Nestlé in society - Full Report 2016

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Winner: Agro-Hub, Cameroon
Helping cassava farmers gain access to markets
is an agricultural production and marketing agency
in south-west Cameroon, working to connect smallholder
farmers with sustainable markets.
It has built a small integrated factory to transform cassava, a
staple crop in Cameroon, into starch and garri, a type of
tapioca, and sell these value-added goods to consumers
through its own fresh food store (Agro-Mart). So far, the
agency has helped more than 700 farmers increase
productivity and income as they build long-term sustainable
relationships with buyers.
Agro-Hub received a prize of CHF 300000, which it intends to
use for upgrading its cassava processing facilities. This increase
in production capacity will allow it to support more farmers,
and contribute to improved food security and living conditions.
At the beginning, the production processes
were carried out manually, but the Nestlé CSV
Prize will help us in establishing a modern,
integrated starch and garri factory. With this
factory, we will be able to reduce the production
process to one day or a few hours, potentially
increasing our production to 10 tons of starch
per week.”
Atem Ernest Lefu,
Co-Founder and CEO, Agro-Hub
Watch a about Agro-Hub’s work.
Driving innovation: The Nestlé Creating Shared
Value Prize
The Nestlé Creating Shared Value (CSV) Prize is awarded by the Nestlé
CSV Council every two years. The competition helps scale up or replicate
business-oriented initiatives that address challenges in nutrition, water or
rural development. It is open to social and private enterprises, as well as
non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
About the Creating Shared Value Prize
We established the CSV Prize to reward initiatives that reflect the spirit of Creating Shared Value.
We look for innovative projects, programmes or businesses that have already been tested either
as a pilot study or at a small scale; that demonstrate positive social and environmental impact;
and that need support to become commercially viable.
We invest financial and technical resources in the winning initiatives, to help them expand and
achieve financial sustainability. The winners share CHF 500000 in prize money.
The 2016 winners
We received 450 entries from 83 countries for the CSV Prize in 2016, the fourth time we have made
this award. Applications were thoroughly screened by external and internal experts, and the CSV
Council. The winner and runner-up were announced at the CSV Forum in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire,
in June 2016.
Nestlé in society – Creating Shared Value and meeting our commitments 2016 11