JJ: What are your day-to-day tasks at GMS?
Mustafa: I have been with GMS since the company started out over 20 years ago. As Executive Director, I look after pretty much everything – I coordinate the production, marketing and merchandising teams across our two facilities, GMS Composite and GMS Textile, as well as manage relationships with our customers.
JJ: What does social responsibility mean to you?
Mustafa: Social responsibility means that every company should have a duty to act in the best interest of the society, environment and their employees. It means being good to others as best as we can.
JJ: We have seen the positive way you relate to your employees. How do you make sure that all the people that work for you not only get to do so in great conditions, but have the possibility to grow and develop?
Mustafa: At GMS, social responsibility means making sure our workers are happy, that they can grow with the company and that they always get the right salary on time. We pay our workers more than the national minimum wage and provide them with two annual bonuses, each equivalent to a full monthly salary. We also offer educational scholarships to their children every year. I think that is why a lot of workers who joined us when I started are still here today.
JJ: We have been working with you for over 15 years, and we are really proud of the journey we have been on together. How do you think we have grown as partners?
Mustafa: JACK & JONES, and its parent company BESTSELLER, are our biggest and most loyal customers. We believe in long-term business relationships, and we think of the dynamic between us and JACK & JONES as more of a strategic partnership than a traditional brand to manufacturer relationship. We are on this sustainability journey together, and since we started working with JACK & JONES and BESTSELLER, we have been able to invest in new technology to clean up our production, such as our low liquor ratio dyeing machines from SCLAVOS, which significantly reduce the water use. We have also been involved with HERproject™, through which our employees completed health and finance training. Now they get their salary through online payment on their mobile, which gives women workers greater financial independence.