NEW YORK — Former US President Bill Clinton described Kurdish businessman and entrepreneur Hamdi Ulukaya as someone to think about when dealing with world crisis.
Ulukaya, Founder and CEO of US based Yogurt company Chobani pledged half of his $1.4 billion fortune to refugee funds last year.
“We need more companies like Chobani,” said President Clinton. “When you get discouraged about the world – think about him.”
Ulukaya attended the winter meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative on Thursday where the former president asked the Kurdish entrepreneur his reasons for getting involved with the Middle East refugee crisis.
“Being from the region, and seeing what happened to the Yezidi community in the Sinjar Mountain when they were attacked and all those girls were kidnapped, I saw the pictures in the New York Times and thought that - mother was calling on me. I had to do something,” Ulukaya said.
Ulukaya launched the Tent Foundation for refugees earlier this year and he is an advocate for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
At the New York gathering Ulukaya argued that the business sector can do a great deal to assist refugees around the world.
“We cannot leave this to governments. We have to bring a business mind to solving the refugee crisis,” he said.
The Tent Foundation is not limited to the Middle East, Ulukaya said, it rather “seeks to improve the lives and livelihoods of the 60 million people who have been forcibly displaced around the globe.”
Ulukaya, Founder and CEO of US based Yogurt company Chobani pledged half of his $1.4 billion fortune to refugee funds last year.
“We need more companies like Chobani,” said President Clinton. “When you get discouraged about the world – think about him.”
Ulukaya attended the winter meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative on Thursday where the former president asked the Kurdish entrepreneur his reasons for getting involved with the Middle East refugee crisis.
“Being from the region, and seeing what happened to the Yezidi community in the Sinjar Mountain when they were attacked and all those girls were kidnapped, I saw the pictures in the New York Times and thought that - mother was calling on me. I had to do something,” Ulukaya said.
Ulukaya launched the Tent Foundation for refugees earlier this year and he is an advocate for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
At the New York gathering Ulukaya argued that the business sector can do a great deal to assist refugees around the world.
“We cannot leave this to governments. We have to bring a business mind to solving the refugee crisis,” he said.
The Tent Foundation is not limited to the Middle East, Ulukaya said, it rather “seeks to improve the lives and livelihoods of the 60 million people who have been forcibly displaced around the globe.”
Comments
Rudaw moderates all comments submitted on our website. We welcome comments which are relevant to the article and encourage further discussion about the issues that matter to you. We also welcome constructive criticism about Rudaw.
To be approved for publication, however, your comments must meet our community guidelines.
We will not tolerate the following: profanity, threats, personal attacks, vulgarity, abuse (such as sexism, racism, homophobia or xenophobia), or commercial or personal promotion.
Comments that do not meet our guidelines will be rejected. Comments are not edited – they are either approved or rejected.
Post a comment