We aim to become a Global Tea Company by creating value, specifically mental and physical health, the health of society, and the health of the planet, as a Health Creation Company. President and Executive Officer

Pursuing Value Creation as a Health Creation Company

The ITO EN Group's mission is to become a Health Creation Company. Through our unique value chain developed through tea, our ingredient-based products, and our business integrity, we intend to create health value. Our definition of a Health Creation Company is much wider, and we aim to realize healthy and fulfilling lifestyles for customers and a sustainable society through the creation of three types of health value: mental and physical health, the health of society, and the health of the planet. 

The ITO EN Group has established three key pillars for our initiatives in our quest to achieve our long-term vision of becoming a Global Tea Company — Unique, Value Creation and Global.  The ITO EN Group's uniqueness will lead to value creation, contributing to taste and helping solve social and environmental issues, and will also lead to the starting point of global initiatives that will support the healthy and fulfilling lifestyles of people around the world.  During the FY2023 (the fiscal year ending April 30, 2024), the second year of the medium- to long-term management plan period, we are entering the second of three stages towards becoming a Global Tea Company. In this stage, we will develop Oi Ocha into a global brand. We will accelerate our progress in the above three pillars towards becoming a Global Tea Company, a company that connects to diverse tea cultures around the world and creates new tea markets, at the end of the third stage.

Promotion of Sustainability Management

The ITO EN Group sets the promotion of sustainability management as one of its key strategies in its medium- to long-term management plan. To fulfill its long-term vision of becoming a Global Tea Company, the Group is advancing its initiatives to address seven material sustainability issues (Contribution to Dietary Habits and Health, Contribution to Sustainable Domestic Agriculture, The Environment, Deepening Ties with Local Communities and Society, Contribution to a Sustainable Supply Chain, Promotion of Diverse Human Assets and Active Roles for all, and Corporate Governance) that are incorporated into its management strategies. The Group is interlocking these seven material issues with its medium- to long-term management plan.

Initiatives to Strengthen Corporate Governance

ITO EN transitioned to a company with an Audit and Supervisory Committee in FY4/2024. By strengthening the supervisory function of the Board of Directors and ensuring the soundness, efficiency and transparency of management, we will seek to strengthen corporate governance, and by adopting a system that allows the delegation of important decisions on business execution to executive directors, we will seek to speed up decision-making and business execution.

In recent years, there is an increasing number of issues that need to be addressed in areas such as energy and the balancing of sustainability, including climate change, and economic growth, and neither individuals nor companies will be able to grow if they are bound by existing organizational frameworks and ways of thinking. I came up with the Team “ITO EN Group” approach which involves addressing such problems beyond organizational boundaries and I also established the Group Business Management Department in FY4/2024 and put in place a system whereby the officers of group companies attend meetings of the DX Promotion Committee and the Sustainability Promotion Committee. In addition, I established the positions of CSO and CHRO, aiming to further promote theme-based cross-organizational management.

I would like all our shareholders and investors to continue being ITO EN shareholders for many years and to accompany us on our journey towards a new phase of growth. To this end, we will lay and further strengthen the business and management foundations for sustainable growth. I am determined to keep pressing on, with renewed resolve.

For the Sustainable Growth of the Team “ITO EN Group”

I imagine that many people associate ITO EN with the color green and the green-colored packaging of the Oi Ocha brand and the vivid, fresh green of this Oi Ocha packaging and green tea also brings to mind sustainability, including the environment. With the sustainability of society and the environment attracting worldwide attention, we will spread Oi Ocha throughout the world, with the aim of realizing our long-term vision of becoming a Global Tea Company further down the line.

The ITO EN Group currently consists of 43 companies located all over the world. Although the difficulties faced during the COVID-19 pandemic are behind us, the external environment remains challenging. However, we will continue being a company that all our employees are glad to be working for and a company that our customers can trust, and we will make steady progress towards achieving sustainable growth as Team “ITO EN Group.”