Savannah Fine Chemicals Pty Ltd, based in Johannesburg, South Africa, has been delivering high-quality ingredient solutions since its establishment in 1990. While the company has grown significantly over the years, it continues to operate with the agility and purpose of a start-up, driven by curiosity, a proactive mindset, and a collaborative approach to business.
Savannah’s commitment to “High Quality, High Performance” now extends to Social Sustainability. Savannah’s journey is its certification to the FSSC 24000 Scheme for Social Management Systems, placing it among the first eight organizations globally to be recognized under this pioneering framework. Audited by the licensed FSSC Certification Body, Aspirata Auditing Testing and Certification (Pty) Ltd (Assurecloud), this certification highlights Savannah’s dedication to workplace empowerment and social responsibility. It stands as a testament to the leadership shown by African organizations in advancing social compliance.
With a proven product development capability, Savannah Fine Chemicals Pty Ltd remains a trusted and forward-thinking partner in a challenging and evolving market. Foundation FSSC spoke with Carike van der Merwe, Quality Leader at Savannah Fine Chemicals, to review their journey and success with the Social Management System.
Why did your organization choose FSSC 24000 certification?
With so many different social and sustainability programmes out there and none of them allowing management system certification, we decided to go the FSSC 24000 route, especially since it aligns with the other ISO management systems we were familiar with.
we decided to go the FSSC 24000 route, especially since it aligns with the other ISO management systems we were familiar with
What lessons did you learn during the certification process?
Firstly, I learnt how to use the FSSC website and guidance documents very well, as even though we were used to the ISO management system, there are still quite a few additional requirements that were new to us.
Also, even though our company has been and is currently still involved with various other social and sustainability initiatives and programmes, we learnt through this certification process that the FSSC 24000 audit process is much more rigorous and structured than any of the other programmes, which led us to improve our social system in many ways.
How will certification benefit your organization?
There is a need in the market to have a universal social management system that is globally accepted by all. Even though FSSC 24000 is only in its beginning stages, we believe this Scheme will become the leading social management programme globally.
We would like to believe that FSSC 24000 certification will grow to replace various other social and sustainability programmes, which would, in turn, reduce “audit fatigue” and the cost of running them.
