The Capricorn Foundation has named Sara Ekondo of Awana Foods in Oshakati as the winner of the 2022 Capricorn Foundation Food Waste Challenge, an award that carries a N.dollars 100 000 cash prize.

The Capricorn Foundation Food Waste Challenge was launched in July 2022, challenging the public to pitch innovative and sustainable solutions to reduce food waste in Namibia, thereby promoting food security.

Individual submissions accounted for 70 per cent of the 101 total submissions, with teams and business submissions accounting for the remaining 30 per cent.

South Africa, Botswana, Kenya, India and Portugal sent submissions, while Namibians sent submissions from all over the country, from Noordoewer to Katima Mulilo.

The submissions were subjected to an extensive internal judging process, in which they were scored against a set of criteria before being presented to an external judging panel comprised of representatives from various sectors of the economy to vote on the top 10 submissions and the winning solution.

In a press release issued on Monday, Rikus Grobler, Manager for Innovation at Capricorn Group and Food Waste Challenge Project Coordinator, announced Awana Foods as the overall winner and recipient of the N.dollars 100 000 for the idea “Extending the shelf-life of produce and reducing waste through value addition and preservation.”

He explained that Awana Foods is a local business based in Oshakati, and its solution is based on sourcing excess and B-grade produce from farmers and converting it into various products with the goal of extending shelf life, while retaining nutritional value, such as chutney and concentrate syrup.

An audit conducted by the City of Windhoek between 16 and 20 November 2020 discovered a total of 19 tonnes of waste, with organic food products/leftovers and organic garden refuse accounting for the largest proportion of waste categories recorded (16 per cent and 13 per cent, respectively).

“It is against this backdrop that the Capricorn Foundation launched this innovative initiative to seek new possibilities in addressing the basic need of food security for Namibia’s most vulnerable people and, in the same vein, to positively impact society to improve the quality of life, in collaboration with Skild, which provided the foundation with the Open Innovation platform, and Namibia Media Holdings as the media partner,” Grobler explained.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency