To be honest, what really matters is not what we do, but how we do it. And to do that, we need to tell some stories.
Starting with the Boss.
Donald MacKay
who founded XA some 19 years ago, is a foodie, but not just any conventional foodie. He’s like a forensic foodie who won’t give up on an ingredient without using it in every conceivable way. He’s recently finished months of exploring the world of eggs – recipe upon recipe, dish upon dish. There’s nothing about cooking with eggs that he hasn’t already tried.So why do the culinary eccentricities of our founder have a bearing on the XA approach to offering global trade advice?
Why? We’ll come to that shortly?
In the meantime we need a couple more stories …
We’ve learned that
Pieter du Plessis
has made such a valuable contribution to the success of XA, not just as a senior partner but as an accredited first responder as well.Tonderai Chibasa
brings more than some impressive muscles to the table. Initiative, self-reliance and coping with difficult and unpredictable circumstances are all part of Tonderai’s portfolio. So when the COVID lockdown saw him stranded for seven months in Europe on a solo trip that should have lasted just a couple of weeks, Tonderai was the man for the occasion.Eggs.
Ambulances.
Marooned in Europe..
Superficially there may not appear to be much in common between these three.
Until you look a little deeper and find what drives each of those three XA people involved, and what unites them within the XA culture.
Passion. Obsession. Certainly mastery. Endeavour, above and beyond.
Precisely the same attributes we look for in all our staff at XA. The same values that drive them, the values that explain why the easy option is never the right option. Quite simply, they relish a challenge, the stiffer the better. Which is why the mantra that all XA people subscribe to is simple, but unique.