Some tastes of AIF fortified food
Rwanda’s Africa Improved Foods (AIF) factory has scooped the first Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Award for promoting sustainable consumption of food patterns and fighting malnutrition.
The SDG12 award was handed over to AIF representatives by Swiss Green Economy Symposium (SGES) at an event held on September 4, in Swiss capital Geneva.
One of the targets of SDG12 is support developing countries to strengthen their scientific and technological capacity to move towards more sustainable patterns of consumption and production
AIF presented the most convincing concept on SDG 12 indicating a practical cooperation venture between the government of Rwanda, consortium of various banks, and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in this area.
AIF Rwanda is a leading manufacturer of high quality and nutritious complementary foods in Rwanda, and a joint-venture between government and a consortium of Royal DSM, Dutch development bank (FMO), DFID Impact Acceleration Facility managed by CDC Group plc and International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group.
“We are very honored and proud to have received the SDG Award of the Swiss Green Economy Symposium (SGES) for the first time ever,” AIF Rwanda said in a twitter statement.
Along with the award, AIF Rwanda also received prize money of 4,000 Swiss francs from which Amar Ali, CEO of AIF donated 4,000 Swiss Francs to orphans living in Mbuye Sector, Ruhango district, Kizibere village.
“We were impressed by the way in which Africa Improved Foods combines its social commitment with the successful networking of public and private players,” says Dr. Anne le Duc, CEO of SGES, upon announcing the first award winner.
On May 31, 2017, AIF opened its state-of-the-art facility in the city of Kigali, where it produces an annual output of 45,000 tonnes of fortified blended foods, employing over 300 staff.
The company offers 24,000 Rwandan farmers sustainable income for a proportion of their harvest.
Its first two products are porridge flours with added milk powder, vitamins, and minerals.
The factory recently celebrated its first anniversary and will soon have the capacity to feed two million people and be able to reduce stunting in Rwanda from 38% to 32% by 2020 – a 6% reduction – bringing hope to tens of thousands of children.
AIF Rwanda was this April named among the finalists of the 2018 World Changing Ideas Awards (WCIA), in the food category among the 12 companies awarded in areas of health, technology, consumer products, energy, transport and education.
The $60million investment in Rwanda was named top of ten local business leaders during the 5th edition of the Rwanda Business Excellence Awards 2017 by Rwanda Development Board.
