Nestle Recognizes work on sand dam technology in Kenya with prize money worth over KES 9 million

Excellent Development and its Kenyan partner African Sand Dam Foundation receive the Nestle CSV 2012 Awards, which will give a further boost to spreading the technology across water stressed areas in Sub Saharan Africa.

Nestle S.A announced the winners of the Creating Shared Value Prize 2012 at the annual Nestle Creating Shared Value Forum held this year in New Delhi, India. The runner up award with a prize money of more than KES 9 million (CHF 100,000) was given to Excellent Development, a UK based not for profit organization and its Kenyan partner, Africa Sand Dam Foundation. 

Together, Excellent Development and ASDF work hand in hand to promote sand dams around the world. This Nestle CSV Prize is a recognition of the work done by these two NGOs on pioneering the sand dam technology and the benefits it creates for rural communities. Present at the ceremony to receive the Prize were Simon Maddrell,  Executive Director of Excellent Development,  Cornelius Kyalo and Andrew Musila from ASDF.

Since 2002, Excellent Development and its partners have supported 3,863 self- help group members from 104 communities in Kenya to build 347 sand dams. Since then, group members have dug 1,344 km of terracing, enabling them to grow more food, and planted more than 830,000 trees. This has directly benefited 23,294 members and their families - impacting 342,500 people across Kenya.

The Africa Sand Dam Foundation, based in Eastern Kenya, works with local communities, organized in self -help groups to address their water and food priorities. The communities build sand dams, which are the most cost effective method of capturing rainwater and can be built anywhere where there are seasonal rivers with sandy sediment. They invest at least 40% of the resources needed to complete the project. Once these dams are built they can provide a year round source of water for both drinking and for irrigation purposes.

Every two years, innovative schemes related to nutrition, water and rural development are short listed for the Nestle Creating Shared Value Prize. This year, Nestle has selected one winner and two runners up to share the total prize money of CHF 500,000 (KES 45 million).

The CSV Prize highlights examples of Creating Shared Value in which the funding award helps innovative and commercially viable initiatives to scale up and achieve financial sustainability. Building on Nestlé’s foundations of compliance and sustainability, CSV is the company's approach to doing business. It aims to create value for the company's shareholders at the same time as for the communities in which it operates.

The Prize is open to individuals, governmental and non-governmental organizations, academia and social enterprises. This year, more than 600 applications from 76 countries were received. The Board selected an overall winner and two runners up.

The winner of the first prize was Fundacion Paraguaya de Cooperation y Desarrollo, Paraguay and the other runner up was Arcenciel, from Lebanon, who received CHF 300,000 (KES 27 million) and CHF 100,000 (KES 9million).

To learn more about the Excellent Development project, follow the link below:

http://www.nestle.com/Media/MediaLibrary/MediaVideos/Pages/VideoNewsSingle.aspx?guid=1_nq1wjloj

LG TO LAUNCH NEW AIR CONDITIONER IN AFRICA WITH MORE POWER COOL AIR AND DURABILITY

LG’s New Titan Series Delivers Powerful Cool Air and Ensures Optimal Performance for Prolonged Periods, Even in Extreme Weather Conditions

LG Electronics (LG) will launch its new Titan series air conditioners in Africa, which have been designed to deliver powerful cooling and withstand the region’s often punishing weather conditions and unstable electricity supplies.

“This will be another range of air conditioning solutions tailormade for the African market. I falls well within LG’s commitment to cutting edge products that meet and surpass customer expectations. It is a product of wide research by our innovations team,” said LG Electronics Managing Director for East and Central Africa region Mr. Josep Kim.

 

The Titan series has been designed to last, as it combines high-tech performance with rugged durability. As the African region often suffers from unstable power supplies, LG has installed the Super Automatic Voltage Switcher (AVS) to protect the compressor from being damaged by fluctuations in the electric current. The Super AVS does so by monitoring voltage supplies and shutting down the flow of electric currents that are not between 170-290 volts. In addition, the Tropical Compressor is designed to operate for 24 hours a day, even through sandstorms and temperatures as high as 54°C. The anti corrosion coating, the Gold Fin, makes the unit’s heat exchanger more resistant to corrosion.

The Titan series also boasts power cooling, an essential requirement in a punishingly hot region. The Titan can blast out cool air at distances of up to 10 meters, the longest range of any air conditioner on the market today. The Jet Cool function and the 4-way Swing system enable the unit to blow cool air in practically any direction at maximum speed, cooling rooms in the shortest possible time, regardless of the outside temperature.

To ensure the Titan series provides customers with the most comfortable and refreshing environment, LG has added unique health features. The Auto Cleaning function purifies air throughout the home, while simultaneously sterilizing the air conditioner’s interior, preventing molds and bacteria from forming within the air conditioner.

Air purification does not stop there. The Allergy & Virus Safe filter eliminates allergen, apatite and binder, as well as 99.9 percent of H1N1 viruses over the course of 24 hours. The Triple filter reduces allergy symptoms and removes unpleasant odors, while the Plasmaster filter reduces microscopic contaminants and dust, as well as house mites, micro dust and pet fur.

“LG guarantees satisfaction to its African consumers, who desire stable and powerful cooling solutions that can overcome extremely hot climates,” said Bae Seung Youl, the Air Conditioning Manager. “In order to remain the No.1 air conditioning company in Africa, we will continue to raise the bar for air conditioners, and our customers will always be kept perfectly comfortable and cool, regardless of the weather conditions outside.”

The Titan series will be released in a number of African countries, including OO, OO.