Dole Sunshine Company 
is partnering the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) for its new corporate venture, Dole Specialty Ingredients (DSI). This new venture will focus on sourcing and transforming fruit side streams and unutilised fruit parts by repurposing them into high-value natural products like enzymes, extracts, seed oils and fibres. As a corporate venture, DSI will receive a boost by leveraging Dole Sunshine Company's backward-integrated supply chain. DSI will be led by Managing Director Weitze Ooi.
Over 20 per cent of fruits and vegetables produced globally are lost in the supply chain before they reach consumers. DSI was set up by DSC to reduce fruit losses at its source, by transforming such side-streams into specialty ingredients that can be used in the nutraceutical, pharmaceutical, cosmeceutical, food & beverages and other industries.
"We will transform all fruit losses and unutilised fruit side-streams into high-value, natural products for highly profitable, less volatile product categories through innovation. This way, fruit losses are upcycled instead of being left behind or sent to landfills. Singapore, being Dole Sunshine Company's global headquarters, could not be a better place to anchor our new Speciality Ingredients business, and we are privileged to have EDB's support as well as the partnership with A*STAR, on this journey" said Pier Luigi Sigismondi, President, Food and Beverages Group, Dole Sunshine Company.
EDB New Ventures, the corporate venture building arm of EDB, is co-investing in DSI alongside DSC. The investment will co-share the risks undertaken by DSC to enter into new growth areas beyond its core business. In addition to the investment, a full-time venture building team from EDB New Ventures was dedicated to co-build the venture for two months alongside DSC.
Choo Heng Tong, Executive Vice President, New Ventures and Innovation, EDB: "We are pleased to partner with Dole Specialty Ingredients, which will leverage the supply chain advantages that Dole Sunshine Company brings to capture the market opportunity for sustainably-sourced natural ingredients with distinct functionalities. We will continue working with DSI to tap on Singapore's industry and R&D ecosystem, as well as our connectivity to the region, to support Dole Sunshine Company's efforts to build an entirely new business from Singapore."
The Dole Promise
In June 2020, Dole Asia Holdings announced the Dole Promise, with its three pillars around nutrition, sustainability and the creation of shared value.
- Better for People: Access to sustainable nutrition for 1 billion people by 2025, moving towards zero processed sugar in all Dole products by 2025.
- Better for Planet: Zero fruit loss from Dole farms to markets by 2025, zero fossil-based plastic packaging by 2025, net zero carbon emissions in Dole operations by 2030.
- Better for all Stakeholders: Dole will continue to positively impact all farmers, communities and people working for Dole.
For more information: Dolesunshine.com