A social enterprise in Cebu called Fishers and Changemakers Inc. which works with fisher folk is the joint winner of Nestlé’s global Creating Shared Value Prize for 2018, along with “Mumm” from Egypt, an online platform and delivery service offering healthy homemade food while empowering women.
Established in 2014, FCI is a social enterprise that teams up with fishing communities to produce and distribute high-quality Balangay’s Best Seafood Products.
The two winning social entrepreneurs have been awarded CHF 150,000 (over P8 million) each for their outstanding work in rural development and nutrition.The prize will enable the winners to help scale up their projects, making them viable business initiatives with a lasting impact on people’s lives.
Some 1,072 entries from 106 countries were received for the 2018 competition, with 56 applicants shortlisted and six finalists selected to pitch their ideas at the 2018 Creating Shared Value Forum in Brazilia, Brazil. The winners were announced during the prize ceremony at the CSV Forum, with Nestlé S.A. chief executive Marck Schneider presenting the prize to the winners.
FCI empowers fishermen to build sustainable seafood businesses through savings clubs, aiming to increase the income of fishing families by enabling them to produce sustainably-sourced goods.
With the help of the NGO Rare, fishermen are trained in sustainable fishing practices. Further, they are trained to process dried seafood. FCI assists in marketing, distributing and selling the packed food to consumer markets.
The enterprise works with 150 fishing families in seven municipalities in Cebu, Occidental Mindoro, Negros Oriental and Surigao del Sur.
FCI does not only offer fisher folk a higher price for their catch, thereby improving their economic situation and social conditions; it also encourages them to save through savings clubs. Furthermore, with the help of NGOs like Rare, the program facilitates efforts to care for the marine environment.
CSV is defined as harnessing the power of private enterprise to address social challenges with business solutions, a philosophy that drives decision-making at Nestlé and is reflected in the company’s purpose of enhancing quality of life and contributing to a healthier future.
In line with this philosophy, Nestlé S.A. devotes time and effort to find and support entrepreneurs who exemplify CSV through their business ideas and actions. Harnessing these innovations will put new solutions on the table while helping to spread wealth and prosperity. To recognize and promote the work of pioneers in this field, the Nestlé Creating Shared Value Prize was first launched in 2010.
Through the CSV Prize, Nestlé hopes to profile the power of innovation, showing how the right approach to business can deliver commercial success along with greater returns for society as a whole.
In order to deepen engagement with social entrepreneurs, this year, Nestlé teamed up with Ashoka, the world’s leading network of systems-changing social entrepreneurs.
