Aggie Global is a social business, which makes our business values even more precious to us. Although our mission to alleviate poverty is a big part of our passion, having these values to push us forward and rely on, is really important to us.
When we were discussing our values in 2018, we were being indecisive about which ones to include or not to include, and as a result Aggie Global had 7 values, which we decided to reduce to 5. These are:
- Tip the Scales
- Unchecked Curiosity
- Stumble To Success
- Tireless Enthusiasm
- Be the Expert
Tip the Scales
As a social business, we are aiming to make social change. Disrupting existing food supply chains is a big goal and deserves values that reflect that.
Tip the scales is about bringing equality to society by ensuring equal access to food and markets for farmers. It’s about redistributing incomes, so the current 64% of the population that live in poverty, have equal opportunities to increase their way up the wealthy pyramid (if you don’t know what we are talking about you can read about it here). It’s also about converting net food importing countries into net exporters, to ensure countries can first supply themselves with food rather than relying on other countries for food, which increases food miles, plus negative environmental and socioeconomic impacts. In buying local, we can help family run farms compete with large, commercial producers.
Tip the Scales is our favourite value because it is the main value that encompasses Aggie Global’s purpose.
Unchecked Curiosity
To achieve social impact, we need to approach social challenges in a new way, without being hindered by social norms.
By fostering curiosity, we are encouraging experimentation and innovation. This goes from internally in our team when designing a product or encouraging farmers to try new crops or getting consumers curious about what is grown in their backyard (country).
We love questioning things and digging deeper, to see things from a new perspective or come up with crazy ideas. Unchecked curiosity is about always asking why and finding the answers.
Stumble to Success
Everyone makes mistakes. Sometimes they are hard to swallow but they are the best way to learn and improve.
How you view these ‘mistakes’ or ‘failures’ is what will dictate your success. Aggie Global views our failures as being one-step closer to achieving our goals. So although we may stumble, we will be successful in achieving our vision in whatever time-frame that means. By trialling new things and constantly learning (‘Unchecked Curiosity’ and ‘Be the Expert’) we can make necessary errors rapidly and grow quickly.
It’s similar to the Fail Hard and Fast mentality in the StartUp world. We believe that Stumble to Success fosters resilience and dedication to our mission regardless of what will be thrown at us (and there is always a lot!).
Stumble to Success can also include being forgiving for ourselves and considerate of others, whether that’s our team, customers or stakeholders.
Tireless Enthusiasm
This is closely linked to ‘Stumble to Success’ but is all about following your passion and enjoying the result of the work you do.
Aggie Global was founded by Lisa and Zoe because they were determined to address food security for disadvantaged groups. Without this determination, we wouldn’t be able to address such a major goal.
Tireless Enthusiasm is about striving toward a purpose and enjoying it as you hit those goals. It’s about finding your passion and applying it to social change. If we weren’t enthusiastic about what we do, we won’t be able to ‘Stumble to Success’ and accomplish our vision.
Be the Expert
We live in an age where we have access to an infinite amount of information at the touch of our fingers. This access provides an incredible opportunity, but unless we research and identify where we have gaps in our understanding, we won’t improve.
Similar to Unchecked Curiosity, this value is about finding something new to learn. It’s about active learning and pushing ourselves for personal development but at the same time, acknowledging when we don’t have the answers.
Be the Expert is also about understanding that farmers know best for their land and their products. Aggie Global is about lifting these farmers up.
Our values at Aggie Global are focused on creating positive social business and harnessing the highs and lows of business. We aim to remind ourselves of these values regularly enough to refocus. This is why, if you look at our Google Drive, you’ll see some of our folders labelled with the names of our values. It’s a quirky way to make sure they are front and centre of everything we do. Plus these folders gives us a little smile even when we are bogged down.
