56 May 2015 - Business View Caribbean
BEST PRACTICES IN BUSINESS
Therefore, WIBDECO’s first major task was renegotiat-
ing the supply contract with Geest Industries. It need-
ed to transform the agreement from one with each of
the individual banana associations to one involving
WIBDECO and Geest alone, with WIBDECO maintain-
ing supply contracts with the associations and assum-
ing the commercial risks. Less than two years later,
WIBDECO acquired the Geest banana business in a
joint venture with Fyffes plc, a leading importer and
distributor of tropical produce, with operations in Eu-
rope, the USA, and Central and South America.
WIBDECO took over marketing of the bananas from
Geest in a new business arrangement with Fyffes in
2001, then, two years later, took full control of market-
ing and distribution of all of its bananas.
Though the retail price of loose bananas in the UK was
56 percent lower in 2009 than it had been in 2001,
WIBDECO cushioned the Windward industry by intro-
ducing fixed, stable prices and absorbing all risks that
had previously been passed to the local industry. This
move gave Windward Islands bananas the premium
niche segment of the market even as it was fully con-
verting to Fairtrade -- an organized movement whose
goal is to help producers in developing countries
achieve better trading conditions and promote sus-
tainability.
Nonetheless, additional changes were deemed neces-
sary.
A name change from WIBDECO to Winfresh was made
