Farmers to get $10 million

KARACHI: Unilever, Acumen and the Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership, an initiative of the Clinton Foundation, have jointly launched a Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Commitment to Action called the Enhanced Livelihoods Investment Initiative (ELII) to improve the livelihood around 300,000 smallholder farmers in Africa, South Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
Former US President Bill Clinton and Frank Giustra, Co-Founders of the Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership, Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever, Jacqueline Novogratz, Founder and CEO of Acumen, announced the collaboration on a panel at the Clinton Global Initiative’s 2015 Winter Meeting in New York City.
The ELII will be a three-year, minimum $10 million investment initiative to catalyze economic growth and alleviate poverty among low-income communities in the developing world, while creating sustainable value chain.
One of the primary goals of the partnership will be to create and scale-up privately-held enterprises which will support smallholder farmers and link them to Unilever’s global supply chains and distribution networks.