The SUN Business Network (SBN) is the only dedicated global platform for business and nutrition, with the aim to reduce malnutrition in all its forms – through engaging and supporting businesses to act, invest and innovate in responsible and sustainable actions and operations to improve nutrition. It aims to increase the availability and affordability of safe, nutritious foods to consumers, especially low-income consumers through activities at global and national levels. To do this, the SUN Business Network provides a neutral platform to broker partnerships and collaborations between businesses and all actors on nutrition at the national, regional, and global levels in support of SUN Countries.
What could be the role of Business Network in Scaling Up Nutrition?
Get to know a role model, Ms. Cherrie Atilano. She is the CEO of AGREA, a member of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement Lead Group and is supporting the development of the SUN Business Network in the Philippines. Ms. Atilano believed "The more we invest our effort, time, and resources into food system innovations, the more we are helping to solve the global problem of malnutrition.”
At AGREA, a social enterprise aimed at eradicating poverty among farmers through training and education, they started receiving calls from farmers within the first few days of lockdown, which was announced on 16th March 2020. The farmers, unable to transport their fresh fruits and vegetables, were asking for help in distributing their produce and saving it from being spoiled. In response, we created the ‘Move Food Initiative’; an initiative that started out of pure generosity, hard work, and commitment to the vision of zero hunger, zero waste, and zero insufficiency. The initiative focuses on moving food from rural farmers to consumers. But it has not been without its challenges; the logistics have been particularly complicated because some produce needed to be shipped or flown to the capital city for distribution. They have had to coordinate with the military, local governors and mayors, and logistic providers. They also needed the support of these actors to enable farmers to go back to their fields and save their produce from rotting.
She also believes in supporting SMEs to build stronger, resilient businesses for nutrition. "Small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) working in nutrition should also take the lead to do more to help fix the local food system. " -Ms. Atilano
Take a look at the list of Award-winning approaches to solving nutritional challenges in Africa and Asia:
- Baby Grubz from Nigeria, an SME developing nutritious complementary foods for infants.
- DCF specializes in making ready-to-use therapeutic and supplementary food products, including wafer snacks, to treat malnutrition in children. Its unique product range incorporates only locally available ingredients, including wild-caught fish, and is affordable for low-income consumers.
- Mealimeter links hospitals, offices, and schools with nutritious meals by providing food vending machines, and connecting customers with the country’s best nutrition-focused chefs and small businesses through a mobile app.
- The Royal DSM 3A Nutrition Award was won by Limpho Produtos Alimentares from Mozambique. “It is a young team who are turning broken rice, a waste product, into a nutritious product.”
In Western Visayas, a meeting with the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Business Network was conducted on 17 August 2021 via Zoom. This is a follow-through meeting after the Orientation of Scaling Up Nutrition Network 3.0 on 23 July 2021. Network Organization, Identification of Existing Programs, and areas of cooperation were discussed at the meeting.
References:
https://scalingupnutrition.org/sun-supporters/sun-business-network/
https://scalingupnutrition.org/news/how-big-companies-can-help-to-end-hunger-ifpri-blog/
