Big Business, Small Island
Growing alongside the small island of St Helena
S t Helena – a windswept, volcanic island lying just under 2,000 miles off the West Coast of Africa in the South Atlantic. Its neighbour is the world’s remotest island, Tristan da Cunha. But despite its isolated location, St Helena is saturated with history.
The island was first discovered in 1502 by Portuguese navigator João da Nova, as it lay on the route of the Trade Winds, the route ships used to take when going around the Cape of Good Hope and across the South Atlantic. The Portuguese used the island as a rendezvous point on long voyages – ships could stop here to re-provision and sick sailors could wait for a passage home.
However, the Portuguese never set up a permanent settlement on the island, and by 1657 the British East India Company had annexed it, built a fort and levied a tax from all ships that docked. The British Crown later took over its management and began a tradition of exiling prisoners to its remote shores, the most famous of whom was Napoleon Bonaparte. St Helena has received several other illustrious visitors over the years, including Charles Darwin, who was fascinated by the island’s unique endemic flora and fauna.
These days, the island has a population of 4,500 ‘Saints’, made up of expats, islanders who moved away and then returned, and those who never left.
Mandy Peters, CEO of Solomons, belongs to the second category.
“St Helena is home to me – whilst I have worked abroad for some years, (as is often the case with many St Helenians), it was inevitable that I would eventually return to settle in St Helena at some point,” she says.
“It is unique to live in St Helena – although likely many locations could claim the same. St Helena grows on you over time and is multi-layered, revealing itself increasingly from an initial impression as a destination to visit, to the resilience required to achieve goals in a challenging working environment and capped by the many benefits as a home environment,” she continues.
“Working in St Helena requires strength of resolve and perseverance, an ability to be resourceful and an innovative approach to overcoming constant challenge due to the limited customer base, logistical difficulties and limited resources. Yet living in St Helena offers a wealth of positives which that same isolation delivers, in terms of the warmth of a closeknit community, the opportunity to reconnect with nature within minutes due to its proximity and the time and space for reflection.”
After five years of working in senior management on the island, Peters saw an advertisement for a CEO position at Solomons, which sought someone interested in people-focused leadership and offered a diverse range of business interests to manage. She was delighted when she got the job.
A FASCINATING LEGACY
Solomons has been in business for 230 years and has long been a household name on the island.
Its story begins with Saul Solomon, a boy travelling to India from the UK with his parents – upon falling ill, he was left on St Helena by his family to perish. But Saul survived and in 1790 started a general store. By 1800 he had opened a boarding house and was charging 30 shillings a day. Napoleon’s arrival on the island caused the population to double to 8,000, and Solomon began to specialise in luxury and commercial trade.
“Today the Solomon family no longer holds shares in the company and whilst the majority shareholder Great Peter Nominees holds for the St Helena Government (SHG), there are indications that SHG could divest itself of its shareholding in the future,” explains the CEO. “Other shareholders are largely local and Solomons is truly an island company.”
The company’s interests in mercantile and property development continue to endure, but the business portfolio has naturally expanded and diversified over the years. It now has a portfolio of 24 operating units. While over 50 percent of its turnover comes
from wholesale and retail operations, it also provides bakery products, beef and pork for the majority of the island. Meanwhile, its St Helena coffee has gained international prestige – made with homegrown green-tipped Bourbon arabica beans imported from Yemen hundreds of years ago, it is exported as a luxury product to Japan, Romania, Belgium, France, UK, Germany and the USA.
Alongside this, Solomons also provides a range of services in shipping, travel, freight, stevedoring and wholesale and retail fuels, together with resourcing contracts for airport operations. It offers an insurance portfolio of covers, whilst also providing small scale building, electrical and auto shop services. Another string to its bow is its travel agency – it helps tourists arrange flights, hotels, accommodation, car hire and customised itineraries.
Across its 24 business units, the company supports over 200 employees, making it the largest employer on the island after the St Helena government. Indirectly, it supports many more.
“All local businesses are interconnected to some degree. Whilst there is a competitive environment with businesses all vying for market share in a very small customer base, there is also respect and support for partner and supplier relationships, as we are reliant on each other and generally value each other in a unique way perhaps not ordinarily associated with business relationships,” Peters says.
Alongside supporting its island community, the company stays true to its roots by sensitively restoring historical buildings and artefacts, while striking a balance with the tasteful modernisation its customers require.
For example, in 2016 the Solomons Works Team refurbished the company’s Malabar property (a late 19th century Grade II listed building) from a vacant warehouse to become