FDBusiness.com

Gloabl brewer Heineken has been presented with the 2010 World Business and Development (WBD) Award for its groundbreaking sustainable local supply chain initiative in Sierra Leone. Heineken is one of only ten organisations to receive the 2010 WBD award. According to the members of the International Judging Panel, Heineken impressed by demonstrating a clear link between vital business practices and the contribution of the project towards the Millennium Development Goals.

Heineken’s local sourcing project in Sierra Leone is part of the company’s Africa-wide strategy to procure at least 60% of its raw materials locally. Moreover, the Sierra Leone case has stimulated local entrepreneurship, created hundreds of new jobs for local population and increased smallholder farmers’ incomes significantly, thereby alleviating poverty.

Since 1988, Heineken has been developing its sorghum brewing technology and know-how. The award-winning project in Sierra Leone was established in 2005 with the goal to develop a sustainable local supply chain for Sierra Leone Breweries (SLBL). SLBL trained farmers in good agricultural practices, organised bulking and transport and tested new sorghum varieties for better processing quality and yield. The sustainable local supply chain was established with co-funding of the Common Fund for Commodities, an international institution that specialises in commodity development.

The project has helped local farmers compete against imported grains. It has raised smallholder farmers’ incomes derived from sorghum, which has directly contributed to the alleviation of poverty for this critical group of farmers.