Nestlé inspires the private sector in Egypt

Nestlé’s dedication to women empowerment, supporting youth and entrepreneurship in Egypt inspires the private sector to investment in this area of development. As the start-up communities in Egypt persevere in creativity and community outreach, there is a sustained need to gain support in funds and capacity-building from established entities. Nestlé has been a front-runner in this category on a global scale, promoting a start-up competition for projects every two years, offering awards 500,000 CHF to winners by the Nestlé Community Shared Values (CSV) Council. This year, an Egyptian start-up was nominated among six finalists out of 1,000 received projects and we sat down with Nestlé to get all the insights.

Dr. Nahla Kamal is the Corporate Affairs Head at Nestlé North East Africa Region, responsible for the corporate shared value initiatives. Dr. Kamal, explains the importance of the competition and its alignment with Nestlé’s vision and values to help developing communities across the country.

Dr. Kamal, may you please explain the importance of women empowerment in Nestlé and its impact in Egypt?

Nestlé’s vision is to enhance the quality of life and to contribute to a healthier future. With this in mind, there is continuous effort to support the sustainable development goals that is segregated into 3 main pillars: individuals and families, communities and environmental impact. Under community development values, we value women empowerment as an essential factor to improving communities’ livelihood and achieving economic prosperity in the country.

Adding to that, internally Nestlé is committed to being a diverse work place that respects equal opportunities for both genders. We adopt policies that promote women economic empowerment through positive measures including offering six months of paid maternity leave as well as adopting fair recruitment, promotion and compensation policies based on individual competencies.

Why is this competition an integral part to empowering women in Egypt?

Let’s talk about the Egyptian finalist as an example; “Mumm”, is a startup selling home-made food prepared by housewives and targeting the masses across Cairo. The project has been nominated amongst six finalists, and will compete on the final prize in Brazil. "Mumm" was selected for its social contribution as a platform that supports housewives and women who are unable to find proper job opportunities or have to stay at home due to family responsibilities. Thus, the project offers them an employment opportunity that suits their circumstances; they can work from home and also secure an income that supports them to become more independent. Through their website, the women sell the meals they prepared at reasonable prices and also deliver them to clients. Moreover, “Mumm” went the extra mile and the team was keen to engage female refugees living in Egypt in the project. The Syrian food on Mumm’s menu became very popular and the women can sustain their families and become more independent. With this in consideration, “Mumm” helps communities pursue healthier lifestyles in a time where junk food prevails.

How are Nestlé and “Mumm” working towards aligned goals?

We adopt a sustained community development approach in relation to nutrition, water and rural development. This approach complies with laws and business ethics that are reflected in our daily working routine. To enhance our business operations in the country, we defined and considered these values as core responsibilities that initiate projects to deliver those goals. One of these is the global competition that offers awards to start-ups internationally.

Relative to nutrition, health and wellness, we believe in continuously offering tastier and healthier choices for individuals and families. We have specialized departments in Nestlé that research and develop new and innovative scientific findings to enhance the nutritional value of products produced and sold internationally. With this in mind, we have a particular ambition to inspire people to lead healthier lives by building, sharing and applying nutritional knowledge in communities.

Hence, “Mumm” has goals that are aligned with Nestlé on this strategy specifically. By promoting a diverse set of nutritional options from home-cooked meals, they are collectively offering tastier and healthier choices to their customers to enhance their quality of life. Even though youth and various employees are constantly on-the-go, they are no longer limited with fast food options, and can have their very own home-cooked meal to a healthier lifestyle.

Improving youth employability and encouraging entrepreneurs is another priority in Nestlé, and that it is our company’s duty to play a significant role in addressing the youth unemployment rate, “Mumm” is sharing the same purpose, the owner himself is a young entrepreneur who is supporting the young startups by recruiting them and give them the needed platform through which they are able to grow their businesses.

Why do you think Mumm is offering a unique idea that enabled the project to earn its place as a finalist in the competition?

“Mumm” has employed more than 80 women and created more than 110 sustainable jobs in less than two years with minimal investment. Women working in the business became financially independent while working on a flexible schedule that suits their circumstances. The sustainability factor is quite attractive to any business investor, as they are continuously increasing capacity-building workshops and trainings to increase awareness of their food partners in management of Food &Beverages, pricing and marketing.

If they win the competition, they will be able to increase the capital and hence they can recruit more women and further develop the adopted operating technology in the business. "Mumm" is creating job opportunities for women which directly contributes to the prosperity of the economy in the country.

From this experience, how would you advise women to actively participate in communities from their homes?

I advise women to focus on offering a product or a service that can lead to the development of the entire family. Women should present themselves as role models to their children and teach them that hard work pays off. As a first step, women can make benefit of this modern technology era to enhance their personal capacity and acquire new skills set.