Food 4 Education Named to TIME's List of 100 Most Influential Companies 2024
Recognized for Efforts to Eradicate Childhood Hunger, F4E is Creating the Blueprint to Accelerate Sustainable School Feeding Programs in Africa
NAIROBI, Kenya, May 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Food 4 Education (F4E) - a Kenyan non-profit on a mission to eradicate childhood hunger by mainstreaming scalable and high-quality school feeding across Africa - today announced that it has been named to the fourth annual TIME100 Most Influential Companies list, which highlights companies making an extraordinary impact around the world. This honor recognizes F4E's vital role in ensuring Africa's children – the global workforce of the future – have access to a hot, affordable, and nutritious school meal every day.
Every day, millions of African school children wake up to the devastating reality of hunger, affecting not only their physical health but their cognitive and social-emotional development - 90% lack a minimally appropriate diet and 50% don't eat at recommended frequencies. As the largest locally-led and independently run school feeding program in Africa, F4E is working to close this hunger gap by creating the blueprint for scalable, replicable, and cost-efficient school feeding across Africa.
"In only 25 years, one in four people will be African - this seismic demographic shift underscores the urgency of expanding locally-rooted school feeding programs as a crucial investment in our shared future. It also represents a significant opportunity to build more resilient, just, and sustainable food systems across the continent," said Wawira Njiru, CEO, Food 4 Education. "Today serves as proof of the transformative power of food in changing lives. As an African non-profit, we take immense pride in being recognized in the TIME100 list, alongside numerous innovative and impactful companies worldwide."
From feeding 25 kids from a single makeshift kitchen in 2012, F4E has evolved into a large-scale operation that now provides over 300,000 meals daily, demonstrating the vision, dedication, and operational efficiency of a global food corporation. Working across multiple value chains, F4E sits at the heart of a locally-powered network that includes thousands of smallholder farmers (75% women-led), a trusted pool of aggregators, a 30,000 ft2 warehouse, 20 centralized and 55 semi-centralized rural kitchens reaching more than 1,000 schools.
Food 4 Education Board Chair Kristin Groos Richmond commented, "Having co-founded and worked as the CEO of Revolution Foods delivering healthy school meals in the United States, I understand the profound impact that access to nutritious food can have on a child's ability to learn and thrive. Witnessing the dedication of F4E in tackling childhood hunger in Africa is deeply personal to me. I am honored to support F4E and its innovative approach to transforming lives through nutrition and education, which this extraordinary award by TIME so aptly recognises."
Through a strategic alliance of philanthropy, government, and parent ownership, F4E's working model prioritizes the highest nutritional quality, investment in local economies and communities, people-centered innovation and operational excellence. To date, its efforts are driving a sustained, positive impact on nutritional, educational and economic outcomes for school children and the wider local community with 100% daily dietary diversity needs met, up to 37% increase in school enrollment, and over 3,000 jobs created.
Notes to the editor
To assemble this fourth-annual list which highlights companies making an extraordinary impact around the world, TIME solicited nominations from its global network of contributors and correspondents as well as from outside experts. Then TIME editors evaluated each on key factors, including impact, innovation, ambition, and success. The result is a diverse group of 100 businesses helping chart an essential path forward.
See the full TIME100 Companies list here: time.com/100companies
About Food 4 Education (F4E)
Hungry children can't learn. They don't have the strength, attention span, or interest. School feeding programs (SFPs) are the solution to classroom hunger. Yet there's only 14% penetration within Africa. Food 4 Education is changing that by providing hot, affordable, and nutritious school meals every day and investing in Africa's future.
A social enterprise, Food 4 Education mainstreams locally-rooted school feeding programs across Africa by designing a blueprint, operating it, then supporting replication. Launched in Kenya in 2012 by CEO Wawira Njiru, the organization began by feeding 25 children from one makeshift kitchen and has grown into a large-scale operation that feeds over 300,000 kids a day and has served over 45 million meals and counting. Food 4 Education has also created a sustainable school feeding ecosystem that includes smallholder farmers, logistics providers, government, and parents, creating 3,000 jobs in the communities it operates in.
In 2024, Food 4 Education received the 2024 Skoll Foundation award for Social Innovation and was named to TIME 100's list of the most influential companies. Learn more: www.food4education.org
For all press inquiries and requests for interviews, please contact Derrick Amoako:
E: [email protected]; [email protected]; M: +44 (0) 7759764174
For more information:
F4E Website
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