Peregrine Corporation, owner of OTR convenience stores, has won South Australia’s 2016 Governor’s Multicultural Award for a private-sector company.
The SA family company formed in 1984 when the late Fathi (Fred) Shahin – a Palestinian migrant – moved his family to Adelaide, and has grown to become one of the state’s largest private employers, with more than 3,300 staff.
The award recognised Peregrine for creating and maintaining a truly diverse and multicultural South Australian private sector organisation.
OTR Chief Operating Officer Peter Piliouras says the group is humbled and thrilled by the award.
“Our team members boast a society of people from richly diverse cultural, ethnic, linguistic and religious backgrounds,” he said. “We believe in giving everyone a fair go, irrespective of age, cultural background, gender or religious belief.
“A great example is our talented Training and Recruitment Manager, Rosemary Pesch, who is proudly of indigenous descent. She is responsible for training and recruiting the OTR team members who serve South Australians every day.”
Mr Piliouras says the award continues on from the work of Charlie Shahin, son of Fred Shahin, who was recently made an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to business and commerce, to philanthropy as an advocate for corporate social responsibility, and to the multicultural community.
“Our commitment to the South Australian community is to continue to lead the way when it comes being a diverse, multicultural and non-discriminatory employer,” Mr Pilouris said. “We’re excited about 2017 and our plans to invest $60 million into projects creating 400 jobs for South Australians.”
Peregrine has more than 25 different nationalities among its employees, with one in 10 aged over 50.
