SINGAPORE — Olam and its employees have raised S$1,274,340 for The Courage Fund in Singapore.

More than 200 employees came together to donate S$637,170, which was matched by Olam. The funds provide relief for those affected by the COVID-19 crisis, particularly patients, health care, frontline workers, and vulnerable Singaporeans.

“At this time, safeguarding and supporting our employees is our first priority,” said Sunny Verghese, co-founder and chief executive officer of Olam. “I am always extremely grateful for our employees’ commitment, but especially during this challenging period. I am proud that our employees have come together to spearhead and join the company in contributing to support communities affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.”

Additionally, Olam is providing information and advice on COVID-19 to farmers through its online platforms, supporting mobile payments to farmers, and providing food packages to frontline workers. Through its infrastructure and logistics business, ARISE, Olam has sourced and distributed medical and health care equipment, including 50 ventilators, 24 thermal cameras, 10,000 electronic thermometers, 500,000 gloves, 230,000 disinfectant gels and 7 million masks, to communities in Africa.

The company as a whole is working to keep its processing facilities operational, where local regulations allow, and it is maintaining its business operations to service customers’ needs.

“As a major food ingredients player, we are now more focused than ever on ensuring we keep food arriving at people’s tables by securing our global multi-origin supply chains and operations,” Verghese said. “We are taking every effort to support our smallholder farmers, communities, customers and consumers during these challenging times and safeguard their safety, well-being and livelihoods.”

Over the past several weeks Olam has taken action to suspend all travel, implement additional health and safety precautions across its locations worldwide, as well as introduce new working protocols, such as working from home and staggered shift rotations at its processing facilities, to support social distancing.

“Olam stands committed in our fight against COVID-19 and will continue to work closely with our stakeholders and communities,” Verghese said. “Our deepest thanks go out to the medical and health care professionals and other frontline workers around the world for their tireless efforts in this fight.”

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