Our nutrition network Africa

Providing support, building networks, providing communication & education materials

From Turkey to South Africa

The activities of the Unilever Nutrition Network in Africa stretch from Turkey to South Africa, where we provide nutritional support to our operating companies, build external networks with local stakeholders, provide communication and education materials and organise campaigns. The head of this network operates from Durban, South Africa.

Popular foods Africa

In 1999 a new business group in Africa was created called Popular Foods Africa. Popular Foods targets mass market consumers with nutritious and popular “centre of plate” foods and snacks at an affordable price. Popular Food products are manufactured by third parties for three reasons:

• To make it more cost effective;
• To focus on our core competencies; marketing, sales and innovation, instead of manufacturing;
• To stimulate local entrepreneurs to run their own businesses and thus to stimulate the local economy. 

Iodised salt in Ghana

Annapurna iodised salt is the first Popular Foods product that we launched in Ghana in 2000. Small pack sizes, an affordable price and efficient retail distribution channels make it available for our target consumers. Following the launch of this product, home penetration of iodised salt has increased from 28% in 2000 to 51% in 2002.

Fortified whole maize flour in Kenya

In 2002 we launched fortified whole maize flour in Kenya under the brand name, Annapurna. Whole maize flour is largely consumed by the lower income groups of the population. They are the most vulnerable to becoming micronutrient deficient. Annapurna was the first branded whole maize flour. It is fortified with iron and iodine for mental and physical performance. Other added nutrients are: vitamin A, B1, B2, B6, B12, niacin and folic acid.

Krrunchy Biscuits in Ghana

The third product was also launched in Ghana: Krrunchy Biscuits. These are fortified with vitamin A and zinc to boost the immune system. With Krrunchy biscuits we target (school) children. The biscuits are available in small size packages, containing 3 biscuits, at an affordable price. This enables the children to buy Krrunchy biscuits with their pocket money. Currently, over 6 million biscuits per month are being sold.

Rolling-out local successes

It is our intention to leverage our “multinational multilocal” presence in Africa by quickly rolling-out the local successes to other countries in Africa.