Founder's Message
Welcome to Littlefoot Ventures!
You’ve come to the small but mighty part of the highly complex global food system. It’s loud, complicated and a bit overwhelming out there. But here, at Littlefoot, we help you make sense of it all. Our mission is simple: amplify and accelerate strategies that combat the climate crisis through food system transformation.
I’m Eva, and I founded this consultancy with a deep passion (maybe obsession?) for driving change in the realm of food and sustainability. My entire professional career has been focused on this pursuit.
Littlefoot was born out of a desire to provide dedicated support and services to any and all stakeholders focused on creating positive environmental, social, and economic impact through food systems transformation. In becoming a mother and creating “little feet” of my own, I felt a renewed sense of urgency to ensure we leave behind a better and safer food system for our children and for generations to come.
That means when you work with Littlefoot, a primary stakeholder is your legacy: What will you leave behind when you’re no longer doing this work? Will you be proud of the contributions you made? This is a safeguard to make sure we are always in service to a higher mission and purpose.
What I believe sets Littlefoot Ventures apart is an unwavering commitment to clients and a unique systems-thinking approach. I bring a blend of creativity, client focus, and a hospitality-driven mindset to every engagement. Building meaningful, trusting relationships and infusing humor (gasp!) and humanity into our work is key to driving successful transformations. Why? Because we’re humans living in a really vulnerable moment in history and this work can feel dark and daunting really fast.
With the energy levels of a golden retriever puppy combined with the eco-anxiety of a millennial toddler mom, expect to move fast. I am an igniter with only two factory settings: 1) working for you to transform our food system, or, 2) sleeping (after we finally get our kids to bed). Not sloppy, not disorganized but we’re going to move with intensity and intention. And if you don’t have the bandwidth for that, you leave it to me to do that on your behalf. That’s what I’m here for.
Why so fast and furious you may ask? Because we’ve lost our privilege to be slow on food systems transformation. That doesn’t mean we don’t still experiment or operate with caution, but if you/your organization is really serious about the climate commitments you’ve made, you’ve got to hurry up.
If reading this simultaneously scares and excites you, congratulations, you’re ready to get started.
I invite you to explore the website and learn more about how Littlefoot Ventures can help you make a difference in our food system. Get in touch with any questions or ideas you have, the wilder the better. Thank you for considering LFV as a partner in your journey, I can’t wait to work with you.
Yours in partnership,
Eva Goulbourne, Founder
Value Proposition
At Littlefoot Ventures, we are dedicated to empowering businesses, nonprofits, and foundations to fortify our food system and mitigate the climate crisis. Our mission is to amplify and accelerate strategies for food brands, retailers, and philanthropists, enabling them to apply innovative food solutions for a sustainable future.
We envision an ecosystem where climate champions inherently understand that transforming our food system is essential to combating the climate crisis.
Our passion for serving clients is driven by the beliefs that:
- We will only create change if there is coordinated effort and multi-stakeholder engagement across the food supply chain.
- Pre-competitive collaboration trumps individual action and dramatically accelerates positive impact.
- “Eaters” are ready and waiting for the food system to see them as capable and discerning partners to create change.
- Until capital providers dedicate entire portfolios to climate and food, they’re contributing to the problem not the solution.
- You likely already have the tools you need.
Benefits of working with Littlefoot:
- Save money and time by avoiding duplication of efforts and creating more impact per dollar.
- Increased confidence in your strategy and implementation, improving your chances of creating the impact you desire.
- Direct access and connections to high priority partners by leveraging Littlefoot’s global network.
- Improved internal collaboration to reach corporate sustainability goals and/or philanthropic impact on time and in full.
- Gain credibility and reduce reputational risk by working with a seasoned strategist with both technical expertise as well as contextual knowledge of the stakeholder ecosystem comprising our global food system.
What sets Littlefoot Ventures apart is our unique systems-level philosophy.
We bring creative thinking, a client-focused mindset, and a hospitality-driven approach to every project. We value building meaningful relationships and infuse humor and passion into our work. As agents of change for our food system, we are committed to your success.
Globally Respected Food Systems Expert
Deep technical knowledge and expertise on all aspects of problem of wasted food and all stakeholder-specific solutions to reduce food waste at scale, with 15 years of experience in global food systems.
Proven Impact on Corporate and Family Philanthropy
Experienced philanthropic advisor, driving strategies to deploy millions of USD$ for Hellmann’s, Unilever, a private family foundation, and long-term strategist for leading Venture Philanthropist Jesse Fink. Currently studying to receive Chartered Philanthropic Advisor designation (CAP).
Results-Driven & Meaningful Stakeholder Collaboration
Skilled and proven multi-stakeholder partnership expert across all stakeholder groups both globally and country specific: farmer organizations, nonprofits, food companies, Development Banks, International Organizations, UN Agencies (FAO, UNEP), Development Aid Agencies, WEF, G7, Ministries of Agriculture, policymakers, academia and more.
Team
Eva Goulbourne, Founder & CEO
Littlefoot Ventures represents a culmination of knowledge and experiences from Eva’s 15 years as a food systems practitioner driving change on global agriculture and food issues within the foodservice, restaurant, and retail industries. As an internationally recognized food systems expert, she has spoken at 30+ conferences reaching thousands of people across the globe.
Eva was a founding team member of ReFED, the leading non-profit dedicated to reducing U.S. food waste, serving in multiple roles. She secured the initial funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, General Mills Foundation, and Walmart Foundation to establish the organizational framework for ReFED, helping it become the food waste leader it is today. She was also responsible for the wide distribution of the original ReFED Roadmap report which continues to influence corporate and philanthropic food waste strategies, and policy agendas.
Previous to ReFED, she worked at the World Economic Forum serving on the food and agriculture team. There, she supported multi-stakeholder partnerships in 12 countries across Southeast Asia, Africa, and South America to mobilize investment and coordination amongst global food companies (Cargill, Mondelez, Nestle, SABMiller, Syngenta, Unilever, Yara amongst others), heads of state (including the G7), UN agencies (EDP, FAO, WFP) and farmer organizations.
Carsen Daniel, Project & Communications Manager
Carsen serves as Project & Communications Manager at Littlefoot Ventures, guiding our projects and engagement interactions. She conducts industry research, prepares project documentation, and supporting business development activities, and enhances our communications efforts by crafting compelling content for digital platforms and aiding in marketing material development.
As a recent graduate of the University of Mississippi, Carsen became interested in food systems transformation after spending eight years in Mississippi, seeing how food systems, especially monoculture farming and food insecurity, affects its population. Her background is primarily in public policy, working with bipartisan think tanks at the state and national levels.
She is based in Austin, Texas with her pup Roo.
Andrea Bazoin, Head of Knowledge Products
Alessia Richli, Fellow
Alessia holds a Bachelor’s of Science in finance from the University of Maryland with plans to begin her Master’s in International Business and Sustainability at Sciences Po in Paris. As a Littlefoot Fellow, she supports our work in strategy development at the intersection of philanthropy and food-as-a-climate-solution, and assists various other projects by conducting research and developing materials.
Her passion for sustainable food systems was shaped by the years she spent living in Kenya where she was exposed to systemic inequalities, such as climate-induced food shortages, health crises from pollution, and ecologically damaging heat waves. This experience, juxtaposed with her academic journey in the U.S., inspired her to apply her cross-cultural European background and international perspective towards accelerating food systems transformation at the global scale.
Careers
Thank you for your interest in joining our team!
While we do not have any positions available open at this time, feel free to send us your resume and interests in case there is a project or other opportunity to work together.
If you are job searching and need advice and support, we encourage you to consider our Mentorship and Job support offering. This provides you an opportunity to work directly with Eva on navigating your next career move within the food, climate or philanthropy space. You can learn more about this offering on our Professional Development & Career Guidance page.