What’s Happening at Lithon Foundation?
Lithon Foundation acts like a bridge – and engineers love building bridges! Our strategy is to support, guide and strengthen organisations (receivers) that are already making an impact in people’s lives and communities. Part of that strategy involves connecting these organisations with willing and able companies and individuals (givers) who believe in a cause, but may not know how to support it. The result is a positive impact multiplied.
Lithon Foundation also loves to partner with other organisations on projects. The latest one was with Capricorn Group’s Capricorn Foundation which ran a ‘Food Waste Challenge’ competition from July to October 2022. The wonderful Marsia Reed from Lithon Foundation was part of the team that helped to make this innovative competition a reality. We spoke to Marsia to find out more…
The Challenge
Consumer food waste is a worldwide problem. According to the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP, 2021), a whopping 17% of total global food production is wasted! This includes household, retail and hospitality. The City of Windhoek conducted a five-day waste audit in 2020 and recorded 19 tons of waste, with food waste and garden refuse making up the largest proportions. In response to this major problem, Capricorn Foundation developed a competition, with the hopes of encouraging innovative thinking and solutions in this space of need. They received 101 submissions under categories such as collection, distribution, and storage of food and food products. A rigorous internal judging process reduced the entries to the top 10, which were then assessed by an external judging panel, made up of various sectors of the economy (including engineering).
The Winning Solution
The winner was Sara Ekondo who owns a small business called Awana Foods, in Oshakati. Awana proposed a solution to reduce food waste by sourcing excess and B-grade produce from local farmers and turning it into preserves like chutney and concentrate syrup. This process retains the nutritional value while extending the shelf life.
Lithon’s Involvement
Marsia helped to develop the project after plenty of research and collaboration with Open Innovation Platform Specialists in the USA. She was part of the judging team that reduced the top 10 submissions to 1 – a process which she says was very difficult. She loved being exposed to all of the innovative ideas that she saw in the entries, and also felt inspired to see a number of people already doing great things in the community.
The top 10 solutions were:
- Awana Foods
- Waste Not Want Not
- EBIKES4AFRICA
- ChariTree
- NamLands
- Namibian Farmers Online
- Fudlink Agri-Tech CC
- Impact Tank
- The Freeze Project
- Food for Thought
Would you like to partner with us?
The above is one of many projects that Lithon Foundation is involved in. If you’d also like to give meaningfully and make a lasting impact, but you’re not sure where to start, get in touch with Marsia at: marsia@lithon.com.
