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THE QUEEN OF TURNAROUNDS Andrea Coy knows how to take a business in distress and put it back on the path to success – from DIY to seafood
By George Ruddock
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RACE KENNEDY Limited’s new head of international business, Andrea Coy, is highly regarded as the “turnaround management” specialist within the Jamaican food and finance group. Since joining the company in 2005, she has had tremendous success in fixing some of its subsidiaries and also bringing them back to profitability. Her list of achievements include Hi-Lo Food Stores, the Global Category Management Unit (GCUM) and the home and living brand Hardware & Lumber. Her success at taking businesses that are in distress and putting them back on a platform for future success within the group has led to her being appointed the CEO of GK Foods International Business with responsibility for the company’s manufacturing and distribution operations in the USA, Canada and the UK. Her portfolio responsibility will also include Europe and west Africa as the company continues its expansion into these markets, plus she will have additional responsibility for GK’s distribution opera-
tions in Latin America and the Caribbean. To emphasise the responsibility she holds within the group, the current value of the UK Caribbean food and drinks market is worth close to £99m, and Grace Foods UK lead the category with 34 per cent market share. Among the well-known Grace brands are Encona Sauces, Aloe Vera Drinks, Grace Coconut Water, Dunn’s River Jerk Seasoning, Tropical Rhythms drinks, Plantain Chips, Brunswick Seafood, Excelsior Crackers and Bigga Soda.
SATISFYING
But while Mrs Coy takes on such a huge role in the organisation and relishes the challenges that it will bring, she lists one of her most satisfying and successful projects as the turnaround she achieved at Hardware & Lumber, the Jamaican DIY shop chain. She said: “Easily this was one of my favourite projects. For one, it was not a food business and was owned 58 per cent by Grace Kennedy. “There was a lot to do at the outset, but when I left H&L the share price moved from $3 to $9 per share, something that was recognised by the Jamaica Stock Exchange when it was
voted runner-up as the best company on the Stock Exchange in 2013. “That was the turning point for my career in Grace Kennedy, not just for the things I did but for the experiences I gained and developed in that two-year assignment between 2012 and 2014. “It gave me the kind of exposure in running a public company that none of the other subsidiaries had done.” After Grace Kennedy sold Hardware & Lumber, Mrs Coy was appointed CEO of GraceKennedy Foods Domestic, with responsibility for Hi-Lo, Grace
You spend a lot of time impacting and connecting with staff Foods & Services (GFS), World Brands and the five factories operated by the company in Jamaica, as well as continued responsibility for GCUM. Did she see herself marching into these senior roles when she first joined the group in 2005? Not really, said Mrs Coy. “I am still pinching myself
WORKING HARD: Andrea Coy, centre, with some of the women who work at GK Foods UK
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sometimes. I like the fast-moving consumer goods industry. I had transitioned from being a financial-controller to the management side over the years, but what I wanted to do was to differentiate myself and after thinking hard and praying about it, I decided turnaround management was where I would differentiate myself within the industry. I like it because it allows me to really touch people.” She added: “The biggest part of turnaround management is getting the team aligned around where you are and where you need to go to fix the business. You spend a lot of time impacting, connecting and dealing with the staff, so that gives me a lot of joy.” In addition to her responsibility for the international market, Mrs Coy also has under her umbrella the innovation team, which has to respond to the changes in the food industry as consumers become more health conscious. She said: “We are well aware of the changing dynamics around better health and it’s a journey we have started on. “We have a roadmap that allows us to reduce salt and sugar from the existing portfolio, but we also have ‘better for you’ type products like coconut water and our seafood range which we have brought to the attention of consumers. “For instance, we have reduced sugar variance in our Tropical Rhythms range as well as reducing sodium in our soups and we do have plans in innovations for new products. “We also have a big focus on recruiting new consumers, not just from the mainstream population, but also the third and fourth generation Caribbean people who are not necessarily tied to the traditional food their parents brought over. “We know the challenge is there, but we are confident we have the products to get people interested.” As Grace Kennedy gets ready to celebrate its centenary
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TREMENDOUS SUCCESS: Andrea Coy of Grace Kennedy Limited has returned subsidiaries back to profitability in 2022, Mrs Coy says one of the objectives of the company is to support children in school through its Grace and Staff Foundation. Mrs Coy said: “Right now we are at 500, but the plan is to send 1,000 students to school by 2022 in our milestone year. Our mandate is to impact the communities in which we do business and our corporate social responsibility is to the alleviation of hunger and the development of youth, so you will see a lot more visibility from Grace Kennedy in how we are supporting this.”
GENDER
As March is Women’s History Month, Mrs Coy is extremely proud of what she has achieved in the corporate world, but says she focuses less on gender and more on what it is that she can use her office to achieve. She said: “I think I can use this office to impact people and impact lives and that would be my calling. “As we women take more responsibility in conducting ourselves in a professional way, it becomes less about gender and
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more about who is the best person for the job.” In sharing her advice to young women who would like to follow in her footsteps, Mrs Coy said: “It’s working hard, do what you have to do, work diligently, be true to yourself, impact others along the way and take others with you along the journey because you can’t do it alone. “Invest in developing people, focus less on the reward, but more on the success and always maintain your professionalism in the workplace.” Mrs Coy says the woman who has inspired her most is Indra Nooyi, the chairman of PepsiCo, the famous American soft drink company. She said: “Indra did great things and her mind is absolutely amazing to me. Being in a similar industry I have followed her achievements and I have such high regards for her.” An avid Christian, Mrs Coy says she has a good work-life balance with her husband and two children and puts this down to the gems she got from reading Sheryl Sandberg’s book Lean In, which she would recommend to all women.
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