Description

General Mills launched Partners in Food Solutions in 2008 to help develop an underleveraged link across the food value chain – food processors and mills – to build and grow the entire African food economy. Corporate volunteers provide expertise to strengthen companies, from facility design to product development. The objective is to provide the technical and business know-how that African food companies need to develop. Strengthening the middle of the value chain has a ripple effect: consolidating markets for smallholder farmers and bringing more nutritious food to consumers. Corporate volunteers share their expertise with African entrepreneurs while honing their own skills.

Partners involved

Bühler, Cargill, DSM, General Mills, Ardent Mills, Hershey, Smuckers.

Impact

Since 2008, Partners in Food Solutions has contributed 1,371 active volunteers from corporate partners to provide 50 billion safer, more nutritious and affordable meal servings; 1,641 entrepreneurial food companies in Africa have received assistance or training from volunteer experts; women own or manage 34% of these client companies. Partners in Food Solutions client companies are located in 10 African countries, impacting 1.3 million smallholders that are part of their supply chains, for a total of 20,700 employees.

Barriers

Partners in Food Solutions clients across Africa face several significant barriers to producing safe, nutritious food that is affordable for local consumers. These obstacles include: difficulty accessing consistent, high-quality raw materials due to instability in supply (e.g., drought) and inconsistent quality (e.g., due to farmer practices); infrastructure challenges such as transportation/roads and power outages; unclear and complicated government regulations and processes; economic instability/fluctuation; difficult access to capital and high interest rates; lack of local technical staff/trained personnel.