Nestle Hosts 7th Global Forum On Creating Shared Value

The seventh edition of creating Shared Value Global forum has been held at the ivorian capital abidjan Former United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, in his welcome address commended the efforts of african governments to promoting the SDGs and the preservation of the environment.

He called for zero waste and improving of social and economic opportunities for all people.He urged the Government and people of Cote d’Ivoire to bury the nightmare of civil war and social division because business cannot succeed in a failed society.

Turning to Africa as a whole, Mr Annan said building stronger economies required the transformation of agriculture and food systems, adding that African agriculture should be treated as a business and urged African governments to provide the appropriate policy environment, invest in infrastructure and allow the private sector to intervene.

Mr Annan was addressing the seventh edition of the Global Forum on Creating Shared Value (CSV) in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, yesterday.

The Forum, the first in Africa, hosted by Nestle and webcast live via a virtual platform, provided the occasion for engagement on how governments, civil society and the private sector can work together to accelerate nutrition, rural development and sustainable development in Africa.

Mr Annan called on African governments to improve social and economic opportunities for all Africans, tackle corruption and ensure that loopholes in tax systems were sealed.

On nutrition, he said African governments should not be concerned only with the amount of food grown, but also the type of food the people eat. He said African governments had the responsibility to ensure environmental protection and good stewardship of natural resources, adding that responsible natural resource management included responsible water stewardship and responsible use of energy resources.

Mr Annan said to ensure the prosperity of the African continent, there was the need for peace and security, respect for the rule of law and human rights, and urged businesses to comply with international standards of human rights.

In a statement, the Chairman of Nestle SA, Mr Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, noted that a business could only be successful over time if it created value for society all the time.

Mr Brabeck-Letmathe noted that being a global leader brought not only a duty to operate responsibly, but also an opportunity to create long-term positive value for society which, he said, meant Creating Shared Value (CSV), a concept embedded firmly across all parts of Nestle’s business.

He explained that CSV was a transformation from the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and a tool for business development, adding that CSV was the approach to building a business capable of both delivering superior and shareholder value and helping people improve their nutrition, health and wellness.

The Prime Minister of Cote d’Ivoire, Mr Daniel Kablan Duncan, in an address, underscored the importance of the private sector in national development efforts and called for constant dialogue between government and the private sector to improve the productive capacities and international value chains.

Agro-Hub, an Agricultural Production and Marketing Agency in south-west Cameroon, which helps small-scale farmers gain access to sustainable markets, emerged winners of the 2016 prize for CSV.

Agro-Hub earned the award for building a small-integrated factory to transform cassava into starch and gari, a type of tapioca, which is sold to its network of consumers through its own fresh food store (Agro-Mart) and for which it was awarded three hundred thousand Swiss Franc (CHF 300,000).

Emerging as runners up was Natural Extracts Industries (NEI) of Tanzania, a social enterprise founded in November 2011 that is pioneering sustainable extraction of flavors and which has established a value chain for the marketing of natural flavour extracts from vanilla, cacao and orange— working with smallholder farmers on the Tanzanian side of Mount Kilimanjaro—for which it received two hundred thousand Swiss Franc (CHF 200,000).

The two finalists were selected from a group of 450 applicants by the Nestlé CSV Council, along with nine independent experts and nine Nestlé internal experts.

Nestlé Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Paul Bulcke, presented the awards.

This is the fourth time that Nestlé has awarded the CSV Prize. The company will be opening the application process for the next competition in 2017, and will again be looking for innovative businesses or social enterprises in the areas of nutrition, water and rural development.

THE PRIZE
Nestlé CEO Paul Bulcke highlighted in the context of the conference theme “Investing in sustainable development in Africa” that Agro-Hub has successfully linked smallholder cassava farmers to buyers. It has provided them with opportunities to generate significant and sustainable income. Agro-Hub receives 300’000 Swiss Francs to upgrade its cassava processing facilities.

Natural Extracts Industries, a social enterprise from Tanzania, was selected CSV Prize Runner-up for pioneering the sustainable extraction of vanilla and other natural flavours in Tanzania. Supporting rural development and sustainability, Natural Extracts Industries receives 200’000 Swiss Francs in prize monies to expand its network of smallholder farmers which supply natural flavouring ingredients.

This is the fourth time that Nestlé awarded the CSV Prize. The company will be opening the application process for the next competition in 2017, and again be looking for innovative businesses or social enterprises in the areas of nutrition, water and rural development.