The SUN Business Network (SBN) aims to increase the availability and affordability of safe, nutritious foods to consumers, especially low-income consumers through activities at global and national levels. At a national level, the SBN convenes businesses, assesses technical, financial and other business support service needs for members, and advocates the role of business in addressing nutrition at country level. Read More
The SUN Business Network (SBN) aims to increase the availability and affordability of safe, nutritious foods to consumers, especially low-income consumers through activities at global and national levels. At a national level, the SBN convenes businesses, assesses technical, financial and other business support service needs for members, and advocates the role of business in addressing nutrition at country level. At a global level, the SBN acts as a focal point for engaging multinational businesses in nutrition activities such as making workplace nutrition commitments.Read More
The SUN Business Network (SBN) aims to increase the availability and affordability of safe, nutritious foods to consumers, especially low-income consumers through activities at global and national levels. At a national level, the SBN convenes businesses, assesses technical, financial and other business support service needs for members, and advocates the role of business in addressing nutrition at country level.Read More
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using 'Content here, content here', making it look like readable English. Read More
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The Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Pitch Competition, organised by the SUN Business Network, harnesses innovative solutions for improved nutrition by connecting Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in emerging markets with technical assistance and investment opportunities. The Global SUN Pitch Competition 2020 took place as a virtual event on 30th July 2020, showcasing the top 21 entrepreneurs shortlisted from National SUN Pitch Competitions in 2019. Read More
SMEs are critical in shaping the nutritional outcomes of local food systems; 64% of food consumed in Africa is handled by millions of SMEs along agri-food value chains as input suppliers, off-takers, processors, distributors, or otherwise. They constitute a pull factor, aggregating smallholder farmers into the value chain and upgrading the quality and efficiency of farming, leading to a more sustainable food system. Read More
The success of the SUN Pitch Competition is thanks to the generous support of our sponsors and partners, without whom the competition would not be possible. Our sponsors and partners offer a variety of in-kind and financial contributions to support the national and global pitch competitions, provide mentorship to finalists and increase the visibility of the competition Read More
The Global SUN Pitch Competition brought together 21 innovative SMEs from national pitch competitions in Africa and Asia to pitch their nutrition solution to a panel of high-level judges and an audience of investors for a chance to win cash and technical assistance prizes. Read More
National SUN Pitch Competitions are run by SUN Business Networks in partnership with a local accelerator. All shortlisted applicants selected through National SUN Pitch Competitions compete in an in-person bootcamp focused on nutrition awareness, strategy for scale and soft skills training, culminating in a national pitching event. National SUN Pitch Competitions were held in the following countries throughout 2019:
To address the high burden of malnutrition an ambitious re-imagining of food system solutions is needed; pulling in novel solutions and partners that respond to a rapidly transforming food environment. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) can serve as a powerful catalyst and vehicle for harnessing innovative solutions that address local food system constraints. Not only do SMEs occupy critical positions along agri-food value chains as input suppliers, off-takers, processors, distributors, retailers or otherwise, at a global level they feed the vast majority of individuals who procure their food in the open market. With up to 80% of food consumed being purchased in the open market, SMEs contribute a significant amount to the total food consumed globally. But the growth of these SMEs is highly constrained by lack of access to finance, and as such agri-food SMEs remain largely untapped for developing and scaling up market-based solutions that can improve the consumption of safe and nutritious food.
Launched in 2018, the SUN Pitch Competition aims to challenge and support SMEs to identify, adopt and scale up disruptive and commercially viable innovations that can improve the availability of safe, nutritious, and affordable foods, especially to vulnerable populations. Through the SUN Pitch Competition, SBN provides targeted technical assistance to finalists to strengthen their investment readiness and nutritional impact of their business ahead of showcasing their business to potential investors. To date, over 1000 SMEs have applied to the SUN Pitch Competition from over 24 countries across Africa and Asia.
The 2019/2020 SUN Pitch Competition aims to distil the current global discourse on food innovation to challenge and support SMEs in Africa and Asia to identify and scale up disruptive, appropriate and commercially viable innovations that can improve the availability of affordable nutritious foods, especially to vulnerable populations.
For more information on innovations for improved nutrition, see our Guidance Note.
To surface and build a pipeline of eligible finalists for the Global SUN Pitch Competition, a series of National SUN Pitch Competitions were run in 24 African and Asian countries over the course of 2019. The 21 selected finalists then underwent extensive business development, investor readiness, and nutrition education training with our mentors, BoP Innovation Center and CAM.
