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Bühler Networking Days Returns In Person

Bühler Networking Days Returns In Person

PFS staff members meet with DSM volunteers in Switzerland
Miraj Shah, co-founder and director of Crofts Limited in Kenya, connects with leaders from Ardent Mills and Hershey
PFS welcomed two new volunteers from Cargill
PFS hosted a volunteer info session with prospective volunteers from the Cargill Schiphol office in Amsterdam
From left to right: Nana Antwi Owusu-Ansah (PFS), Andy Sharpe (Bühler), Miraj Shah (Crofts Limited), and Jimmy Bettcher (PFS)
headshots of four people

Congratulations to Our 2022 PFS Service Award Winners!

 

At PFS, partnership is a foundational component of who we are and what makes us sucessful. Every year, we honor several individuals who embody the qualities of our founders, John Mendesh and Peter Erickson. These awards go to people who most demonstrate enthusiasm, drive for results, employ creative problem solving, and show tenacity, grit, wisdom, and humility. Please join us in celebrating our fourth annual PFS Service Award winners… 

 

John Mendesh Award

 

Gloria Otto, Partners in Food Solutions Program Associate – Ghana 

"Gloria is never not smiling, even when the work can be stressful or unpredictable. She oversees a difficult portfolio, but she never shows frustration. Instead, she is focused on how to solve the problem in a way that is achievable and supported by the most people. She does not give up and always has a warm attitude through it all." - PFS Staff Member

 

Niels Van Mossevelde, DSM Associate Scientist II – Netherlands

"Niels has been an active Client Lead for a while now. He has supported the client with very minimal staffing resources and has been very patient with the client even at their busiest times. He has always joined the project calls with a smile on his face and helped provide solutions to the client apart from leading calls.” - PFS Staff Member

 

Peter Erickson Award

 

Eleanor McSweeney, Bühler Business Development Manager – Switzerland

"Eleanor served as a Client Lead for our client in Côte d’Ivoire. She served as a formidable translator, project manager, and always reverted to the team with ideas to overcome project challenges. She worked extremely hard and developed an excellent rapport with the project team to ensure that the client completed their HACCP and Yield Increase Project. She was also prompt with communication and would close projects immensely well. - PFS Staff Member 

 

Dan Dietz, Smucker Director of Engineering & Technical Services – USA 

“Dan has been one of the most active Smucker volunteers since they joined PFS. He has already volunteered on three different services and shown so much commitment to the work. He has been patient and understanding and willing to stay on and support a client even while there was political unrest in Ethiopia causing major delays with his client. He offers so much expertise and guidance in the areas of process optimization and product formulation and he does it with grace and humility." - PFS Staff Member

 

Africa

A Letter From Jeff

As we closed our fiscal year in May and officially launched our 15th (!) year, our team, and many observers, believe that our work has never been more important than it is at this particular moment. With the uncertainty of two years of a global pandemic, growing inflation and now war in a region of the world that is critical to supplying much of the food, fertilizer and fuel that Africa needs, assisting local food production across the continent has never been more urgent. 
 
Last year we launched a new strategy that called for going deeper in our support of high potential African food companies. This means offering a broader menu of services to strengthen their foundation and support their growth. I'm happy to report our new strategy is already bearing fruit. This year, despite volatility in the global system, these high-potential clients saw a median growth rate of 21.9%  in their revenue and utilized an average of three PFS services during the year. 
 
To bring our vision to reality, we are fortunate to have both a seasoned leadership team based in both the US and Africa (averaging over 5 years with PFS) and a growing team of new African colleagues with the expertise we need to add value to clients and support our wonderful corporate volunteers. 
 
Our volunteers continue to show up for clients with best-in-class expertise - we had a record year of engagement with more than 672 employees from General Mills, Cargill, DSM, Bühler, The Hershey Company, Ardent Mills and The J.M. Smucker Co., sharing their time and expertise with clients, providing thousands of hours of support uniquely tailored to their specific business needs. Again this year, our volunteers have told us how much they value their PFS experience with a 91% satisfaction rate on our annual survey.  The direct and tangible impact of working to improve the food value chain in Africa is what makes this experience so valuable to volunteers. Jayd Kittleson of Cargill said  “I keep volunteering because I am inspired by the entrepreneurial spirit of PFS clients and their passion for being better.”
 
A true measure of the value of the expertise we provide is the growing demand for volunteer support - up 34% last year - and our clients continued high satisfaction rate (94%). Adedayo Oshinnaiye of Graceco Industries in Nigeria told us, ”After several months, the team helped increase Graceco’s product margins by 10% and more than doubled our product’s shelf life.”
 
It's stories like these that illustrate the meaningful, relatively quick impact our volunteer experts can have on a company's bottom line, leading to development and resilience in the local food supply in the countries where we work. 
 
I was just on a call this week to discuss the overlapping crisis - conflict, climate shocks and covid - that have led to a spike in ingredient costs for processors and double-digit food price increases. Consumers in Africa, especially the millions of families living in extreme poverty, cannot absorb those increases. As I write this, the World Food Program has issued its highest alert for 'catastrophic' levels of hunger for two of the countries where we work, Ethiopia and Nigeria. Our work to strengthen local producers is an important element in creating sustainability and resilience in those food ecosystems. PFS has never been more important. 
 
Thank you to all of our clients, volunteers, partners and staff for your devotion to a more food-secure future for Africa and beyond. 
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From Home Kitchen to New Factory: Confectionary Company Receives Expansion Support

 

Established in 2010, Fastizers Food and Confectionary is one of Nigeria’s fastest-growing consumer goods companies. The company began by making sweets out of a home kitchen ten years ago and now distributes its products across the country to 26 different states and counting. To meet growing demand, Fastizers Food and Confectionary looked to Partners in Food Solutions for support in expanding their current production facility, from the parking lot to the processing area.

A volunteer from The J.M. Smucker Co., Christopher Ray, was tasked with supporting Fastizers with their facility design project. “I’ve been working at Smucker in R&D since 2016 and have worked within our coffee, Uncrustables, jams and jellies, and ice-cream toppings businesses,” said Chris. “I was looking for an organization in which I can use my educational background and engineering skills that I’ve developed
throughout my career to help in a meaningful way. When I heard about Partners in Food Solutions, I knew I had to get involved.”

Working with another volunteer from Hershey, Christopher reviewed the client’s current facility design and came up with a new design that would allow them to expand from one processing line to four while also ensuring the factory would be HSE and GFSI/FSMS certification compliant. “This volunteer work correlated with one of the projects I was doing at Smucker at the time,” said Christopher. “I thoroughly enjoyed applying my skills to this project and learning about a new company in a different country. Having the opportunity to network with other professionals at different companies was fun, too!”

Since the project finished last year, Fastizers Food and Confectionary has already made significant progress in expanding its facility. The updated layout is a significant improvement from the initial draft, and additional considerations for food safety, human safety, and the environment have been incorporated. Further, information on how dough temp affects the baking has been factored into the quality control program and the volunteer’s edits on the flow made it easier for the client to communicate with their facility architect on their desired plans. Fastizers Food and Confectionary plan to finish constructing the new facility by August 2022.

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Q+A with Smucker Volunteer Kenny Byers

 

Tell me a little about yourself and your role at Smucker.
I am a process engineer in R&D. In my role, I help prepare and run plant trials at our facilities. I am interested in making foods that are environmentally friendly and helping businesses improve food security.

What was your primary motivation for volunteering with Partners in Food Solutions?
I got involved with Partners in Food Solutions because I wanted to use my skills to benefit others and support a company that was committed to making food responsibly.

What was your first project like?
I worked with a client called Java Foods in Zambia that is committed to providing nutritious and affordable goods. I helped them review their equipment needs to make sure they were getting what they needed to expand their product portfolio to make cornflakes. I am familiar with the equipment, but it was fun to learn more about alternate applications for those machines which gave me valuable engineering experience.

Did you learn anything new?
I’ve been learning a lot since day one. I am learning new applications and how to work with people internationally. I feel better equipped to take on projects with international stakeholders after volunteering with PFS.

What would you say to a colleague who is thinking about volunteering with PFS but is hesitant to start?
I would highly recommend giving it a shot. The time commitment is about one hour a week and PFS does a good job at organizing the volunteers so you can focus on sharing information on your area of expertise. It’s set up so everyone can be successful!