Nestle wishes women around the world a Happy Women’s Day

March 8, 2010

Creating value for society while creating value for shareholders is Nestlé’s approach to CSR. As women are a major workforce at Nestlé – in farms, factories and offices – Nestlé has implemented a worldwide initiative to accelerate gender balance. This initiative includes giving our leadership teams the necessary background and best practice guidance necessary to increase gender balance,  Some reviewing human resources processes, and deploying locally adapted action plans in all markets.

Nestle Japan, for example has run gender balance awareness workshops with more than 250 participants, including its entire management team, while 3 task forces (one each for sales, factories, and women and leadership) have been set up.

Nestlé also has specific programmes targeted at women in the farming communities where the company sources its raw materials. The Village Women Dairy Development Programme in the Moga milk district of Punjab, India, focuses on advising female dairy workers on efficient water usage and other agricultural practices. Nestlé is also promoting cottage industries for women in South Africa and conducting nutrition education programmes for women in Nigeria.

We would like to thank you for your continued support as we celebrate Women’s day today!

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Nestlé inaugurates USD 100 million milk processing facility in Indonesia

March 3, 2010

Nestlé today inaugurated the USD 100 million expansion of its milk processing facilities in Kejayan, Indonesia, which has now become one of Nestlé’s ten largest milk-processing plants worldwide.

In one of the company’s largest investments ever in the country, Nestlé is aiming to double the Kejayan plant’s capacity to produce high quality nutritious milk products to meet the demand of Indonesian consumers. This will significantly increase Nestlé fresh milk intake from local dairy farmers to more than one million litres per day in the next few years from its present intake of approximately 620,000 liters per day. The Kejayan plant has always stood as a symbol of Nestlé’s commitment to Indonesia, particularly to the 30,000 dairy farmers of East Java, Indonesia who have been collaborating with the company for over 30 years. The expansion is expected to have a significant impact on the economic development of the surrounding area. An excellent example of creating shared value –  for society as well as shareholders.

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Nestlé Prize in Creating Shared Value: Winner to be announced on 27 May

February 16, 2010

The first edition of the Nestlé Prize in Creating Shared Value was a great success with more than 500 applications received from all over the world. Thank you to all participants for sending us their project applications!

Applications received represented a broad range of approaches to problems of nutrition, water, or rural development. Examples of projects included innovative solutions for improving access to and management of water, for improving the lives of farmers and rural communities, or delivering high nutritional value to populations suffering from nutritional deficiencies.

The Nestlé Prize Screening Committee selected the best applications from the pool of entries and the Nestlé Advisory Board on Creating Shared Value will choose the Nestlé Prize Laureate. Mark your calendar: the winner will be announced on 27 May, 2010!

The Nestlé Prize in Creating Shared Value seeks to recognize successes in the areas of nutrition, water, and rural development. More information about the Prize can be found on http://www.nestle.com/CSV/CSVatNestle/CsvPrize/About.htm.

Nestlé will commit to the Prize winner an investment of up to CHF 500,000 for a specified period of time, to assist in the development and scale-up of the innovation.

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Barbara Wettstein on February 24, 2010
Dear Rachid, Thank you for your message. We cannot update candidates on the status of their application yet. You should check ...

biessar rachid on February 22, 2010
hi, i'm candidat for Nestle prize, a want to have more information about my project. best regards

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World Bank President visits R&D Centre in Abidjan

February 5, 2010

Robert Zoellick, President of the World Bank, visited the Nestlé R&D Centre in Abidjan last week for an insight on Nestlé’s commitment to sustainability in cocoa.

Accompanied by Klaus Zimmermann, Senior Vice President R&D, and Serigne Diop, Head of R&D Centre, Abidjan, Mr Zoellick observed the activities of cocoa nurseries and took part in a discussion with farmers at the Centre.

Mr Zoellick was impressed that a global company like Nestlé was working with local producers to help make products of a global standard. He added that it was encouraging to see local jobs created and emphasised the importance of connecting global and local.

The Centre, which was inaugurated nine months ago, focuses on improving the quality of locally-sourced raw materials, including cocoa, coffee and cassava. In addressing the problem of disease and ageing plantations affecting the West African cocoa harvest, Nestlé has transferred its propagation technology to the site in Abidjan from its R&D Centre in Tours, France.

The plant science activities are part of the CHF 110 million group-wide initiative The Cocoa Plan, which was launched last October. The plan is an important and significant part of broad, collaborative efforts to improve the cocoa supply chain and the lives of cocoa farmers and communities. This includes improving the quantity and quality of yields by providing 12 million stronger productive plantlets to farmers over the next ten years and teaching farmers more efficient farming methods.

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Nestlé at the World Economic Forum in Davos

February 2, 2010

The World Economic Forum Annual meeting in Davos brought together leaders from governments, business, civil society, academia and media  to discuss the most pressing issues facing the world today.

Nestle at Davos

At a session on “Rebuilding Water Management”, Nestlé Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, part of a panel comprising Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj (President of Mongolia) Ajit Gulabchand (Chairman and Managing Director, Hindustan Construction Company), Michael Mack (CEO, Syngenta), and Ajay Vashee (President, International Federation of Agricultural Producers) explored the challenges water management will face in the next 20 years, its relevance and impact on issues such as health and security, as well as how best to implement information systems tools to protect and strengthen water management.

At a another panel “Global Industry Outlook: Health, Consumers, Tech and Travel”, Chairs of the WEF Governors Meetings each shared their industry’s evaluation of the most important challenges and opportunities facing them in 2010.

Global Industry Outlook sessions at the WEF provide an update on the state of the telecommunications, travel, health and consumer industries worldwide, map out external and internal growth factors and trend, and recommend practical solutions which will help business and government leaders collaborate most effectively in achieving this vision.

Nestlé CEO Paul Bulcke presented the consumer industry’s perspective at the session. The two major issues Mr. Bulcke focused on were water security and food security. In order to increase water security, Mr. Bulcke recommended more appropriate water pricing, efficient irrigation and water use, cultivation of the right crops for the right climate, stopping of biofuel production and lastly, the need for more research in water rights trading.

His recommendations to increase food security were sustainable production without western-style agricultural policies and subsidies, generation of reliable incomes for farmers through better  productivity, and added that food must be affordable and accessible and of proper “quality”. He reiterated that the private sector is part of the solution.

Mr. Bulcke also outlined Nestlé’s concept of Creating Shared Value (CSV) — the positive role of business on society. This concept is well grounded in Nestlé’s roots as its very first product, an infant cereal developed in 1866, was both a business opportunity and a response to an urgent societal need – both factors being mutually inclusive. Put simply, business can do business and do good at the same time.

Stating that companies should aim to create and share value at all levels of the value chain, Mr. Bulcke added that when value is created and shared, people’s sense of responsibility, of ownership and stewardship increases.

Click on Global Industry Outlook: Health, Consumers, Tech and Travel to view video of session.

Successful companies can create shared value by identifying desirable outcomes for both shareholders and communities – with the right labor, human rights, development, sustainability and community policies.

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Nestlé Creating Shared Value: 2009 in images

January 19, 2010

A visual summary of Nestlé’s commitment to creating shared value in 2009. We look forward to your comments!

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The shift in Corporate Social Responsibility

December 11, 2009

In the past decade, there has been a significant shift in the way the private sector has addressed corporate social responsibility (CSR) – from inserting an environmental section to their annual financial report and only reacting to issues when it hit the media to being pro-active and embedding CSR as part of their day-to-day business operations.

Bill Greenhalgh, in his recent article on CSR in the Financial Post, mentioned Nestlé’s work in the milk districts in India as “the ultimate example of altruistic self-interest” by continuously implemented initiatives that have improved the quality of life of the communities around its factories.

Over the past 50 years, Nestlé has developed artificial insemination programmes for cattle, subsidised farmers’ purchase of milking machines and helped procure loans for the community. In addition, company veterinarians and agronomists supervise the milk routes and advise farmers on the most appropriate feed for the herds and milk storage facilities have been set up in close location to the farmers. 

Corporations need to change the way they manage “people, planet, and profit” and embrace CSR as the way they do business.

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panama on March 2, 2010
Fantastic, thanks for posting!

Susan Steinhagen on February 2, 2010
Michael, thank you for your comment. I would like to point out that creating shared value (CSV) concept (first coined ...

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KitKat goes Fairtrade in the UK and Ireland

December 11, 2009

Nestlé UK has announced its four-finger Kit Kat bar will be certified by Fairtrade* in the United Kingdom and Ireland from January 2010.

The UK Fairtrade certification is one example of Nestlé’s global commitment to promote sustainable cocoa production and support farmers and cocoa farming communities through The Cocoa Plan.

Nestlé has been working in Côte d’Ivoire – one of the poorest countries in the world – for over 50 years. The Fairtrade certification of Kit Kat will facilitate long-term direct commitments to cocoa co-operatives in Côte d’Ivoire, including additional payments for the farmers to invest in community or business development projects of their own choice, such as improving healthcare and schools. This is part of a long-term plan of Nestlé to create shared value in rural areas of where farming communities are solely dependent on coffee and cocoa for their livelihood.

The Cocoa Plan will also benefit Ivorian farmers by offering Nestlé’s agricultural and scientific know-how to improve the quality and yield of cocoa plants, offer farmer training and education, while improving the social conditions for farmers and their communities.

We welcome readers to share similar initiatives that create shared value in rural communities and demonstrate the responsible use of natural resources as well as enhances the well-being of the farming communities.

* The Fairtrade Foundation, established in 1992, is the independent non-profit organisation that ensures disadvantaged farmers and workers in developing countries get a better deal.

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Criança do Café na Escola (Coffee kids at School)

November 27, 2009

CeCafé – Conselho dos Exportadores de Café do Brasil (Brazilian Coffee Exporters Council) has developed a project to promote “digital inclusion”, called “Criança do Café na Escola” (Coffee kids at school) whereby Cecafé builds computer/IT facilities in schools educating children coming from predominantly coffee-growing areas.

The aim of this project, which was created in 2004, is to incentivise the children to attend school, and apart from receiving regular education, the children will also learn how to use computers. The IT facilities are also used to educate adults during after-school hours.

Nestlé Brasil, in partnership with CeCafé and coffee exporter Atlantica, has contributed toward the construction of one such facility in 2009, with a few more planned in 2010.  To date, more than 96 facilities have been built through this project.

For more information on Criança do Café na Escola, please visit: http://www.cecafe.com.br/responsabilidade_social.asp#ProjetoIncDigital (Portuguese)

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The global economic crisis and impacts on children and caregivers

November 11, 2009

A new ODI background note, commissioned by the UNICEF Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa, assesses the evidence about the current and potential impacts of the ‘Triple F crisis’ (food, fuel, financial) on children and women in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). It draws on an analytical framework developed by ODI’s Social Development Programme to assess the impacts of economic crises on children’s experiences of poverty and vulnerability, and how government and donor policy responses could determine the severity of these impacts.

The paper finds that the crisis is already undermining children’s rights along a number of dimensions, including increased food insecurity and related risks of child malnutrition; rising rates of school dropouts in poorer countries in the region, with concerns about rising child protection threats (including harmful forms of child labour); rising vulnerability among migrant, refugee and IDP families; and significant impacts on the employment prospects of young people, already a major concern in many parts of the region.

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