Advisory Board

Responsible Agri-Business

Jeremy Hicks  

Based in West Sulawesi, Indonesia and a leader in sustainable development in cocoa farming communities, Jeremy expanded his agri-business impact scope to include coconuts as West Sulawesi is overflowing with the crop, yet rural communities surrender the economic benefit to middlemen and the ratio of labour to reward is very low.   The coconut palm, the area’s most abundant natural resource, is therefore providing negligible benefit to its communities.

Jeremy established the first appropriate technology virgin coconut oil production micro-factory facility in West Sulawesi in early 2017.  The presence of this facility provided hope in an economically depressed village, the opportunity for further sustainable impact throughout the region.

Jeremy has called Indonesia home since 2008 and co-founded Bridgewater International Services, a socially-driven for-profit company focused on facilitating the building of mutually beneficial relationships between domestic entities, international parties, and local communities.  Bridgewater has established programs and managed projects in education, humanitarian, and agricultural sectors for state universities, NGO’s, and multi-national corporations.  Bridgewater currently works with farmers of cocoa, coffee, palm sugar and coconuts. Jeremy’s wife Eva plays an equally important role connecting facilitating programs for women and children in the villages where Bridgewater is engaged, in areas of health, nutrition, entrepreneurial skills, and early childhood education.