AFRICA IMPROVED FOODS
Nourishing Nations
Overcoming malnutrition with foods made from locally grown maize
Like a lot of people, I was climbing the corporate ladder and ended up working as the Vice President of Marketing for a $2 billion travel technology company in the UK. However, I kept asking myself, what am I really doing here? Where’s the value that’s created for society by what I’m doing?
“A lot of the work conducted in high-end economies is often focused on marginal optimisations of customer value, yet at the same time, there’s billions of people in the world who are struggling with the very basics.
“I decided I wanted to get into something that would make more of a meaningful impact and quickly became passionate about the agri-foods space, looking at how the global food system works, or doesn’t in many cases.
“I enjoy business, don’t get me wrong – the strategic, the day to day, the commercial is all fascinating to me. But each of these elements become particularly rewarding when they’re applied to causes in Africa, where there’s a lot to be done.”
For Amar Ali, Africa Improved Foods (AIF) provided the perfect platform to use his skills and make a tangible difference.
An organisation set up with the single goal of helping to address malnutrition across East Africa with food made in Africa, AIF has been operating out of a state-of-the-art facility in Kigali, Rwanda for close to three years, helping to raise the overall quality of food in a region where 36 percent of all children under five are stunted.
“State-of-the-art has almost become a cliché that people use a lot, but this facility truly is,” Ali, now CEO of AIF, states boldly.
“We’ve had a lot of interest from visitors, dignitaries, multinationals, and they’ll all agree that it’s of the highest international standard. And there’s a reason for that. A lot of the food consumed by people here on a daily basis is unsafe, even harmful, and that’s in part due to a lack of hygiene, safety and other issues in the supply chain. Our facility is helping to change that.”
A $1 billion impact
Indeed, the direct impact that
AIF’s processing facility is having on the value chain is not to be underestimated. Yet it is not the only way in which the company is helping to address the systemic problem of malnutrition.
Having welcomed the President of the World Bank, the President of the World Food Programme, delegations from the Swiss and New Zealand parliaments and five African Presidents, not to mention an array of influential multinational organisations, the Kigali plant is equally raising awareness and changing perceptions.
“It’s demonstration effect; a flagship,” Ali affirms.
“Of course, receiving recognition is nice for us, but the bigger point to make is that it helps to show what can and should be done. It shows how a country like Rwanda can become a shining light for not only the region, but equally the world – and why shouldn’t it?”
Invigorating social inspiration in this sense constitutes one part of the firm’s wider overall impact, an impact that has recently been measured in dollarterms by the University of Chicago.
Evaluating AIF’s contribution to local economic development in Rwanda, developing the local food system and its value chain, and its efforts to combat malnutrition, the report concluded that the firm is set to create just shy of $1 billion in social benefit by 2031.
“It’s a huge number, but it shouldn’t be much of a surprise,” Ali states.
“The objective of our nutritional programmes is to bring down the stunting rates in Rwanda from 38 percent to 32 percent. This doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you consider the cost of malnutrition to a country’s economy derived from increased healthcare costs, reduced education potential, lower productivity, etc., it’s massive.”
Globally, two billion people suffer from malnutrition, with almost half of them going to bed hungry every night.
Further, 22 percent of children around the world (151 million) suffer from stunted growth, preventing them from reaching their full cognitive potential. As a result, these children face learning difficulties in school, earn less as adults and face other challenges both physically and mentally.
The economic consequences of malnutrition are serious too, estimated to be up to 11 percent of GDP in Africa and Asia each year. Meanwhile, well-nourished children are 33 percent more likely to escape poverty as adults, and preventing malnutrition delivers approximately a return on investment of $16 for every $1 spent.
A public-private partnership set up between DSM, the Government of Rwanda, the International Finance Corporation, CDC Group and
Dutch Development Bank FMO, the goal of AIF is to contribute to a reduction in these stunting rates by producing and making available nutritious, high quality foods to those who need it most.
A localised approach
It is at this point that Prosper Ndayiragije, Rwanda’s Country Director for AIF, enters the conversation, highlighting the company’s work with 35,000 smallholder farmers across the country as key to this $1 billion domino effect.
“Sourcing maize locally is a massive part of what we’re trying to achieve here,” he reveals. “Working with smallholder farmers, we’re able to