CV Issue 1 2018

32 CORPORATE VISION / Issue 1 2018 the community. Rino goes into a bit more detail about the forestry side of Better Globe. “For a business to serve the world the way Better Globe Forestry does, is the true definition of prosperity with a purpose; that is, the company does not benefit unless the community and the planet do. Planting trees also lays a foundation for a proper education. When Better Globe Forestry plants trees, they give residents the opportunity to educate themselves on farming practices and earn money. With money, they can afford school fees for their children. This process shows that trees are a priceless component for a happy and healthy life.” Better Globe, as a company, is financed in a way slightly different to other companies, as Rino highlights. Being market driven, the company owns all its processes in a sustainable manner, and its goals and mission help to mark it out as the best possible option for clients. “Better Globe’s financing is based on a ‘Crowdfunding’ system, where people can buy trees as a commodity, with a fixed buyback deal over 20 years, starting from year five. Better Globe buy the trees back at approx. 12 times the buying price. Anyone can buy one tree or thousands of trees at 17 euro per tree. The first four years they get nothing, but from the fifth to the 19th year we pay 15% down on the buyback deal of the trees. (We have done this for seven years without fail this year). This leave to be paid the 20th year 170 euro, which then total 208.25 euro and we take over the tree. We can do this with very little risk involved, because our trees are high value mahogany trees, which has a safe future market with steady growth and almost no fluctuations over 50 years. “Furthermore, our sister company, Better Globe Forestry Ltd. is the most recognised forestry company in Kenya today and we have working relationship with all the players in the field we work in. We have MOU’s with Kenya Forestry Service (KFS- Government), Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI) and The World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), University of Ghent in Belgium and University of Nairobi, just to mention a few. No other forest company have the same vision and mission and no others have the same approach as Better Globe. Due to our special way for people and companies to buy trees with such high return after 20 years, it is not easy for anybody to compete with us. After all, we have done all the research and mitigated all possible risks for 13 years and today not much can spoil our business model. Most other forestry companies only have one process, they plant trees and then sell timber to the process industries. The downside here is that they are depending on the fluctuations in the paper or building industries. “Crucial to our success, Better Globe is market driven and will process all the timber into different specially made wooden products and export them direct to the retail shops around the world. We therefore own all our processes in a sustainable manner. As our goal is to plant as many trees as there are people on this planet, it will probably be 8-9 billion trees and this will make a big difference for the environment too.” Regarding the internal culture within the company, Rino explains how he and the team ensures that all of its staff are always best placed to provide the best service possible to clients. “Since Better Globe has the vision and goals to eradicate poverty and corruption in Africa and at the same time fight global warming, by taking care of the environment, the people who are attracted to us are mainly people with the same kind of interest. To work with us and to see the results of what we accomplish motivates them extremely well. All we have to do is to give them the tools so they can follow our system and the rest takes care of itself.” Evidently, the company is doing extremely well and has been acknowledged in the Corporate Excellence Awards 2017 as the Most Compassionate Africa Support Group 2017, and Rino explains how it feels to have been selected and what this means for the company going forwards. “It is always good to be recognised for the job we do and working in Africa is not the easiest job to take on, so we appreciate the award very much. We are especially happy that there is a recognised magazine like Corporate Vision outside Africa which recognises us too, as we earlier have been recognised several times, both in Kenya and Uganda before. So, a big thank you to Corporate Vision Magazine for considering what we do. “Better Globe is a market driven company so this is good for our marketing and can be used for building our brand in the international marketplace. Hopefully, some of the readers of your magazine might be interested in our tree planting projects too and want to know more about our Vision and Mission for Africa. Tree planting is also a very good thing to do for the global climate, as trees capture CO2. We can also tailor make very transparent Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) concepts for companies around the world, so that might be interesting for your readers to know about and they are welcome to contact us in this regard.” Lastly, looking to build on its going success, there are exciting times ahead for Better Globe AS. Rino signs off by pointing us towards a new venture which the firm will undertake, something which has been in the pipeline for almost five years. “For almost five years, we have planned the kick off for our newest and probably the fastest growing concept of tree planting in the world. It is called Trees4Shopping.com and is a unique loyalty program for online shoppers. This will involve us, as a company, making an agreement with online shops of all kinds i.e. cars, supermarkets, clothing, furniture, hotels, airlines, electric appliances, petrol stations and different services etc. Whatever the customer buys from these shops/companies over the whole year, they will get back cash 25% of the total amount as a saving