Jollibee Group bags Tambuli Award for Inclusive Growth for its Farmer Entrep Program

“Buying directly from farmers allows us to support the local agriculture sector, while promoting sustainable business practices. As we celebrate more milestones, we vow to extend our successes and gains to more communities that would need our help the most. We are grateful for being recognized the first recipient of Tambuli Award’s Inclusive Growth citation. We share this recognition with our dedicated partners nationwide who work relentlessly to empower smallholder farmers.” ~Pepot Miñana,  Jollibee Group Chief Sustainability and Public Affairs Officer

Through the Farmer Entrepreneurship Program, Jollibee Group Foundation has trained over 3,000 farmers since 2008 and helped hundreds of farmers to form clusters that can collectively meet the volume and quality requirements of big buyers, including the Jollibee Group. The program brings together a comprehensive suite of interventions to sharpen farmers’ technical skills and business acumen and link them with institutional markets.

Now on its 16th edition, the APAC Tambuli Awards annually recognizes campaigns on effective brand purpose across the globe. Organized by the University of Asia and the Pacific’s School of Communication, the awards introduced the corporate purpose categories this year. Under Corporate Purpose, the Inclusive Growth category recognizes a brand “providing the means and opportunities for the marginalized sectors in society to be part of the company’s success in a sustainable way.”

The Jollibee Group was recently recognized by the Asia Pacific (APAC) Tambuli Awards 2022 for promoting Inclusive Growth through its Farmer Entrepreneurship Program. The program engages multi-sectoral partners to train and enable small farmers to become entrepreneurs to improve their livelihood.

Jollibee Group sources about 15% to 20% of its vegetable requirements from Farmer Entrepreneurship Program farmers, giving them a stable market for their produce and emboldening them to dream of better lives.

Farmer Entrepreneurship Program is the flagship program of Jollibee Group Foundation, the company’s social development arm. Under the program, farmers are taught and mentored on the eight-step agro-enterprise clustering approach, which helps farmers to collectively meet the volume and quality requirements of big buyers and market their produce. 

To date, JGF as has trained over 3,000 farmers since 2008 and helped develop 17 farmer groups composed of hundreds of farmers to become accredited suppliers of the Jollibee Group. Since 2009, these farmer groups have delivered about 9,000 tons of vegetables to the company equivalent to more than USD7 million worth of sales revenue for the small farmers.

Jollibee Group was recently conferred with an APAC Tambuli Award promoting inclusive growth through its Farmer Entrepreneurship Program.

The Foundation implements the program in coordination with several units within the Jollibee Group and forms partnerships with different like-minded institutions to provide various interventions that help farmer become agro-entrepreneurs who can supply different markets. The program currently works with 54 partner organizations, including farmer groups, local government units, non-government organizations, financing institutions, academic institutions, agriculture service providers, and the Department of Agriculture. As a result, smallholder farmers earn higher income, which empowers their capacity to provide food for their own families.

To learn more about Jollibee Group, visit www.jollibeegroup.com.

About Jollibee Group 

Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC, also known as Jollibee Group) is one of the fastest-growing restaurant companies in the world. It operates in 34 countries, with over 6,200 stores globally with branches in the Philippines, United States, Canada, the People's Republic of China, United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Vietnam, Brunei, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Indonesia, Costa Rica, Egypt, Panama, Malaysia, South Korea, India, and Australia. 

Jollibee Group has eight wholly owned brands (Jollibee, Chowking, Greenwich, Red Ribbon, Mang Inasal, Yonghe King, Hong Zhuang Yuan, Smashburger); six franchised brands (Burger King, Panda Express, PHO24, and Yoshinoya in the Philippines; Dunkin' and Tim Ho Wan in certain territories in China); 80% ownership of The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf; 60% ownership in the SuperFoods Group that owns Highlands Coffee and PHO24; and 51% ownership of Milksha, a popular Taiwanese bubble tea brand. 

Jollibee Group, through its subsidiary Jollibee Worldwide Pte. Ltd. (JWPL) owns 90% participating interest in Titan Dining LP, a private equity fund that ultimately owns the Tim Ho Wan brand. It also has a joint venture with the THW Group to open and operate THW restaurants in Mainland China. Jollibee Group also has a business venture with award-winning Chef Rick Bayless for Tortazo, a Mexican fast-casual restaurant business in the United States.

Jollibee Group was named the Philippines' most admired company by the Asian Wall Street Journal for ten years. It was also honored as one of Asia's Fab 50 Companies and among the World's Best Employers and World’s Top Female-Friendly Companies by Forbes. In 2020, Gallup awarded the Jollibee Group with the Exceptional Workplace Award, making it the first Philippine-based company to receive the distinction.

Jollibee Group has grown brands that bring delightful dining experiences to its customers worldwide, thus spreading the joy of eating to everyone.