Women in Produce — Jennie Coleman
Jennie Coleman, president and owner of Quebec-based Equifruit, believed in Fairtrade bananas before almost anyone else did. She has grown her company with the power of her convictions, aided by a leadership style that resonates with her employees.
“I admire Jennie’s bravery,” said Kim Chackal, director of sales and marketing for Equifruit. “She bought Equifruit at a time when nobody was asking for Fairtrade bananas. She felt compelled to correct this injustice in the banana industry and her passion has been infectious.”
With a special needs daughter, Coleman is fully invested in caring for her family’s needs while pursuing ambitious goals in the produce industry.
“Professionally I am passionate about our role in the produce industry, and dream about getting more Fairtrade produce into North American grocery stores,” Coleman said. “We are proud to be Canada’s only member of the World Banana Forum and at the table to discuss big ideas for creating a more equitable distribution of value along the global banana supply chain.”
Coleman, who bought Equifruit in 2013, has become more deeply involved in North American industry associations in recent years, including the Canadian Produce Marketing Association, the Quebec Produce Marketing Association, the Ontario Produce Marketing Association and the Produce Marketing Association. “I have really enjoyed learning from my peers in other companies about the issues which affect us as a whole, everything from the challenges of finding willing workers on Canadian farms to sustainability,” she said. Chackal said Coleman leads Equifruit with a “generous and determined spirit.” Coleman said her management style is a mix of fun and a focus on the bottom line.
“We work hard, we are serious about our jobs and committed to delivering terrific fruit to our customers – but we also have fun doing it,” she said.
“She pushes us to improve, and it’s been a joy to help build the company and see the impact it’s having at the farm level in Peru and Ecuador,” Chackal said. “Jennie is especially passionate about supporting other women in produce, particularly at the grower-level, making sure that women’s rights are protected. She is part of the World Banana Forum’s Gender Task Force and takes this role very seriously. The industry is lucky to have her, and our team is very proud to see her honored by The Packer.”
Winding road
Coleman was born in Ottawa and went to the University of Toronto but had a very international career before entering the produce industry.
From 2002 to late 2012, Coleman worked for Bombardier Transportation, a Canada-based manufacturer of planes, passenger rail manufacturing and more.
Her roles included director of strategy, talent manager and manager of China strategy.
“I could tell you, at one point, everything you want to know about the rail industry, which is really good at cocktail parties,” Coleman joked.
During her time working in Europe, Coleman met her future husband, who also worked for the company. After marrying, the couple had their first child, Laura, in Beijing.
After the baby was born, the family moved to Berlin.
“We realized within the first year that (Laura) wasn’t right. And we now know that she has an ultra-rare genetic condition, which means that she’s profoundly disabled.”
After a doctor’s reassurance, the couple eventually had two more kids.
“We had a second baby who was healthy. And then kind of unexpectedly, a third baby came along. And honestly, when the third baby came along, I just thought I can’t do it all. I can’t do this corporate job.”
After leaving Bombardier, Coleman eventually explored opportunities to scratch the itch for entrepreneurship while still giving her more flexibility for family. Through a broker, she came across the opportunity to buy Equifruit, a produce company that was founded in 2006 by a mother-daughter team in Quebec but was still quite small in 2013.
“I got into the produce business with a whole lot of naivety,” Coleman said.
From the start, she loved the mission of Fairtrade, as she had worked at a volunteer program in Namibia in southern Africa when she was younger.
“The Fairtrade aspect of Equifruit remined me of my younger social justice roots.”
Coleman believes economic development and community development are linked.
“When people are earning fair wages, they can decide what schools and what their community is going to look like,” she said.
Even so, Fairtrade is still business, with expectations of good quality on the part of suppliers, Coleman said.
“If the fruit comes in, and there’s a quality problem, then we’re still going to claim back, we’re still trying to figure out the cause of that poor quality,” she said. “But it is trade within this ethical framework, which empowers the communities of our producers to decide for themselves how they are going to invest those funds we call the social premium.”
The Fairtrade social premium of $1 per 40-pound case of bananas is a tangible way to tie growing sales to expanding benefits to their growers.
When she entered the industry, Coleman had no contacts and no network to grow the business. That has changed, and Equifruit continues to make retail inroads with Fairtrade bananas.
“It is a very easy way to measure our impact,” she said. “I feel tremendous pride with the way our company has developed, and I have a wonderful team around me. We’re all very, very committed to Fairtrade and changing people’s mindsets of bananas; we want to be the change.”
