Heifer’s Corporate Partners Convene for Local Summit

Heifer International will host its first corporate partnership conference today and tomorrow, at Heifer Village in downtown Little Rock. The summit, referred to as “Beyond the Bottom Line: Creating Shared Value Through Partnership,” will discuss the opportunities in public and private collaborations with a focus on values-based development and market-driven development. Visiting corporate partners include Elanco Animal Health, Danone Ecosystem, Garnet Hill and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters.

Participants of Heifer International-Green Mountain Coffee partnership

Participants of Heifer Honduras project in partnership with Green Mountain Coffee Roasters. Photo by Russell Powell, courtesy of Heifer International.

“Everyone attending this summit has the shared belief that truly sustainable development requires collaboration across all sectors,” said Pierre Ferrari, Heifer International’s President and CEO. “We need to develop real solutions and concrete actions to achieve our collective goal of ZERO hunger, ZERO poverty, and ZERO ecological damage.”

The keynote speaker is John Elkington, a respected thought leader in corporate sustainability and the founding partner & executive chairman of the Volans, a future-focused business working at the intersection of the sustainability, innovation and entrepreneurship movements. Elkington is also a visiting professor at the Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility at the Cranfield School of Management and UCL Energy Institute.

Topics for the conference include discussion on emerging trends and best practices in sustainable development, value chain collaboration, corporate philanthropy, cause-related marketing, employee engagement and impact measurement.

Heifer Village Hosts Special Visitors

Yesterday Heifer Village hosted a session of “Experience America,” a State Department program designed to introduce members of the Diplomatic Corps and their spouses to U.S. cities to cultivate relationships and promote partnership opportunities. The spouses arrived at Heifer Village and were greeted by Heifer International President and CEO, Pierre Ferrari along with some friends of the animal variety from nearby Heifer Ranch.

Heifer Village Hosts Foreign Ambassadors

Photo courtesy of Heifer International

Heifer Village Hosts Foreign Ambassadors

Photo courtesy of Heifer International

The more than 40 attendees listened to Ferrari’s overview of Heifer’s project work, then the group self-selected to learn more about projects organized by area programs –  Central and Eastern EuropeAsia/South PacificAfrica, and the Americas.

In addition to Heifer Village, the group visited the Clinton Presidential Center, the Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock Central High School and the Governor’s mansion. The group’s two-day visit also includes a trip to Fayetteville to tour the University of Arkansas’ facilities, explore Crystal Bridges Museum of Art and meet with local and regional business representatives.

According to the State Department website:

In bringing these distinguished diplomats to “The Natural State,” the Office of the Chief of Protocol seeks to strengthen America’s relationships with countries around the world by planting the seeds for new international partnerships and providing our visitors with a deeper understanding of our nation’s people and heritage.

Experience America is organized by the Diplomatic Partnerships Division of the Office of the Chief of Protocol, whose mission is to foster international goodwill and cultivate relationships between the Diplomatic Corps and the people and institutions of the United States through an exchange of ideas, cultures, and traditions. This is the eleventh Experience America trip since 2007, and previous destinations include Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, as well as multiple cities in Alaska, California, Florida, Texas, and Wyoming. Since 2009, ambassadors from more than 100 countries have participated in Experience America trips.

While their time at Heifer Village was brief — only about 60 mins — we were honored to host this very special group of international visitors to educate them about Heifer’s work and the great city of Little Rock.