Doing business with Chiquita

Interview with George Jaksch (Senior Director of Corporate Responsibility and Public Affairs Chiquita)

Chiquita is one of the world’s premier producers of bananas and other fruits. Since the 1990s, the company has been working to improve its environmental performance and the conditions for its workers. Today, the company’s Latin American banana farms are certified by the Rainforest Alliance and comply with international labour standards.

According to George Jaksch, Senior Director of Corporate Responsibility and Public Affairs with Chiquita, the company is now developing a company-wide sustainability programme, mobilising employees to embrace sustainability and making purchasing more sustainable. Working with ING is helping Chiquita to make this transition.

Since the 1980s, ING has provided guarantees and credit facilities and has financed the expansion of the company’s shipping fleet. From the start of the ING-Chiquita relationship, both organisations discovered they shared a common set of values, including those involving corporate responsibility (child labour, social issues). Then, in 2009, as part of a loan review, ING asked Chiquita about recent publicity surrounding the company’s ethical standards. This initial review led ING to host a team from Chiquita in Amsterdam in 2011 to perform a thorough review of the company’s corporate responsibility efforts.

During the visit, Chiquita and ING discussed the company’s sustainability efforts of the last few years and reviewed supporting documentation. “ING’s team had done their research. They asked very probing questions and displayed a high level of expertise and personal concern,” he adds.
According to Jaksch, it became apparent that sustainability was immensely important to ING and to the relationship between both companies. ”Like ING, we look for sustainable, long-term partnerships. We were drawn to ING by its business and work ethic, fair standards, transparency and the financial strength of the institution.”

“We run a very transparent operation and are mindful that our financial partners are looking over our shoulders and are beside us as we conduct our business. Our suppliers and key customers ask us all the time about the kind of financial institutions we are dealing with, more so over the last three or four years,” says Jaksch.