PR: Nestlé S.A has announced HONEY CARE AFRICA, a Kenyan organization that promotes sustainable community-based beekeeping in Eastern Africa, as the winner of the Creating Shared Value Prize 2014.
Honey Care Africa won KSh18.6million (CHF 200,000) as recognition for its project dubbed, ‘a sweeter South Sudan,’ where it is helping locals generate additional income through honey production.
The announcement was made today at the 6th Creating Shared Value Forum in Switzerland. Nestlé, in collaboration with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), co-hosted the forum themed: Creating Shared Value: Changing role of business in society.
“We are delighted that Nestlé have recognised the potential our project has in empowering the lives of smallholder farmers. The prize money will be vital to help us scale-up the reach to 35,000 farmers and help them to become commercial beekeepers by 2017,” said Ryan Marincowitz, Country Manager HCA in South Sudan.
Another Kenyan organization, Sanergy, that promotes access to sanitation in Mukuru slums emerged as the runner up and won more than Ksh 13million (CHF 150,000). A Tanzanian not-for-profit organization, MSABI, that promotes access to safe water was the other runner up taking home Ksh 13million.
The CSV forum which was watched live in Nairobi brought together business, government leaders and civil society from Switzerland, Europe and beyond to discuss how governments worldwide can work in concert with civil society and the private sector to accelerate sustainable development.
“Every two years, up to three innovative schemes related to water, nutrition or rural development are selected for the Nestlé Prize in Creating Shared Value (CSV). Creating Shared Value encourages businesses to create economic and social value simultaneously by focusing on the social issues that they are uniquely capable of addressing,” said Cornel Krummenacher, CEO Nestlé Equatorial Africa.
He observed that through the Prize, Nestlé encourages and helps innovative, commercially viable, and high-impact initiatives achieve scale and financial sustainability.
In its project, Honey Care Africa with its partners, undertake village-level demonstrations and provides microfinance, training, and community-based extension services to beekeepers.
“We provide a guaranteed market for the honey produced by small-holder farmers at fair trade prices. Honey Care collects the honey at the farm gate and pays for it on the spot, then processes, packs and sells the honey for a profit through supermarket chains and other industrial clients,” explained Marincowitz.
It was the second time a Kenyan organization and project was recognized for the Nestlé CSV Prize that was launched in 2009. In 2012, UK’s Excellent Development and its Kenyan partner African Sand Dam Foundation were the runners up.
Over 757 applicants from 93 countries applied for the 2014 CSV Prize. “The most important selection criterion is the strength of the business case and the demonstration of financial sustainability to ensure operational continuity after the grant expires,” said Krummenacher.
