Two Kenyan-based businesses among finalists in global competition

Sanergy and Honey Care Africa (HCA), both Kenyan-based businesses, are among the finalists in the 2014 Nestlé Prize in Creating Shared Value (CSV) global competition.

Sanergy, a social enterprise that makes affordable and hygienic sanitation accessible in the slums, promotes access to sanitation for the approximately eight million slum dwellers in Kenya who are forced to rely on unsanitary options such as “flying toilets”.

Honey Care Africa was shortlisted for its project in South Sudan where it is helping locals generate additional income through honey production.

The prize is awarded every two years to help scale or replicate business-oriented initiatives that address challenges in nutrition, water and rural development. It is open to individuals, governmental and non-governmental organisations, academia and social enterprises.

Sanergy was founded by three Massachusetts institute of Technology (MIT) graduates, David Auerbach, Ani Vallabhaneni and Lindsay Stradley. Mr Auerbach has done stints with the Clinton Foundation and Endeavour, a non-profit that supports entrepreneurs in emerging markets.

Mr Vallabhaneni has worked with a chain of dialysis clinics for low-income patients in the Philippines while Ms Stradley is a veteran of Teach for America and Google.
On a trip to Kenya, the trio saw locals paying Sh5 to use a pit latrine.

When they went back home, the three cofounders – all 33- years - old– wrote the business plan for Sanergy and its brand of Fresh Life toilets, which they submitted to the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition and won the $100,000 (Sh8.9 million) Diamond Prize at the 2011 MassChallenge Startup Competition and Accelerator.

Mr Auerbach says if they win the Nestlé prize, his organisation will use the cash prize to reach more than 300,000 people and create 2,000 new jobs in five years. “We have opened 470 toilets in the slums in Nairobi, with more than 20,000 residents now getting access to affordable and hygienic sanitation options,” he said.

Sanergy collects and treats more than seven tonnes of waste daily.

Honey Care Africa was established in 2000 as a social enterprise to promote sustainable community-based beekeeping in East Africa. It has been working in partnership with a number of non-governmental organisations and the governments of Kenya and Tanzania.

“We plan to use the prize money to help 35,000 farmers in impoverished South Sudan become commercial beekeepers by 2017, allowing them to generate additional income through honey production,” said Ryan Marincowitz, HCA South Sudan country manager.

The two Kenya-based companies are among three finalists all working across East Africa, who were shortlisted from 759 entries from all over the world. The third finalist was MSABI, a Tanzanian not-for-profit organisation promoting access to safe water and sanitation for rural populations in the country.

The three organisations will each win a share of the CHF500,000 (Sh48million). The overall winner will be announced at a gala on October 9.