Taking mission and training seriously

IN THE MIX: Edesia Production Lead Victor Fernandez, foreground, empties a bag with raw ingredients for a new batch of food. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY
IN THE MIX: Edesia Production Lead Victor Fernandez, foreground, empties a bag with raw ingredients for a new batch of food. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY

Recognition for its workforce-development efforts is especially satisfying for the team at Providence-based Edesia, a nonprofit manufacturer of individual portions of food for children suffering from severe malnutrition all around the world.

The recognition, said Edesia Executive Director Maria Kasparian, represents the culmination of years of consistent, diligent effort to create a positive working environment that also facilitates the completion of an enormous amount of work on a daily basis.

“We have amazing employees,” Kasparian said. “I was so delighted that we won this award in particular, because I have seen so many employees grow with us and rise in the organization, and I feel so proud and happy to be acknowledged for workforce development.”

Edesia, named after the Roman goddess of feasting, is the brainchild of company founder Navyn Salem and Kasparian. The pair began looking for partnerships, grants and empty building spaces almost six years ago, according to Kasparian.

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“The two of us started in her side bedroom, just dreaming and scheming,” Kasparian said.

Edesia makes individually wrapped servings of food that are purchased and distributed by UNICEF and other relief agencies. Once Salem and Kasparian got the company up and running, they immediately made a point of focusing on employee development, according to Kasparian.

Toward that end, Edesia uses a variety of tools and techniques to maintain both productivity and morale. The latter is given a big leg up from the fact that everyone associated with the enterprise knows that their work is helping fill bellies of children who might well not survive without that specific meal.

“We do different things,” Kasparian said, “we have quarterly events, we go to baseball games. We had a Valentine’s Day party. We try to keep it light and friendly in here.”

But the seriousness of the mission has clearly energized both Kasparian and the company’s staff of 73.

“Apart from our social events, what keeps people motivated and what keeps me motivated is that we’re not just making widgets,” Kasparian said. “We talk about the fact that this thing you’re making is going to a child in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It’s something that comes up in biweekly staff meetings. That helps me and many others to not feel burnout.”

The company, which has increased production from 1,800 metric tons of food in 2010 to 9,500 metric tons last year, has signed a 25-year lease that will take it from Providence to Quonset Business Park in North Kingstown.

Edesia, Kasparian said, intends to break ground on its new facility in late March or early April.

“We didn’t find a space that met all of our needs,” she said. “It will be about a nine-month build-out. Our current footprint is 15,000 square feet, and the new facility will be 85,000 square feet.” If all goes well, the company should move into the new facility about a year from now.

The company currently leases a third-party warehouse at its Providence facility and will consolidate materials storage, manufacturing and administration at the new Quonset site, according to Kasparian.

Cross-training employees, both on the manufacturing floor and in the office, is another part of the effort to develop the company’s workforce. The idea is two-fold: one, the work done by an absent employee can always be performed by someone else, and, two, no one gets stuck doing the same kind of work day after day, permanently. Edesia wants a nimble staff, and that is what it has created.

The move to Quonset fits well into the vision that the management team holds for Edesia, and which other members of the staff – including and especially those involved in manufacturing – are tapped into as well.

“They’re very excited about our growth,” Kasparian said. “They know we’re growing, not just in physical size, but we’re getting smarter and more skilled.”

And throughout the process of the expansion of production and the broadening of employees’ skill sets, mission is always at the fore. Images of the children being nourished with Edesia products adorn the interior of the company’s building in Providence.

“Many of our employees are from the countries to which we send products,” she said. “We do recruit from the recently resettled refugee population. Four are former refugees themselves, and they have powerful stories to tell. When they see our products, they say, ‘I know what situation this is going to. I know what it is like to be on the receiving end and to be so dependent on products like this.’ ”

To date, Edesia’s products have reached more than 2.5 million malnourished and vulnerable children in more than 45 countries, including Afghanistan, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Mauritania, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Syria and Yemen. •

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