I learned to accept, to be humble, to apologize for genuine mistakes and to avoid court actions. To quote a colleague: "If you screwed up you better pay". That philosopy will earn you respect and will keep your customers happy. On the other hand, you must know how to defend your position when you are convinced that the problems or damages are not the fault of your company or its products.

Another lesson is always to treat the customer as if you seriously want his business, no matter what the circumstances are. If the customer feels important and he gets the attention he deserves, he will remain a customer and respect you, your company, your products and your policies. Bottom line is to address a problem immediately, come to a conclusion and formulate a settlement that will leave an euphoric win-win taste of compromise in the mouths of both parties, howewer difficult it may look in the beginning.

Another lesson I learned over the years is to invest in good people. A wrong appointment or a member of your personnel in the incorrect position can cause your company countless problems and do serious damage to the image of the company. The seed business will remain a personal business, and, therefore, good, positive, well trained and committed employees are critical for customer relations, respect and technical back-up. But then, all over the world it is hard to find good, true seedsmen!

Finally, perhaps a personal lesson, was to move a little slower through the development process of establishing companies’ infrastructure and products. Our group of companies grew very fast over the last decade and I was forced to consider a new strategy – "Move forward slowly with haste" – so that all the processes could catch up with one another with regard to IT systems, administration, human resources and manufacturing. Having built up a team of more than 230 employees over the last 10 years, it was important to focus hard on HR and also to apply the principle of relentlessly pursuing the quest of personnel excellence in all the divisions of the company; administration, sales, technical operations and manufacturing. The key issue is not to put out the flame of Hygrotech’s unique, aggressive and opportunistic style, but rather to curtail it for a more controlled and sustained growth as established in the infamous 5 year plans, successfully!