We created the Nestlé Creating Shared Value Prize to help business-oriented initiatives that address challenges in nutrition, water, or rural development, to scale-up or be replicated.
Through the prize, we reward initiatives that reflect the spirit of Creating Shared Value, an approach any organisation can take to create economic returns by developing solutions to societal problems.
We look for innovative projects, programmes or businesses that have already been tested as a pilot or small scale, have demonstrated high social and environmental impact, and need support to become commercially viable.
We invest financial and technical resources in the winning initiatives, with the objective of helping them be brought to scale and to achieve financial sustainability. The winners share a total of CHF 500,000 in prize money (approx. USD 500,000).
2016 Prize winners
At the Creating Shared Value Global Forum in Abidjan, Nestlé announced the winner of the Creating Shared Value Prize 2016: Agro-Hub from Cameroon is the new prize laureate and Natural Extracts Industries (NEI) from Tanzania the runner-up.
Nestlé CEO Paul Bulcke highlighted in the context of the conference theme "Investing in sustainable development in Africa" that Agro-Hub has successfully linked smallholder cassava farmers to buyers. It has provided them with opportunities to generate significant and sustainable income. Agro-Hub receives CHF 300’000 to upgrade its cassava processing facilities.
Natural Extracts Industries, a social enterprise from Tanzania, was selected Creating Shared Value Prize runner-up for pioneering the sustainable extraction of vanilla and other natural flavours in Tanzania. Supporting rural development and sustainability, Natural Extracts Industries receives CHF 200’000 in prize monies to expand its network of smallholder farmers which supply natural flavouring ingredients.
This is the fourth time that Nestlé awarded the Creating Shared Value Prize. The company will be opening the application process for the next competition in 2017, and again be looking for innovative businesses or social enterprises in the areas of nutrition, water and rural development.
2018 Prize
The call for entries for the 2016 Nestlé Creating Shared Value Prize is now closed. The application process for the Nestlé Creating Shared Value Prize 2018 will open in early 2017.
More information is available in the Official Rules (pdf, 223 Kb) and in the Frequently Asked Questions (pdf, 160 Kb)
Any questions? Contact us at CSVPrize@nestle.com.