SHINE’ing the Spotlight on… Roz White
Roz White is the co-owner of White’s Grocers and White’s Commercial Property Group – originally established in 1993 with the purchase of a modest convenience store and now encompassing five supermarkets and a commercial property portfolio.
Roz’s business experience extends from a corporate background in banking to business entrepreneur, board member and volunteer of various organisations. Roz is a leading advocate for Independent supermarkets nationally and President of the Sunshine Coast Business Women’s Network, empowering and celebrating women in business. Roz is the recipient of multiple local, state and national awards.
Roz, you wear so many hats in the community and run a hugely successful business – how do you juggle it all and keep on top of things?
I am very fortunate to be surrounded by extraordinary people.I have an extremely supportive husband and children, a supportive and talented team and I work alongside outstanding colleagues who I admire and respect. My husband and I work well together, complementing each other’s differences, so it’s kind of like having one CEO with a 24-hour daily output.
What do you most enjoy about the work that you do each day?
I simply love my Industry and can clearly see where I fit in it which means every day has real purpose.My focus is what White’s IGA delivers but my mission is to help build the strength of the broader Network and each stakeholder within it. I passionately believe the Independent sector contributes to the betterment of its environment delivering diversity and choice to consumers, enabling a dynamic local economy, building vibrant communities and providing a launch pad for new market entrants.
Why is volunteering and assisting others so important?
My belief in this is very simple, I do it because I can. So why not? It’s just a good thing to do. Volunteering is enriching; friendships develop, relationships build and teams flourish.Volunteering is powerful; It can unite a community and bring you to tears. It is grounding and heart-warming.
What causes are you passionate about and why?
My most enduring passion is to support a community to flourish. I am a full believer in giving back, shopping locally, supporting boutique traders, artisan providers and family owned enterprise which is why I created the White’s IGA unique locavore program that supports local farmers, producers, suppliers, service providers and local families. I am certainly not anti-big business, because they also contribute enormously in their own way, but I am unashamedly pro-small business.
I have enjoyed supporting people with disabilities through volunteering and fundraising for 9 years as one of my primary causes however I have been supporting charities for many years from running fundraising events in support of The Leukaemia Foundation to various other organisations in our community and beyond.
And what’s next on the agenda for Roz White?
I have a few aspirations rolling around in the back of my mind but right now I am completely focused on delivering some imminent projects we have been working on for a while.We are about to complete the redevelopment of our Mt Coolum store, launch Building One & Two of the Bli Bli Village Town Centre and bring a brand new 2000m2 supermarket to life in the Aura community.The Baringa store has been 2 years in planning, design and construction. It’s about to intensify over the coming months pulling it all together and on boarding around 100 Sunshine Coast local people to the White’s IGA family.
Favourite movie?
There is one thing I don’t find a lot of time to do is watch movies however we did see Bohemian Rhapsody recently and I even stayed awake. It was awesome!
Where is the best place that you have travelled to and why?
We haven’t managed to do a lot of travel apart from attending short international study trips and some dance tours with our daughter. However, I would love to discover Europe. Its history intrigues me and I love its culture. I can’t wait to immerse myself in that.
What do you love most about your job?
The people and relationships developed.Every aspect of what I do involves people; our team, industry colleagues, fellow retailers, customers, community stakeholders and leaders and my family.
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