Tag: Engro Fertilizers

KARACHI: Engro Fertilizers, Pakistan’s premier seed-to-harvest solutions provider, hosted an insightful dialogue at Expo 2020 Dubai to highlight the food security situation in the Gulf and the potential partnership opportunities with Pakistan to overcome the regional food security challenges.

The panel comprised global agricultural and industry experts including Dr. Abdul Rashid (IFA Laureate), Charles Schneider (International Finance Corporation), Ayman Alwadhy (The Corporate Group, UAE), Wasim Halabi (Foodco National Foodstuff Co PJSC), Fredric Favre (MAS Seeds, France) and Khusrau Nadir Gilani (Engro Fertilizers).

The event was also graced by Hussain Dawood (Chairman of Engro Corporation and Dawood Corporation), Shahzada Dawood (Vice Chair, Engro Corporation), Ghias Khan (President & CEO of Engro Corporation) and Nadir Salar Qureshi (CEO of Engro Fertilizers), along with other members of the Engro leadership team.

The expert panel pointed out that food security in the Gulf region is a growing challenge due to high dependence on food imports, increasing water scarcity, climate change and supply chain interruptions.

In 2020, the region’s share of the acutely food insecure global population was 20 per cent, which is disproportionately high compared to its 6 per cent share of the population. By forging partnerships in the agricultural sector with large established sustainable agri-base countries, like Pakistan, the region can benefit from enhanced agricultural output to overcome its food security challenge.

There is significant potential to increase Pakistan’s agricultural output with focus on modern technology, seed quality, balanced use of fertilizers, and uplift of infrastructure across the agri value chain. It was noted that if average farmer yields are brought at par with those of progressive farmers within the country, Pakistan will see a dramatic increase in wheat and rice production serving not only the needs for domestic consumption, but also create significant surpluses for exports to the Gulf-Region.

The Government of Pakistan was also applauded for its efforts to improve water provision and farm economics, resulting in an increase of approximately 1.6 million hectares in area under cultivation with further growth anticipated with large irrigation projects underway.

According to Nadir Qureshi, “To bridge the agri yield gap and enrich crops with essential nutrients, Engro Fertilizers has introduced innovative products and seed-to-harvest solutions, farmer upskilling programs, access to expert advice by leveraging technology, and free of cost soil testing laboratories. We hope that this dialogue will serve as an initial step to encourage Pakistan, Engro and Gulf entities to work together to jointly develop innovative solutions and explore the scope for international partnerships in the agri space.”

The panel discussion concluded that the food and agriculture sector can be an engine of economic growth for both the Gulf region and Pakistan. Through the adoption of technological innovation and sustainable practices, the agricultural sector of Pakistan can be transformed to reduce dependence on food imports, create surpluses to drive significant exports and meet the Gulf regions’ dietary nutrition requirements.

 KARACHI: Engro Fertilizers Limited has been recognized at the prestigious Pakistan Digital Awards 2021. The company received three key awards for “Most Innovative Fintech Solution Provider”, “Best Payment Technology” and “Best Banking Tech of the Year”.

Faced with the challenges of COVID-19 pandemic, Engro Fertilizers was quick to adapt to the new normal and led the industry towards digitization in all respects, from customer and vendor support to digital payment solutions and virtual operations.

This was the first time that the Company was participating at the Pakistan Digital Awards. Out of the 94 categories, it was able to bag three Best in Class awards at the ceremony.

Receiving this award, Imran Ahmed, CFO of Engro Fertilizers Limited, shared: “The digitization journey that we embarked on a couple of years back has finally started to deliver results as we are now benefiting from improved availability of quality information and better control environment.

“We are thrilled by this recognition that was in the face of stiff competition. This encourages us to redouble our efforts in leveraging digitization to deliver operational excellence and differentiated customer experiences in the days and years to come”.

With “The Best Banking Tech of the Year” and “Best Payment Technology” award, Engro Fertilizers has been celebrated for setting new standards in the fertilizer industry through the launch of various innovative and automated financing solutions in engagement with its banking partners. It co-created Pakistan’s first-ever solution to electronically manage bank guarantees that will transform this banking process.

The initiative has reduced ordering cycle, provided customers convenience by not requiring them to make a physical visit to the bank and enhanced corporate services. Further, the move towards paperless operations has resulted in a favorable impact on the environment, and ensured transparency and swiftness of transactions.

In the “Most Innovative Fintech Data Solution Provider” category, the Company has been recognized for the group-wide implementation of new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system OneSAP, which has been endorsed as Pakistan’s largest SAP S/4 HANA digital business transformation.

By leveraging this technology, the Company was able to achieve the global benchmark in financial reporting by ensuring monthly closing within 24-hours. The OneSAP implementation has enabled the Company to manage business operations remotely with flexibility for the employees, reduced operational costs, and timely and accurate flow of financial information to the Management to facilitate timely decision making.

Expressing his delight at winning the awards, Nadir Qureshi – CEO of Engro Fertilizers – said: “It is humbling for us to have received these awards in the face of incredibly tough and distinguished competition. Guided by the Board’s vision and persistent efforts of our team, we have been able to make a swift transition towards digital platforms to navigate the challenges of global pandemic.

“By embracing digitization, we have improved business efficiency, customer service and set a precedent for others to follow in the industry. Going forward, we will InshAllah continue to lead the industry in setting new standards of digital excellence.”

KARACHI: Engro Fertilizers has been declared as one of only three global award winners at the virtual ceremony of 14th DuPont Safety and Sustainability Awards, a press release said on Wednesday.

As a recipient of the Global Safety Innovation Award, Engro Fertilizers has been recognized for making innovative and systemic changes to its operations to achieve higher health, safety, and environment (HSE) standards.

The Company undertook a root and branch overhaul of its safety systems, invested in digitization initiatives, and doubled down efforts on development of new capabilities.

In line with Engro’s philosophy of being world class in HSE, the all-encompassing Safety Beyond Excellence strategy led to an 87 percent reduction in the Total Recordable Incident Rate, resulted in a sharp reduction in operational upsets / fire incidents, significantly improved risk management and led to an increase in employee and stakeholder engagement.

The other two DuPont global award winners are Dubai Municipality, UAE and SMRT Trains Ltd, Singapore. Engro Fertilizers edged out Saudi Arabia-based Saudi Aramco, named the winner in the EMEA region, and Brazil-based Usina Coruripe, which took home the Americas award.

Sharing the Company’s journey of safety excellence and achievements in a panel discussion, Nadir Qureshi – CEO of Engro Fertilizers, said that, “A relentless commitment to safety is one of the core values of Engro. We have always strived to set world class HSE standards for both our employees and the communities in which we live and operate.

“This focus is continuously reinforced by our leaderships’ commitment, with my Chairman and Board regularly highlighting this core commitment and our teams embodying this culture.

“We are humbled by this global accolade and it is our endeavor to get to similar levels of world-class safety in the new logistics business that was launched 18 months ago with the aspiration of becoming the country’s leading long haul service provider.”

Syed Shahzad Nabi – Senior Vice President Manufacturing, added that, “To develop the team, we put a lot of focus on enhancing the skill level both in terms of the core job, safety system and creativity. Our Transitional Training Model, followed by hands on training, enables all employees to undergo technical training and be aware of associated safety hazards.”

In 2020, Engro Fertilizers was recognized locally and globally with several awards for displaying commitment and focus towards ensuring employee well-being and maintaining HSE standards.

These awards include the Country Best Award by the British Safety Council, Health & Safety Silver Award by Royal Society for Prevention of Accidents, eight Green Office Awards by the World Wildlife Foundation, the Annual Fire Safety Excellence Award by the NFEH and the overall Platinum Award in Occupational Safety and Health at the Best Practices in OSH Awards.