Washington, DC, October 28, 2021— Helping emerging market suppliers play a larger role in meeting global climate and sustainability goals, IFC today announced a partnership with world-leading chocolate and cocoa manufacturer Barry Callebaut to provide the company's suppliers with rewards for improving the social and environmental sustainability of their business practices. Initially launched among sugar suppliers in Mexico, the initiative will later expand to other countries and cover suppliers of a wider range of ingredients used in Barry Callebaut products.
Barry Callebaut's suppliers in Mexico will be eligible for discounted rates on short-term working capital financing for meeting the company's sustainability standards related to labor, health, safety, and environmental performance. The higher the suppliers' performance levels, the more they will save.
Oliver von Hagen, Director of Sustainability Global Ingredients at Barry Callebaut, said: "Thanks to the IFC's innovative supply chain finance program we can incentivize suppliers to meet sustainability standards. This strengthens our relationship with suppliers and helps us to achieve our ambitious Forever Chocolate goals."
IFC and Barry Callebaut launched this initiative in partnership with Demica, a fintech company that provides working capital solutions, including a broad range of payables and receivables finance products. An IFC-investee company, Demica's unique platform architecture automates the processing and reporting involved in payables and receivables financing transactions and allows participants to interact using real-time information.
"We look forward to supporting Barry Callebaut in its ambitious sustainability goals", said Tomasz Telma, IFC's Senior Director of Manufacturing, Agribusiness and Services. "This partnership builds upon IFC's efforts to encourage emerging market suppliers to improve social and environmental sustainability, while achieving strong financial results."
The partnership is part of IFC's Global Trade Supplier Finance (GTSF) program, a $500 million multicurrency investment and advisory program established in 2010. GTSF provides short-term financing to small- and medium-sized suppliers in emerging markets selling to large domestic buyers or exporting to international buyers, by discounting invoices once they are approved by the buyer. The financing rates can be linked to sustainability measures to minimize impacts on the environment and to promote climate-resilient agriculture practices.
About IFC
IFC—a member of the World Bank Group—is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. We work in more than 100 countries, using our capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities in developing countries. In fiscal year 2021, IFC committed a record $31.5 billion to private companies and financial institutions in developing countries, leveraging the power of the private sector to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity as economies grapple with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. For more information, visit www.ifc.org.
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About Barry Callebaut:
The Zurich-based Barry Callebaut Group is the world's leading manufacturer of high-quality chocolate and cocoa products – from sourcing and processing cocoa beans to producing the finest chocolates, including chocolate fillings, decorations and compounds. The Group runs more than 60 production facilities worldwide and employs a diverse and dedicated global workforce of more than 12,000 people. With its Forever Chocolate plan, the Barry Callebaut Group is committed to make sustainable chocolate the norm by 2025, to help ensure future supplies of cocoa and improve farmer livelihoods.
About Demica
Demica is an award-winning fintech providing working capital solutions to medium to large corporates and banks with a broad range of payables and receivables finance products. The company focuses on multinational clients all over the world, across industries and sectors. Growing at 40 percent per year, today Demica's platform manages working capital programs for over 400 corporates with total funded programs of over $20 billion.
