Partnerships for Sustainable Businesses
Winrock’s integration of public and private sector priorities has evolved along with our programs. Today, we partner with numerous companies across a wide range of development goals and business objectives including human trafficking, education, environmental sustainability, clean energy, entrepreneurship and agricultural productivity.
Contact: Partnerships@winrock.org
Rooted in more than 65 years of innovative programming, we have decades of successful business collaborations and a rich history of engaging the private sector. We created an entrepreneurial ecosystem in Arkansas, catalyzed a specialty coffee sector in Myanmar and boosted productivity and incomes in Mozambique.
We are proud of our longstanding history of developing market systems that connect farmers and small businesses to viable income-generating opportunities. We see business partnerships as a means to further economic opportunity both in the U.S. and throughout the world, empowering local commerce while enabling global trade.
Throughout the years, Winrock’s integration of public and private sector priorities has evolved along with our programs. Today, we partner with numerous companies across a wide range of development goals and business objectives including human trafficking, education, environmental sustainability, clean energy, entrepreneurship and agricultural productivity. We identify shared-value opportunities that address social and environmental goals while sustaining private sector growth.
Recognizing that the world’s problems are increasingly complex, and that Sustainable Development Goals are best tackled collaboratively, Winrock designs and develops solutions and partnerships that account for the dynamic nature of global issues.
How We Work
Winrock works with partners to determine the best collaboration structure for key project stakeholders. The structure depends on project objectives, funding sources and the breadth of partners involved.
Publicly Funded Opportunities: We co-develop proposals with the private sector for government-funded, international development projects, aligning cross-sector priorities and expertise to drive business success while addressing social and environmental needs.
Industry-Level Engagement: We partner with industry associations and other multi-stakeholder initiatives to develop systemic solutions to industry-wide challenges.
Company-Driven Initiatives: We craft effective solutions to complex issues in partnership with or fully funded by the public sector.
How We Collaborate
We work across sectors to expand local economies, build sustainable supply chains, empower women through entrepreneurship and a wide variety of other objectives.
Agriculture
- Increasing Productivity through Technology: In the rural areas of Mozambique, Winrock worked with Hello Tractor, a U.S. ag-tech company, to provide on-demand farm machinery and services to farmers, improving their productivity and income. In the Philippines, Winrock partnered with East-West Seed Company to educate smallholder farmers on cutting-edge technologies and farming practices.
- Building a Viable Supply Chain: Myanmar’s coffee industry languished for decades due to the country’s economic isolation. Winrock improved Myanmar’s coffee quality while strengthening the sector for export with major buyers like Whole Foods.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
- Nestlé – Winrock is supporting Nestlé’s efforts to decarbonize its global supply chain. This includes strategic guidance to procurement teams and suppliers while also assessing emissions reduction projects across Nestle’s supply chain. Winrock previously facilitated Nestlé’s global procurement of value chain emission reduction and removal projects. Winrock established evaluation criteria, managed the request for proposals and helped Nestlé screen projects for quality and association with Nestlé’s supply chain. Both projects are organized under Nestlé’s Net Zero Roadmap.
- McCormick – Winrock is advising and helping McCormick pilot supply chain emissions reduction initiatives. McCormick previously partnered with Winrock to adapt existing carbon calculator tools for McCormick supply chains, which measure the positive impact of its sustainable sourcing programs on GHG emissions reduction.
- Transforming Carbon Markets: As the world’s first private voluntary greenhouse gas registry, Winrock’s ACR has worked for decades to mobilize climate actions that benefit the world’s most vulnerable populations.
- Measuring Carbon from International Aviation: ACR was approved by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to supply credits for its global airline carbon market.
- Microsoft – Winrock’s nonprofit subsidiary, ACR, advised Microsoft on their removals procurement, including development of the RFP and proposal evaluation framework and the evaluation of proposals submitted for nature-based and engineered removals projects.
Forestry & Natural Resource Management
- Unlocking Financing to Protect Forests: Winrock serves as the secretariat for Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART), an international program designed to attract large-scale financing for countries committed to protecting and restoring forests through REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation).
- Enhancing Cocoa Land Rights and Rehabilitation: Winrock partnered with ECOM and Hershey’s to transform the cocoa sector in Ghana. By helping farmers secure land tenure rights, we empowered them to invest in the future of their farms. And by providing resources and technical assistance to replant these cocoa farms, we boosted incomes, increased agricultural diversity and reduced deforestation.
Labor & Human Rights
- Working to End Human Trafficking: Winrock is working with Mars Petcare to address human trafficking in Thailand’s seafood sector by providing connectivity at sea for fishing vessels, allowing migrant workers to access information and connect with family and friends.
- Reducing Child Labor: In Tanzania, Winrock is teaming up with international brands and local companies to eliminate child labor in agriculture.
Impact Investment & Entrepreneurship
- Supporting Entrepreneurs: Iberia Bank has created a private investment fund for Arkansas graduates of the I-Fund, an early-stage, proof-of-concept accelerator formed to train entrepreneurs throughout Arkansas and the Delta region.
Local Economies
- Expanding Local Economies: The Winrock-implemented Innovate Arkansas program has helped more than 750 startup companies add more than 1,000 jobs in the state while generating $475.5 million in revenue. It’s part of an entrepreneurial ecosystem with partnerships throughout the business cycle.
- Increasing Productivity through Technology: In the rural areas of Mozambique, Winrock worked with Hello Tractor, a U.S. ag-tech company, to provide on-demand farm machinery and services to farmers, improving their productivity and income. In the Philippines, Winrock partnered with East-West Seed Company to educate smallholder farmers on cutting-edge technologies and farming practices.
- Building a Viable Supply Chain: Myanmar’s coffee industry languished for decades due to the country’s economic isolation. Winrock improved Myanmar’s coffee quality while strengthening the sector for export with major buyers like Whole Foods.
Women’s Empowerment
- Empowering Women through Entrepreneurship: Winrock collaborated with ACI, a large Bangladesh-based agribusiness company, to provide Bangladeshi women with the resources and expertise to become agricultural entrepreneurs, helping women gain access to inputs and markets for their products.
- Arkansas Women’s Business Center: Using funds from the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Arkansas Women’s Business Center helps women-owned small businesses start, grow and compete in global markets by providing quality training, counseling and access to capital.
