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- Silverstone Tropical Foods is a U.K. based family
business started in 1996 and run by Sonja and Nigel Scantlebury.
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- One of the primary activities of Silverstone is to
facilitate the sale of dried sorrel imported from West Africa.
They currently supply businesses in the U.K. and Europe particularly
Germany, Sweden and Austria but this level of growth has not come
without it’s share of challenges. The attitude towards the
sorrel products has been affected by the perception that it is a cold
drink as opposed to one that can also be enjoyed hot, as in tea
form. Many people are accustomed to having tea or coffee instead
of the healthy benefits of a cup of hot sorrel. This misperception of
the product has led to inadequate support from certain money lending
institutions regardless of how excellent a business plan is presented.
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- The business is therefore self funded and has been
launched in Barbados, where their family is from, with imminent launches
in Jamaica and St. Lucia. There are plans currently under
negotiation for a joint venture in a manufacturing plant in Sengal, West
Africa for this year. The business has a socially conscious base
in that it intends to increase employment for the local citizens in
North London by increased production.
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- Human resources or skills are not being utilised and
this is confirmed by the many people who patronise the shop and in some
cases have not been employed for years. This inevitably affects
their access to pension right and keeps them on welfare. This cycle can
be broken by employment opportunities being opened up in the local and
surrounding areas. Silverstone Foods believe that they have a duty
to the community and try to carry this out through their business
endeavours. The suppliers of food in the African and African
Caribbean food market are owned by Asians primarily. This presents a
market place where there is an inordinate dependency factor. These
suppliers have a monopoly on the price of the food supplied and this
unfair relationship has had a negative effect on many businesses because
they are simply consumers.
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- Silverstone also import Irish Moss, Mauby and Sour-Sop
leaves in a wholesale capacity and had looked into the formation of a
association to deal with the collective advancement through a timely
idea, they found that there were very few black owned businesses and
this would therefore affect the ability to negotiate low prices.
They have therefore resorted to other strategies such as mutually
beneficial prices/deals on their products with black businesses on a one
to one basis.
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- Silverstone is
acutely aware of and concerned about the psychological barriers that
stop black people from supporting black business and wanting to go
elsewhere. It is ironic that large supermarkets operate on this
“swing and roundabouts” principle because a product on special offer
or a few pence off is balanced by an increase on another product in the
same store. As a business that imports and also retails products,
this company is able to give an informed opinion on the challenges faced
by black businesses in the U.K. The socio-economic problems that
present themselves are dealt with in a professional manner always
focusing on the long-term objective. This company is based on
principles that have become policies and in so doing destroying the myth
that racism or lack of opportunities are excuses for failure.
Silverstone encourages the black community to “look within” for
leadership rather than depend on others to do for us the things that we
should be doing for ourselves. It is common sense to spend among
ourselves in order to circulate the monies a few times before it leaves
our hands and this will only be realised when we start to appreciate and
love ourselves.
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- Sonja states, “The many skills in our community need
to be utilised on an individual basis and then packaged in a way that
will be economically advantageous. There is strong bargaining
power with collective support and the black community needs to be more
selective of the shops it buys from. It is difficult enough that
supplies close ranks on the price of products and this reality is
compounded by the lack of support for black businesses at the retail
level. These retailers need to form a collective aimed at breaking
the monopoly of Asian wholesalers that exercise undue influence over
products that they generally have no interest in”.
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- This sort of inordinate power cannot be justified and
must be destroyed in order to facilitate the growth of black businesses
on equal terms. Small businesses are handicapped without fair trade
terms and smaller businesses are doomed before they start. Coupled with
the lack of financial backing and poor support there is no wonder that
our community is not as productive in comparison to its
ability/willingness to consume.
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- Silverstone
Foods is in uniquely strong position because it appreciates the balance
between a social conscience and the realities of economic progress. This
principle should be truly admired and emulated.
By Sonja Scantlebury, Silverstone
Foods
Source: Afrikan
Business and Culture Magazine (2001)
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