There are approximately 500 million smallholder farms around the globe. The majority of these farmers are living in poverty, barely making enough to scrape by. For companies operating in the food/beverage and related sectors, sourcing from these farmers presents tremendous growth opportunities, but only if they can overcome the challenges of adapting business models and innovating supply chains.
As businesses grapple with the complexity of the agriculture sector, business schools play an important role in understanding these new models and disseminating best practices through teaching, research, and publications.
The symposium will focus on how companies can successfully integrate smallholder farmers at the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) in their supply chains. What strategies are used? Which partners do they work with? How do they overcome infrastructure and technological challenges? How can they ensure industry production standards? How can integration positively contribute to global food security? What role do business schools play in developing new approaches to inclusive business? How can management education in agriculture improve the competitiveness of smallholder farmers?
Join us on September 21 from 6:00 pm - 7:30 at Columbia Business School and online for an engaging discussion on "Unleashing Potential: Agribusiness and the Smallholder Farmer." A reception will follow the event.
Click here to RSVP to join us in New York or on the online webcast!
Featuring:
Marika McCauley Sine, International Public Affairs Director, The Coca-Cola Company
Marika McCauley Sine is International Public Affairs Director at The Coca-Cola Company, based in Atlanta. She focuses on programs, engagements and partnerships related to the Company's economic and social footprint in emerging markets and on fostering economic empowerment throughout the global Coca-Cola value chain.
Marika plays a leading role in 5 BY 20, the Company’s global initiative to empower 5 million women in its global business system by 2020. She has also pioneered major partnerships to economically empower more than 90,000 small farmers producing fruits for Coca-Cola’s juices with partners such as the Gates Foundation and USAID in Haiti, Uganda and Kenya.
Marika is a graduate of Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Prior to joining Coca-Cola, she worked in the non-profit sector. Marika hails from Hawaii and has lived in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia.
Ted London, Senior Research Fellow and Director of the Base of the Pyramid Initiative, Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan
Ted London is a Senior Research Fellow at the William Davidson Institute and a member of the faculty at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. An internationally recognized expert on the intersection of business strategy and poverty alleviation, London focuses his research on designing enterprise strategies and poverty-alleviation approached for low-income markets, developing capabilities for new market entry, building cross-sector collaborations, and assessing the poverty-reduction outcomes of business ventures.
His numerous articles, chapters, reports and teaching cases emphasize creating new knowledge with actionable implications. His 2009 article in the Harvard Business Review, “Making Better Investments at the Base of the Pyramid,” has helped launch a new perspective on working with the world’s poor to enhance mutual value creation. His 2011 book with Stuart Hart, “Next Generation Business Strategies for the Base of the Pyramid,” provides fresh insights on building scalable, profitable ventures that can truly help alleviate poverty.
Over the past two decades, London has also directed or advised dozens of leadership teams in the corporate, non-profit, and development sectors on designing and implementing on-the-ground business strategies in low-income markets. He serves on the advisory boards for a variety of organizations and worked with dozens of partners including Acumen Fund, Aspen Institute, CARE, CEMEX, Coca-Cola, Department for International Development (DFID), DuPont, GE Healthcare, Gates Foundation, International Finance Corporation (IFC), Microsoft, Pfizer, SC Johnson, Unilever, UNDP, and USAID. In addition, London continues to share his latest thinking as a keynote speaker in venues around the world.
Before coming to the University of Michigan, London served on the faculty at the University of North Carolina, where he also received his Ph.D. in strategic management. Prior to that, he held senior management positions in private, non-profit, and development sectors on three continents.
Naty Barak, Chief Sustainability Officer, Netafim
Naty Barak is the Chief Sustainability Officer of Netafim, A pioneer and the world-leading provider of Drip Irrigation solutions.
Netafim is the largest player in the global irrigation industry. With 14 manufacturing facilities in 11 countries, 30 subsidiaries, and a strong global distribution network across 110-plus countries, Netafim combines comprehensive in-house agro-knowledge with professional engineering expertise.
Mr. Barak has been with Netafim since 1975. Previous to his present position he was Director of Marketing, Executive VP of Netafim USA, President of Netafim South Africa, Treasurer and more.
Mr. Barak studied International Relations and Political Sciences at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and is a graduate of the Executive Management Program at the Recanaty Business School, Tel Aviv University.
Mr. Barak is a member of Kibbutz Hatzerim in the southern Israeli Negev desert. He serves on the Kibbutz board of directors, the kibbutz management committee and the kibbutz economic committee.
Moderated by:
Murray B. Low, Murray B. Low, Director, The Eugene Lang Entrepreneurship Center, Columbia Business School
Professor Low is an experienced entrepreneur and a leading authority on entrepreneurship in independent, corporate and notfor- profit settings. As the founder of the Columbia Entrepreneurship Program, he has worked to make entrepreneurship a viable career option for MBA graduates. He has also worked to improve business education in developing countries, particularly in Africa. Low consults to both small and large companies, family businesses and not-for-profits. He teaches executive seminars in the areas of entrepreneurship and strategic management and makes frequent presentations to academic and industry groups. He has published widely in academic and practitioner journals and is a regular commentator in the media.
Event Details
Time: September 21, 2011, 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm EST
Location: Columbia Business School, 3022 Broadway, Uris Hall Room 301, New York, NY. Click here for directions
Brought to you by Global Business School Network, Columbia Business School, and Business Call to Action
Additional support provided by:
