To our stakeholders:

Since June 2020, we have joined the Global Compact Network of the United States of America, committing ourselves to support the Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact regarding Human Rights, Labor Rights, the Environment and Anti-Corruption.

We are a Fin-tech agriculture startup focused on farmers who want to grow their business by offering tools that make their business more predictable, transparent, and fair. Our technology gives farmers access to a commercial market, while our financing platform gives them access to capital. We have raised more than $300 million in funds to help the multi-billion-dollar agriculture industry, collaborating with growers, distributors, and receivers of fresh produce around the world.

Our goal, as ProducePay, has always been to help feed the world sustainably. We are paving the way for long-term sustainable growth; a path that will create a quality-driven risk-return profile and deliver the greatest value to our shareholders, customers, employees, and the rest of our stakeholders.

Consequently, we are pleased to confirm that ProducePay reaffirms its support for the Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact; and we continue working on the implementation of our Sustainability Strategy throughout our daily operations and value chain, as well as in our Business Model and Corporate Culture.

Sincerely,
Ben Dusastre
CFO & President of ProducePay

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer that does not discriminate on the basis of actual or perceived race, religion, creed, color, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, ancestry, marital status, civil union status, medical condition, disability (mental and physical), military and veteran status, pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws and ordinances. This applies to all regions where we have operations. This is being communicated in a culturally appropriate way to all our employees and stakeholders.

Since 2021, we have created an Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Policy that promotes respect for the environment, communities, and fair labor practices that has already been socialized with our investors. Inside our ESG Policy, we mention the following statement:

“Our commitment to the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) is targeted towards developing a value-based ecosystem and a principle driven approach to conducting business. Companies aligned with the UNGC must adapt their operations to meet fundamental responsibilities in areas of Human Rights, labor, environment, and anti-corruption. These four pillars have been further subdivided into ten major principles - drawn from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Rio Declaration and on Environment and Development, and a handful of others.”

As part of our Institutional Strategy, we are committed to incorporate ESG standards promoting economic and social development in Latin America. For us, ProducePay, in the social standard: Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion are important considerations in relation to the way in which farms operate, and by extension - our business operates. Labor Practices have taken center-stage in the corporate landscape for good reason: Companies could uplift developing countries with their far-reaching supply chains. There are increasing holistic benefits for operations which have inclusive and diverse ethics and practices; and we assess the impact a company has on its employees, local communities, and society. The principal areas of consideration are:
- Worker Safety
- Non-discriminatory employment practices
- Ensuring the absence (and ultimate elimination) of child labor or indentured servitude
- Pay practices aimed at social/gender equality (considering the sensitivity of different local ecosystems)
- Welfare programs aimed at upliftment of the local community

Since 2021, we established an external communication channel to understand the main concerns of our customers and the communities surrounding them. Also, with IFC’S support, we developed an Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS) which is in implementation along our operations and our value chain. In addition, we have an internal grievance mechanism through our process, and its objective is to provide a grievance mechanism for our employees to raise workplace concerns. The mechanism addresses concerns promptly, using an understandable and transparent process that provides timely feedback to those concerned, without any retribution. The mechanism also allows for anonymous complaints to be raised and addressed.

Our ProducePay Grower Code of Conduct was designed and is in development and implementation with our supply and value chain. For our employees, we have a process of onboarding where the values of the company are introduced, as well as the mission and vision.

Every month, there is a company review call where one of the values is chosen to promote it among our employees by talking about it and putting it in practice being an example of it. We also have a new initiative where all our employees join an online meeting on Fridays to communicate important news related to the company. As well, there is an online system (Intranet) for our employees, where the value of the month is mentioned.

The internal grievance mechanism is a process conducted by the Human Resources area, which includes any case related with legal issues, investigation, violation of Human Rights, among others. The external communication channel has its own monitoring process in which the Sustainability area is responsible for giving follow-up. The Executive Committee annually reviews these two mechanisms.

We also have a committee that oversees promoting our Corporate Culture which includes our mission, vision, and values. This Committee has representatives of all our offices and meets once a month.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer that does not discriminate against any characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws and ordinances. This applies to all regions where we have operations. This is being communicated in a culturally appropriate way to all of our employees and stakeholders.

Since 2021, we have created an Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Policy that promotes respect for the environment, communities, and fair labor practices that has already been socialized with our investors. Inside our ESG Policy, we mention the following statement:

“Our commitment to the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) is targeted towards developing a value-based ecosystem and a principle driven approach to conducting business. Companies aligned with the UNGC must adapt their operations to meet fundamental responsibilities in areas of Human Rights, labor, environment, and anti-corruption. These four pillars have been further subdivided into ten major principles - drawn from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Rio Declaration and on Environment and Development, and a handful of others.”

As part of our Institutional Strategy, we are committed to incorporate ESG standards promoting economic and social development in Latin America. We have in the social standard: Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion are important considerations in relation to the way in which farms operate, and by extension - our business operates. Labor Practices have taken center-stage in the corporate landscape for good reason: Companies could uplift developing countries with their far-reaching supply chains. There are increasing holistic benefits for operations which have inclusive and diverse ethics and practices; and we assess the impact a company has on its employees, local communities, and society. The fundamental areas of consideration are:

- Worker Safety
- Non-discriminatory employment practices
- Ensuring the absence (and ultimate elimination) of child labor or indentured servitude
- Pay practices aimed at social/gender equality (considering the sensitivity of different local ecosystems)
- Welfare programs aimed at upliftment of the local community

Since 2021 we are implementing an Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS) aligned with IDB and IFC’s Exclusion Lists, national laws of the corresponding countries where we invest, and IDB Environmental and Social Sustainability Policy, and IFC Performance Standards 2012 including the World Bank Group’s Environmental, Health and Safety guidelines.

For us, Governance is a pillar that refers to structures, corporate values, and the accountability process of the management of the company. It also pertains to the ethical and safe use of client data and Privacy Policy of the same.

- Management structure – power balance between the CEO and Board, separation of Chairman from CEO, appropriate checks, and balances for members of the management team
- Employee relations and workplace grievances
- Executive remuneration
- Corporate Codes of Conduct

The health and safety of our employees and others is of critical concern. We intend to comply with all health and safety laws applicable to our business, ensuring that work areas are kept safe and free of hazardous conditions. We ensure workers are provided safe, suitable, and work facilities in this pandemic situation; all our employees can work from home. We have taken steps to maintain our corporate culture despite the pandemic of COVID-19 and support the network spaces for our employees. Our Corporate Culture is based on the recognition of efforts to achieve business goals. Ensure that employment-related decisions are based on relevant and objective criteria.

We have a Sustainability Strategy, where we have incorporated two basic elements in our human talent. The first one is Sustainability Leadership which its objective is mainstreaming sustainability as part of our organizational culture and performance evaluation. The second one is Leveraging our talent whose objective is to develop and empower talent as a driver of growth and competitiveness.

Since 2021, we established an external communication channel to understand the main concerns of our customers and the communities surrounding them. Also, with IFC’S support, we developed an Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS) which is in implementation along our operations and our value chain. In addition, we have an internal grievance mechanism through our process, and its objective is to provide a grievance mechanism for our employees to raise workplace concerns. The mechanism addresses concerns promptly, using an understandable and transparent way that provides timely feedback to those concerned, without any retribution. The mechanism also allows for anonymous complaints to be raised and addressed.

Our ProducePay Grower Code of Conduct was designed and is in development and implementation with our supply chain such as growers. For our employees, we have a process of onboarding where the values of the company, mission, vision, compensations, and benefits are introduced.

Every month, there is a company review call where one of our values is chosen to promote it among employees by talking about it and putting it in practice being an example of it. We also have a new initiative where all our employees join an online meeting on Fridays to communicate important news related to the company, such as programs created for our employees. As well, there is an online system (Intranet) for employees, where the value of the month is mentioned.

We developed an employee engagement survey to get feedback about their perception and experience working with us, at ProducePay. This helps us to create internal initiatives that can permeate our Corporate Culture.

The internal grievance mechanism is a process conducted by the Human Resources area, which includes any case related with legal issues, investigation, violation of Human Rights, among others. The external communication channel has its own monitoring process in which the Sustainability area is responsible for giving follow-up. The Executive Committee annually reviews these two mechanisms.

We also have a committee that oversees promoting our Corporate Culture which includes our mission, vision, and values. This Committee has representatives of all our offices and meets once a month. Our Human Resources area has reunions every month to review any circumstance that happens during the period.

Since 2021, we have created an Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Policy that promotes respect for the environment, communities, and fair labor practices that has already been socialized with our investors. Inside our ESG Policy, we mention the following statement:

“Our commitment to the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) is targeted towards developing a value-based ecosystem and a principle driven approach to conducting business. Companies aligned with the UNGC must adapt their operations to meet fundamental responsibilities in areas of Human Rights, labor, environment, and anti-corruption. These four pillars have been further subdivided into ten major principles - drawn from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Rio Declaration and on Environment and Development, and a handful of others.”

As part of our Institutional Strategy, we are committed to incorporate ESG standards promoting economic and social development in Latin America. For our Environmental pillar, our motto is “You reap what you sow.” Our core business operations (Preseason and Inseason) support financial expenditures from start to finish of fresh produce farming. Therefore, our commitment to environmental sustainability has the ability to be impactful at each step. We realize the importance of preserving the natural environment and ensuring its care as a key factor that will be considered in investment decisions, wherever reasonably applicable like:

- Water Management
- Soil Health
- Waste Management
- Fertilizers and Pesticides
- Emission of Gasses
- Energy Conservation
- Recycling Practices

Since 2021 we are implementing an Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS) aligned with IDB and IFC’s Exclusion Lists, national laws of the corresponding countries where we invest, and IDB Environmental and Social Sustainability Policy, and IFC Performance Standards 2012 including the World Bank Group’s Environmental, Health and Safety guidelines.

Our business model is built upon the possibility of preventing, managing, and mitigating social and environmental impacts and risks in the production of produce. We ensure this, through our ESMS and the Environmental and Sustainability Due Diligence process with our customers. We manage our own business risks but also contribute to sustainable development in the countries and regions where our customers operate.

The main focus of our Sustainability Strategy effort is the pre-season growers. By supporting sustainable agriculture practices, we are looking to promote and consolidate sustainable growers that foster a more sustainable agriculture facing the main challenges at social and environmental level.

Environmental and Social Due Diligence is conducted as part of our process to finance farmers in Mexico and Latin America with the objective of identifying, preventing, and mitigating environmental and social risks.

We are working in partnership with international organizations to design programs whose objective is to reduce carbon emissions with the aim of contributing to be part of the solution to the global environmental problem of climate change generating a positive impact in the produce industry.

We also are always incredibly open to hearing proposals from employees that contribute to the caring of the environment. Therefore, we are constantly developing campaigns as part of our continuous improvement since we are deeply committed to permeating our Corporate Culture and adding to our Sustainability Strategy.

We annually generate an environmental and social compliance report for our clients. As we approach to talk and hear our clients, we have identified that they have a great interest in incorporating care practices for the environment, they also share with us the good practices that they have incorporated in their system.

In the same way, every year we upload our COP to the Global Compact platform.

We strive to promote the highest ethical standards in all stages of our operations, in line with national regulations and international best practices. This includes, but is not limited to, anti-bribery, anti-corruption practices and grievance mechanisms. Where not covered by applicable laws and regulations, implementation of the following practices is expected to be implemented by all Growers at all Facilities.

As ProducePay, we are committed to ambitious standards of business conduct, ethics, and legal compliance. For our stakeholders, we have a Business Partner Compliance Guide that reflects principles of behavior that support this commitment. We expect our stakeholders (collectively, “Business Partners”) to follow this Guide with respect to their relationship with our Company. We also expect our Business Partners to adopt and implement appropriate risk-based compliance standards consistent with this Guide and to strictly avoid causing the Company to violate applicable laws or face other adverse consequences because of their acts or omissions. This Guide includes the following topics:

- Honest and ethical conduct
- General legal compliance
- Anti-bribery / anti-corruption (ABAC) compliance
- Anti-money laundering / anti-terrorist financing compliance
- Export control / sanctions compliance
- Import controls and customs compliance
- Conflicts of interest
- Accounting and internal control standards
- Fair dealing
- Confidentiality
- Media / public discussions
- Human Rights
- Anti-discrimination / right to work
- Anti-harassment
- Compensation and working hours
- Forced labor
- Child labor
- Health and safety
- Subcontractors
- Compliance programs

The Business Partner Guide is shared with our stakeholders, and they should agree with the compliance of these requirements. Also, in our established processes of financing one of our clients we need to verify that they do not have any bad practices that are related with corruption or unethical issues.

In our working strategy, we have a database where all the KPI’s are collected and one of them is how many clients have good or bad practices. This is for our internal control and to have a better vision of how we can make an improvement and incorporate sustainable initiatives to give them technical support.