Amcar receives World Business Award
Stabroek News
June 9, 2004
A French company here which employs mostly Amerindians in its heart of palm and pineapple processing business yesterday received an international business award for poverty reduction and development stimulation.
Amazon Caribbean Ltd (Amcar) was one of ten companies to receive World Business Awards yesterday in Marrakesh, Morocco.
According to a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) release, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) presented the awards in association with the UNDP and the Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF).
Amcar has operated in Guyana since 1988 and its factories for heart of palm canning and pineapple-processing are located in two of the most remote regions of the country. Amcar employs mostly Amerindians and indirectly supports more than 700 families living along the Barima, Waini and Kumaka rivers, where boats and aircraft are the only means of transport and communication. Such employment often constitutes the only stable and monetary income for the Amerindians.
The pineapple and palm heart plantations are owned by Amerindians who sell their products, which are certified organic, directly to Amcar. The only residues produced by the factories are the outer peelings that are eventually converted into humus for recycling to the plantations.
The other nine awardees were Honey Care Africa, which is involved in commercial beekeeping for poverty alleviation in Kenya, East Africa; George Fischer Bicentenary Foundation - clean water project for community benefits; De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited - De Beers HIV/AIDS programme (Southern Africa); ITC Limited, India - ITC eChoupal, Information Technology Centres; Federcasse (Italian Cooperative Credit Banks Association) - Microfinance in Ecuador; Hewlett-Packard Company - Mogalakwena HP i- community; Glaxo-SmithKline - PHASE - Personal Hygiene and Sanitation Education; Proctor & Gamble - PuR - purifier of water; and Suez Environment - water for all programme.
The release said an independent judging panel drawn from business, labour, research and academic organisations, environmental groups and the United Nations selected the projects.
The World Business Awards supports the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and are the first worldwide business awards to recognise the significant role business can play in the implementation of the UN's targets for reducing poverty around the world by 2015.
World leaders at the UN Millennium Summit established the MDGs in September 2000. They consist of eight primary goals including universal primary education; promotion of gender equality, and the eradication of extreme hunger; improved maternal health; environmental sustainability; a global partnership for development and the reduction of child mortality.
The challenge for business was to translate these goals into practical, local projects with real impact.
The ten awardees were selected from 64 nominations in 27 countries. They were seen as outstanding examples of the many businesses around the world, which are making a significant contribution to reducing poverty.
The UNDP said that by deploying the innovative and productive skills of enterprises and entrepreneurs, all the projects featured are striving to address the development challenge, whether through their core business activities, philanthropy, or advocacy work.