At Micro Connect, we pave the way for innovation.
Meet Marco&Pineapple, a retail brand selling trendy items at rest stops. Focused on ensuring economic benefits of rest stops are shared with local communities, Marco&Pineapple have hiring policies to employ women from neighboring villages and to provide them with professional training, stable wages, and the ability to share more about their local area with travelers.
With the need to facilitate the transport of goods, travel, and interconnectivity between the country’s thousands of cities and towns, China has developed one of the most complex and longest expressway systems in the world. As
a result, service areas have become an extremely popular shopping and restinglocation for the millions that travel along these expressways.
Marco&Pineapple is a brand that opens specifically at these rest stops. Their customers are an eclectic bunch of
truck drivers, tourists, and travelers. While most rest stop stores focus on serving food and drink, Marco&Pineapple focuses instead on selling trendy products catered towards technology, fashion, and travel.
From the very beginning, Marco&Pineapple has focused its hiring policies on employing women from neighboring towns and villages – women who come from traditional rural jobs such as agriculture, single food stalls, or self-employment. All too often, economic and infrastructure development does not always benefit locals in the rural community, and Marco&Pineapple wanted to ensure the economic benefits of the rest stops they operate in would be rightfully shared with locals. Thanks to Marco&Pineapple’s hiring policies, these women now enjoy the benefits of professional training, stable wages, and even the ability to share more about their local area with rest stop visitors. This is a perfect example of how mutual benefits can be fostered with the correct company initiatives
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