Olam shares 5 commitments

ON its silver anniversary celebration, agri-business company, Olam International revealed its five commitments designed to help overcome some of the challenges in emerging markets, including food security, access to water, energy security, the effects of climate change, sustainable and inclusive growth, and good governance.

“As we celebrate Olam’s 25th year and its journey from a single-product, single-country company to a global agri-business, we reflect on our vision of transcending boundaries – the meaning of Olam – and consider how we will continue to evolve over the next 25 years,” said Sunny Verghese, Olam’s Group managing director and CEO.

“The five commitments announced today (26 November) go beyond the commercial framework of our business, recognising the role the private sector has to play in helping to holistically address key global challenges. We hope that our efforts will complement and strengthen those of others as we work together towards an enduring and sustainable collective future,” he said.

1. The Olam Prize for Innovation in Food Security

The Olam Prize for Innovation in Food Security will recognise an outstanding scientific innovation for its potential impact on the availability, affordability, accessibility or adequacy of food, as well as support research to further its development. Olam, together with the international scientific organization, Agropolis Fondation launched the prize in September 2014.

The winner will receive US$50,000. Entries close on December 4, 2014, with the winner to be announced in March 2015 at the 3rd Global Science Conference on Climate Smart Agriculture in Montpellier, France.

2. The Olam Scholarship Programme

The Olam Scholarship programme hopes to foster leadership and governance in the emerging markets. It will award up to 10 scholarships each year to postgraduate students wishing to complete further study in development economics, business management, and public policy and administration, and who are passionate about working in emerging markets.

3. The Olam Foundation

Operating at farmgate, Olam has become familiar with the key drivers that can improve rural livelihoods. Through the Olam Foundation, it will support these developmental issues beyond the day-to-day commercial framework of our business. With an initial corpus of US$3.0 million, it will focus on applications for projects in select developmental sectors in the targeted countries.

4. Building Sustainable Futures Forum

Olam will convene the Building Sustainable Futures Forum, a platform where the rising resource constraints threatening continued global development can be debated and solved in a holistic way.

The Forum, to be held in the second half of 2015, will bring together leaders from different industries across the private sector, NGOs, governments and academics to focus on key developmental issues, including food security, water security, energy security, climate change, sustainable growth and inclusive growth.

The aim is to break down silos and find sustainable solutions to these interlinked yet complex and intractable issues.

5. Donations to four Singapore charities

Singapore has been home to Olam for 18 of its 25 years. In recognition of the support shown by the Singaporean community, the company is awarding four individual donations of S$100,000 to four local charities: CDAC (Chinese Development Assistance Council); Yayasan MENDAKI (Council for the Development of Singapore Malay/Muslim Community); SINDA (Singapore India Development Association); and Community Chest.