Communities

We support programs and projects that enable us to make a distinct contribution to the community. We look to engage Sucden employees and leverage their expertise, to create opportunities for collaboration with our clients and other strategic partners and, most importantly, to solve problems rather than simply treat symptoms.

Ensuring a positive impact

With premises in about 25 countries and employees traveling to many more, our reputation is based on how we interact with local communities. We work with local producers, employ local people, pay our local and national taxes, and supply food ingredients to consumers around the world. So, we are very aware of the impact we can have, and always aim to ensure it is a positive one, especially by making the most of our employees’ local knowledge. They are often introduced to local concerns and voluntarily interact with local communities and contribute to solving issues.

Sucden and its corporate Foundation support this process and donate approximately $US 2 million annually to organizations that fall within the company’s philanthropic focus areas of education, nutrition and health, livelihood and environment. Our involvement and support are conducted based on the below three priorities.

Leveraging employees’ initiatives

Our employees are our greatest assets, and we encourage and support their personal involvement in projects with strong social impact. They can apply for funding from the Sucden Foundation for projects they are involved in. One such example led the Sucden Foundation to follow an employee’s initiative and finance, through Children of the Mekong, food and essential products distribution for children and families in Southeastern Asia.

Generating positive local impact

In addition to personal action, we encourage our employees to identify initiatives we can participate in to improve the lives of local communities or the environment. For example, we have substantially contributed to the Child Learning and Education Facility (CLEF) and Early Learning and Nutrition Facility (ELAN) initiatives of the Jacobs Foundation in Côte d’Ivoire, donating US Dollars 500,000 over five years (2021-2025). The former is providing five million children with access to quality education while the latter will provide services and training about early childhood development and nutrition to the families of 1.3 million children.

Another example is our work with the local Forestry College in Karnataka, India. Within this initiative, they train coffee smallholder coffee farmers in adapting their environment through planting shade trees to improve soil conservation, diversify the landscape, and generate additional long-term income.

Supporting universal causes

We also provide support to other causes we believe in as a company. The Sucden Foundation has for example supported initiatives over recent years to fight against HIV / AIDS and help to distribute medical treatment to infected persons.