1 month ago
10
•As Nestle harnesses subject for healthier, cheaper meals
By Chioma Obinna
At dawn successful a farming colony extracurricular Abidjan, mothers stitchery to hole breakfast—boiled cassava, maize porridge, oregon rice. For galore households, that repast is dense connected starch but airy connected the vitamins and minerals children request to turn strong. Across Africa, this country plays retired daily, fuelling a soundless situation of malnutrition, stunting, and anaemia.
It is this world that Nestlé has continued to confront—not with handouts oregon foundation but with science. At its Research and Development (R&D) Centre successful Abidjan, Ivory Coast, the lone 1 of its benignant successful Sub-Saharan Africa, the nutrient elephantine is betting connected innovation, partnerships, and section crops to present meals that are not lone affordable but besides nourishing and sustainable.
“Our beingness successful Africa is to guarantee we are adjacent to consumers and communities, to recognize their nutritional gaps and preferences, and past innovate solutions that code those needs,” explained Patricia Ekaba, Head of Corporate Communication and Public Affairs for Nestlé Central and West Africa Region.
Ekaba said Nestlé’s probe web is anchored connected 3 pillars: cardinal research, merchandise and exertion development, and determination centres that absorption connected user needs.
Speaking astatine the company’s R&D Centre successful Abidjan, Ivory Coast, during a 3-day media sojourn to its R&D centre successful Sub-Saharan Africa, Nestle’s apical executives took turns to narrate their semipermanent strategy to innovate connected nutritious products portion moving with section probe institutions, farmers, and universities.
R&D for nutrition security
Globally, Nestlé invests astir 1.7 cardinal Swiss francs annually successful research, with much than 4,000 scientists dispersed crossed 22 centres. In Abidjan alone, betwixt 55 and 70 scientists, technologists, and engineers are dedicated to addressing Africa’s nutrient and nutrition challenges.
In the presumption of the Head of R&D Sub-Saharan Africa, Tesfalidet Haile, Nestlé presently invests astir 1.7bn Swiss francs annually successful planetary R&D, with implicit 4,000 researchers and developers moving crossed 22 R&D centres worldwide.
Haile explained that the company’s R&D activities are anchored connected 3 main pillars: cardinal science, led by planetary hubs specified arsenic Lausanne, Switzerland; merchandise and exertion centres, which make recipes, packaging, and processes for brands similar Milo, Nido, and Nescafé; and determination centres, specified arsenic Abidjan, which tailor solutions to section realities.
“The crushed we are present is to beryllium precise adjacent to the consumer. If communities archer america they request much fibre for bully health, oregon little brackish due to the fact that depletion is high, we perceive and trade solutions—whether done ingredients, processing, oregon packaging.”
The Abidjan centre besides drives front-end innovation from thought procreation and prototyping to pilot-scale production, particularly successful cereals, legumes, and grains. Meanwhile, Nestlé’s tract successful Zambakro, adjacent Yamoussoukro, focuses connected agronomy and works subject probe for cocoa and coffee, moving with farmers to summation output and clime resilience.
In a continent wherever subject and engineering are inactive male-dominated, we are deliberately recruiting and grooming pistillate endowment with universities,” helium said.
Safety, quality, and section relevance
For Florence Kacou, Head of Regulatory and Scientific Affairs for Sub-Saharan Africa, the enactment begins and ends with user safety.
“We bash nutrient information and prime investigation to marque definite each merchandise meets some section regulations and planetary standards. There are nary treble standards.”
Affordability, she added, is the archetypal trial of innovation.
“If the champion merchandise ...
English (US) ·