BESTSELLER FOUNDATION

BESTSELLER FOUNDATION is a private foundation with a mandate to spark growth and help bring about positive and lasting change in developing parts of the world through investments in businesses that make social and environmental impact.

BESTSELLER FOUNDATION focuses on one of the world’s mounting problems – waste – in Sub-Saharan Africa. Countries, where public waste management structures are weak at best – close to non-existent at worst. In their stead are private initiatives working with or alongside informal waste pickers eking a perilous living out of salvaging reusable or recyclable materials thrown away by others.

BESTSELLER FOUNDATION supports entrepreneurs, start-ups and the ecosystems that they grow from – and who are building businesses around reducing when possible, recycling when necessary, and reusing or repurposing resources that would otherwise become waste. 

BESTSELLER FOUNDATION aims to make life better for those affected by or working with waste, making our nature and the air that we breathe greener and cleaner, as well as growing pioneering solutions that can have a positive structural effect on waste management in Sub-Saharan Africa. 

History of the foundation

BESTSELLER FOUNDATION was established in June 2015 with Anders Holch Povlsen as the chairman of the board. Its predecessor , BESTSELLER FUND, engaged in social and cultural projects from 1995-2015 with Troels Holch Povlsen as the chairman of the board, before it was decided to revamp the philosophy and direction of the fund and set a new course with his son Anders at the helm.

Philosophy

Key to bringing about development is the philosophy that change is best sustained through profit – and BESTSELLER FOUNDATION therefore invests in enterprises and businesses with social and environmental impact integrated into their way of doing business.