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| Wawira Njiru CEO of Food for Education. |
Food for Education (F4E) has been named to the fourth annual TIME100 Most Influential Companies list, which highlights companies making an extraordinary impact around the world.
Time recognised F4E for its role in providing high-quality school feeding programs, ensuring millions of African children have access to a hot, affordable, and nutritious school meal every day.
According to recent data, a staggering 90% of African school children lack a minimally appropriate diet while 50% do not eat at recommended frequencies which affects their health and development.
Food for Education CEO, Wawira Njiru says the organisation aims to close this hunger gap by creating the blueprint for scalable, replicable, and cost-efficient school feeding programs 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.
Wawira Njiru with pupils of Olympic Primary school.
“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,” she added.
From feeding 25 kids from a single makeshift kitchen in 2012, Food for Education has evolved into a large-scale operation that now provides over 300,000 meals daily.
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.
“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,” stated F4E Board Chair Kristin Groos Richmond.
Through strategic partnerships with philanthropists, governments, and local communities, F4E has achieved remarkable results, including meeting 100% of daily dietary diversity needs and increasing school enrollment by up to 37%.
The organization’s model emphasises nutritional quality, community investment, and operational excellence, driving positive outcomes for over 3,000 jobs created and countless lives transformed.
BY KBC NEWS