts this distribution process, our produce and flowers go to waste, which comes with a big financial hit to us and our partners.”

Furthermore, Flamingo’s customers – Europe’s biggest supermarkets – place stringent demands on all their suppliers.

To win and retain these valuable, high-profile contracts, Flamingo must be able to prove that its security strategy aligns with industry best practices and that its infrastructure is robust enough to withstand future incidents.

“Our cyber security tools and controls come under close scrutiny whenever we begin a tender process,” continues Gareth. “Having a robust security strategy has become absolutely mission critical as we enter into discussions with their procurement teams.”

The solution With only limited in-house resources, in early 2021, Flamingo took the decision to appoint a managed security service provider which could partner with the company to introduce best practices and provide round-the-clock services.

Sun Capital recommended NormCyber as it was already successfully providing specialist cyber security services to other companies within its portfolio. NormCyber was invited to participate in a competitive tender and was subsequently appointed by Flamingo to deliver its award-winning Cyber Security-as-a-Service (CSaaS) offering.

The initial focus was on securing Flamingo’s operations in the UK, the Netherlands and Kenya. Today, it also provides services to business units in Ethiopia and Germany, so that operations group-wide now follow consistent policies and procedures.

Service overview NormCyber’s managed service, smartbloc. comprises a range of service modules that customers can select depending on their unique security requirements. For Flamingo, these modules include:

The benefits

Managed Threat Detection & Response

Cyber Safety & Phishing Training

Regular Penetration Testing

Vulnerability Management Cyber Security Incident Response

Flamingo was assigned a dedicated NormCyber Analyst, as the first point of contact for Gareth and the team.

He explains, “Our dedicated Analyst has invested a great deal of time into understanding our different business units’ IT environments, as well as their processes and procedures. This means that – as well as being on-hand to answer any questions we might have – he often comes to us with proactive advice about how we can bolster our strategy. Because NormCyber understands how we work; its guidance is always practical and valuable.”

Gareth has also worked closely with the Security Incident Response Team, following an unsuccessful attempt by hackers to gain access to one of the business unit’s networks. “The incident response team was extremely helpful, jumping into action to help us secure our operations and then undertaking thorough post-event forensics. The team played an instrumental role in fending off this attempted breach and its insights mean we’re now even better placed to withstand further attempts,” he continues.

The relationship between Flamingo and NormCyber continues to go from strength to strength.

“The NormCyber team has been great from day one. They listen to what we want and adapt their services to meet our needs – it is a very collaborative relationship. Our experience has been so positive that NormCyber has now become the preferred cyber security provider for all Sun Capital portfolio companies, which is testament to the excellent service it consistently delivers.”

For further information, please visit www.normcyber.com or email info@normcyber.com 5

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ith over 22,000 co-workers, Flamingo Group International farms circa 1,300 hectares in Kenya and Ethiopia, and works with 900 partner growers in over 19 countries to deliver the freshest products to consumers around the world every day.

The group is a core supplier of cut

flowers and fresh produce to most of the leading UK multiple retailers, including Tesco, Marks and Spencer, Waitrose, Ocado and Morrisons and Online florists such as Bloom and Wild, as well as internationally to customers in Europe and Middle East. The quality of Flamingo’s products is well recognised and the company has been winning indus-

try-leading awards across many parts of the world.

Trusted partnerships So what is the recipe for such success? “We specialise in growing our own products for our direct marketing businesses, which we call ‘vertical integration’. We are unique in offering a full service to our customers from the farm all the way to the shelf,” says Ian Michell, Flamingo’s

Technical and ESG Director who knows the business and the sector inside out, and has actively participated in helping the company to become a leader in Africa, and to expand to new continents.

“Being vertically integrated is one of our differentiators – we understand our farming business, we understand the supply chain and we manage it all the way through. Scale 7

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We have been supplying some of our customers for decades

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is another competitive advantage – the company ships nearly 600 tonnes of produce and some1.5 million bouquets of flowers per week. And last but not least, what is also special about Flamingo is the pride and passion that is ingrained in the business. That really comes through, and customers can feel it.”

He points out that Flamingo fosters long-term relationships with both customers and suppliers. “We have been supplying some of our customers for decades, and that is something

unique for short shelflife products. We’re not making plastic parts.

We’re supplying vegetables and flowers. This needs wise investment to make sure that product quality comes top of the tree.”

“In terms of the supply chain, we have established a network of preferred partners. Whether it be the packaging company, the air freight company or a trucking company, each one of them has an important part to play in ensuring that our product gets to the market correctly,” he affirms.

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Sustainable farming Flamingo owns and operates seven farms across Kenya and Ethiopia – locations ideally suited to growing high-quality flowers and premium produce – focusing on the best varieties and cultivars to ensure top-quality products can be grown with the minimum input of chemicals and fertilisers and with the most responsible water needs.

The company invests in its farms to enable as much of the production process to happen as close to growing as possible – this ensures the best quality and the fastest supply chain possible.. The farms also act as hubs for third-party growers within the region. Finished and semi-finished products are routed to distribution hubs in Europe where they are sorted and forwarded to retail customer or dispatched to the final consumer.

“In terms of environmental sustainability, we are now carbon-neutral across all of our growing businesses and UK supply chain. In conjunction with One Carbon World and Climate Neutral Now we identified opportunities in the supply 10

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chain, with the aim of achieving a net-zero position in the near future,” says Michell.

He notes that one of the ‘green’ initiatives the company is now working on is a programme called ‘Growing Trees’. “A lot of businesses talk about planting trees.

But how many of those trees are still alive after one year? Our focus is on growing, because

neered a number of novel methods and innovative ways of growing, including using beneficial insects as pest control, a closed-loop irrigation system, as well as helping to introduce new species and apply the latest technologies and software to farming, aimed at prolonging product shelf life.

Flamingo Group International, consist-

We are also looking at other measures to improve our environmental footprint in seven years’ time, these trees will have a carbon value.”

“We are also looking at other measures to improve our environmental footprint, such as changing to solar-driven equipment, recyclable bouquet plastic sleeves, and transporting products in a more environmentally-friendly manner.

These will be our main challenges in the years to come.”

The social aspect Over the years, the company has pio-

ing today of several companies, currently records over £650 million in turnover but Michell affirms that it is not all about revenues and profits. The company plays an important part in supporting the economy of these countries and hence enhancing the lives of its people. Investment is made not only in best-in-class ways of working but also in the human workforce.

“The business has been driven very much by its entrepreneurial spirit, but also by

doing the right thing in Africa. It has been crucial for us to work from the beginning with communities and to ensure that we take them with us on a growing journey.”

“We feel very strong about supporting our people.

It is not just about the 25,000 people employed in our vertically integrated businesses in Kenya and Ethiopia, but considering the global business in 18 countries and 36 partners, we probably support some 1.5 million people in terms of their reliance on some form of trade or relationship with Flamingo.”

The social aspect is close to Michell’s heart – now as the Group’s Technical and ESG Director, he is looking after the Group’s next steps into enhanced social and environmental governance.

Enhancing livelihoods “One of our biggest achievements has been the impact our business has had on local communities.

We are involved in a growing number of Fairtrade projects that really make a difference to millions of people, in terms both of food as well as schooling.”

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“We are one of the biggest educational establishments in Kenya. We run a number of schools and we feed over 6000 children a day.

Sometimes the food that we provide may be their only meal of the day.”

“But what this has also achieved as well is lower truancy in school, in other words, a higher degree of educational benefit. So far, about 47,000 people that have gone through education on the back of our farming model. That’s changing the livelihoods not of just one or two people but of a whole town.”

Speaking about the future, he affirms that Flamingo will continue to invest in people as well as in technology. “Those two are not contradictory.

Some products will lend themselves to being technology-driven, and some products, like a hand-tied bouquet, will be made by somebody with a bit of love and dedication in Africa, embodying the passion and emotion that no robot in outer London can replace,” he concludes.

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