Nestlé announces finalists for 2016 Creating Shared Value (CSV) Prize (Read interview with one of the finalists)

High-quality vanilla from the foot of Kilimanjaro or cassava starch and garri from South West Cameroon?

With the opening of the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, Turkey, Nestlé has announced the finalists for the Creating Shared Value (CSV) Prize 2016: Natural Extracts Industries [NEI] from Tanzania and Agro-Hub from Cameroun. After four screening phases, the two finalists were selected from a group of 450 applicants by the Nestlé CSV Council, along with 9 independent experts and 9 Nestlé internal experts.
NEI is a social enterprise pioneering sustainable extraction of flavors in Tanzania. Founded in November 2011, NEI has established a value chain for the marketing of natural flavor extracts from vanilla, cacao and orange, working with smallholder farmers on the Tanzanian side of Mount Kilimanjaro.
Agro-Hub is an agricultural production and marketing agency in south-west Cameroon working to help small-scale farmers gain access to sustainable markets. Agro-Hub has built a small, integrated factory to transform cassava into starch and garri, a type of tapioca, and sell it to its network of consumers through its own fresh food store (Agro-Mart).
“Both programs stand out for providing social-economic benefits to smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa, and increasing commercial value locally in the production of vanilla and cassava” says Nestlé CEO Paul Bulcke. “They reflect good examples of how the private sector can contribute to increasing livelihoods in Africa. “
Nestlé will announce the winner of the CSV Prize 2016 at the CSV Forum 2016 on 21 June 2016 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. The winners will share CHF 500,000 in prize monies.

Interview with Atem Ernest Lefu, Co-Founder/CEO of Agro-Hub
January 2016

What is your background and why did you join Agro-Hub?

I am a rural development professional and social entrepreneur. Born into a family of farmers, I have experienced firsthand the challenges faced by rural farmers. I have co-founded other start-ups like Agro-World, Dellioti Corporation and Resource Center for Environment and Sustainable Development. I believe agriculture is the future and organic produce will become the next precious commodity.

What was your aha moment?

As a child I used to follow my parents to the farm. I often wondered why we used to work so hard, carry so many products to the market and yet not being able to pay my school fees. We remained in this poverty cycle, working very hard but getting poorer and poorer. I decided to quit my job and together with my friends started an agricultural company that organizes farmers’ production and marketing while turning them into entrepreneurs through cooperation.

How does Agro-Hub create value for society?

Agro-Hub has been able to link farmers to markets, increasing sales at more competitive prices. Agro-Hub has trained over 2000 farmers in south west Cameroon, impacting them with the spirit of entrepreneurship and strengthening their production and marketing skills. Buyers, on the other hand, have received access to the right products at a stable supply.

What were key challenges on the way?

At the beginning, the production processes were carried out manually. It took us three days to transform garri, five days for starch, three days for flour and two days for waterfufuwe. We then moved to semi mechanization with a small factory and our starch process reduced to three days, garri in two days, flour in two days and waterfufu in two days. Initially, it was very challenging to build a trustworthy relationship with our farmers as they resent a lot of government projects that over promised them and eventually do not meet up.

How would Agro-Hub benefit from winning the Nestlé CSV Prize 2016?

The Nestle CSV Prize would help us in establishing a modern integrated starch and garri factory. With this factory, we would be able to reduce the starch/garri production process to 1 day or a few hours, potentially increasing our production to 10 tons of starch per week.