NEWPORT BEACH, California, U.S. – The PIMCO Foundation, the philanthropic arm of global investment management firm PIMCO, has again partnered with TechnoServe to send four volunteers from PIMCO to work alongside coffee farmers to help build sustainable small businesses.
The project is part of PIMCO’s Emerging Enterprise Program (EEP), launched in 2011 in conjunction with TechnoServe, an international NGO that promotes business solutions to reduce poverty. The EEP’s primary aim is to encourage entrepreneurship and create opportunity in developed countries.
The PIMCO Foundation and TechnoServe support the development of the specialty coffee and cocoa value chains, working together to bring economic growth and prosperity to entrepreneurial men and women in Latin America.
Since the partnership began, and with an investment of over $3.5 million from PIMCO, more than 21,100 smallholder farmers and 700 small and growing businesses have generated over $20 million in incremental sales, which has helped create 531 new jobs.
“The EEP provides a vehicle for high performing, high potential PIMCO employees to become directly involved in TechnoServe’s mission,” said Sarah Middleton, Executive Director, PIMCO Foundation.
“It’s a unique professional development opportunity for the participants as well, as they are immersed in a different culture for two months, helping provide sustainable support to local farmers and entrepreneurs.”
PIMCO’s Emerging Enterprise Program participants are spending eight weeks conducting interviews, working with financial specialists, and partnering with microfinance institutions, all the while helping further TechnoServe’s work in Peru and Nicaragua.
In addition to the EEP, PIMCO has joined a unique tri-sector partnership called the Global Health Corporate Champions (GHCC). The GHCC, a USAID initiative, implemented by the Public Health Institute, with support from PYXERA Global, addresses immediate and emerging human capital needs in the global health sphere.
Three PIMCO professionals joined employees from The Dow Chemical Company and PricewaterhouseCoopers to form a multi-company, multi-disciplinary pro bono team. With expertise in management, operations, and finance, the GHCC provided strategic and consultative support to three social sector health organizations in Accra, Ghana.
“During our four weeks in-country, we learned a lot from our Ghanaian friends and coworkers, professionally as well as personally,” said GHCC’s volunteer, Marta Bezoari, SVP, Account Manager.
“We experienced a business culture where relationships come first and the task comes second. Ultimately, our team wanted to leave in place a long-term, feasible solution to help tackle the issue of financial sustainability for our host client, a network of 291 hospitals and clinics across Ghana.”
