Pawel Skarpetowski of Stubbins was the proud winner of the MorePeople Young Person of the Year award at Re:fresh. Skarpetowski was born in 1982 in the rural Polish village Ostrów Maz. He grew up on his family’s farm and helped his grandmother run the farm shop, the local’s favourite destination for fresh fruit, salads and vegetables.
At 18, he began selling produce to other parts of his native country and his experience broadened further when he began exporting to Russia. In order to keep control of his supply chain and to keep his costs down, Skarpetowski trained and qualified for his HGV licence.
That was a move that stood him in good stead as he developed his career with Stubbins, the company he joined in 2004 to form part of its Continental Express team. He made an immediate impact and, working closely with Stubbins human resource department, he successfully negotiated working terms and employment contracts for the increasing band of Polish drivers at the company.
Skarpetowski has added new strings to Stubbins’s bow, sourcing new products and new growers. He also organised his own trade show in Poland to present Stubbins and the UK market’s preferred varieties to Polish growers. He is credited with expanding the company’s Polish business at a far faster rate than was expected.
Back in the UK, Skarpetowski is seen as a real team player, and has taken it upon himself to hold seminars for colleagues keen to learn Polish and for Polish members of the team who want to learn English. He voluntarily helps the HR team with training and induction days and has organised nursery open days for local schools.
“Pawel’s impact on our business has been dramatic. He has not just developed into an outstanding commercial manager with four languages. More importantly he has become a role model to the entire Stubbins team, particularly our international workforce, by demonstrating the potential career path that exists for talented people at Stubbins,” says Peter Turone, Stubbins commercial director.
Also in the running was Karl Burling of JP Fresh and John Anderson of Malet Azoulay.
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