Whole Foods Market Establishes Foundation to Fight Poverty in Developing Countries
Whole Foods Market (Nasdaq: WFMI), the world’s leading natural and organic foods supermarket, has created the Whole Planet Foundation which will provide micro-loans to women to begin their own businesses in developing countries. Five percent of sales on October 25th from all WFMI’s stores in the U.S., Canada and the UK will go directly to this fund. The Foundation is dedicated to fighting poverty in developing countries where Whole Foods Market trades. “Community involvement has been part of Whole Foods Market’s mission since our first store opened 25 years ago. As we’ve done business around the world, we have increasingly felt the responsibility to help those communities where we’re trading,” said John Mackey, chairman, chief executive officer and co- founder of Whole Foods Market. “Micro-loans are about empowering people to take responsibility for their own lives, to create small businesses and become successful entrepreneurs so that they can lift themselves out of poverty through their own efforts. It’s a very direct way out of poverty, and it has a wonderful track record.” Micro-loans are based on the principle that the poor have skills that remain under-utilized for lack of available credit. Instead of handing out money as charity, the micro-loan […]