This was the central theme at the SUN Business Network (SBN) Convening, held at the Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island Lagos on Tuesday, to mark its one year anniversary to reflect on the progress made thus far and to chart the course for a way forward.
The Senior Associate and Team Lead, SBN, Mrs. Uduak Igbeka, while speaking to AgroNigeria, expressed delight on the achievements of the organisation and reiterated that they were ready to do more in creating more awareness on the importance of business contribution to nutrition.
“I’m very happy for the strides we have made thus far. When we started last year, we had few membership, but now we have grown a larger network that is more impactful. We are ready to put in more efforts to increase consumer awareness on the importance of nutrition and to drive the business aspect of nutrition.”
Thereafter, the SUN Business Network Strategic Plan (2017-2020), was presented to members and invited guests, on measures to create awareness among the people to buy and consume nutritious foods.
As identified in the programme, one of the biggest challenges in the business of nutrition has been accessing finance. This was deliberated upon in the first panel session on the topic “Access to Finance for Business in Nutrition,” by leading professionals who identified the lack of adequate study and research by agropreneurs when they set up their businesses.
They advised businesses to show commitment to development in their business models and in their various communities as it easily grants access to funding from the development community.
The second panel session dwelt on “Supporting the Private Sector to Contribute to Nutrition in Nigeria.” It featured government representatives in the Federal Ministry of Budget and Planning, Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Federal Ministry of Health, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, and the Consumer Protection Council.
Emphasis was placed on the importance of nutrition to the overall well-being of the country. They agreed that there is the need for government agencies to adequately support private sector activities like the SBN programmes in the nutrition space, to better reach the vast majority who are not yet aware on the benefits of nutrition.
The SBN was lauded for their efforts at improving nutrition in Nigeria, and was charged to further deepen their sensitisation programmes so as to stimulate the nutrition space to partnering with the government and other private sector players to make nutrition everyone’s business in Nigeria.
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