Erinch Sahan

Senior Policy Adviser on Business and Markets for Oxfam GB Asia

Erinch is currently based in Bangkok as a senior policy adviser on business and markets for Oxfam Asia. Since 2011, Erinch has been a private sector adviser for Oxfam, working across Oxfam's programme and campaigning work. During his time at Oxfam, Erinch has also led Oxfam's policy and campaigning team on food and climate justice.

 

Erinch specialises in the links between business and poverty, with a focus on agriculture and the rural economy. He advises policy-makers, businesses, campaigners and programme managers on how to leverage business and markets to better tackle poverty. In supporting programmes, Erinch works with Oxfam's Enterprise Development Programme and the Gendered Enterprise and Markets programme to ensure the programmes are helping shape the broader market system. He has lead Oxfam's work on scoring the policies of the world's largest food and beverage companies in the Behind the Brands campaign and continues to work directly with companies across multiple sectors to help them better understand their poverty impacts and develop new business models.

 

Erinch's research currently focuses on the corporate structures and business models that are best geared to deliver fairer and more sustainable outcomes - with a view to promoting policies that will foster a better private sector. He is also looking into mechanisms for ensuring the prices paid for agricultural commodities allow for responsible and sustainable production.

 

Before joining Oxfam, Erinch worked for the Australian government (AusAID) on market-based aid programs in Indonesia and was the development advisor on Australia's trade negotiation team in Indonesia. Prior to entering development, Erinch worked as a market strategist at Procter & Gamble and ran a start-up furniture business in Australia. His background includes stints as a trainee solicitor, business consultant and radio host. Erinch has lectured on sustainable business at various universities, including Cambridge, Oxford, Birmingham and Sheffield. Erinch also sits on a number of advisory committees, including the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative and the UN Global Compact's Poverty Footprint Project. His academic background is in Law and Finance.