What a trusted local brand means for nutrition

Monica Musonda is a lawyer and a Zambian advocate with over 15 years of experience in legal practice and corporate management. She was corporate counsel both at the International Finance Corp. and for Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote of Dangote Industries Ltd. But the most recent title she carries is founder and CEO of Java Foods, a food processing company based in her native Zambia. Where Musonda has struggled — in learning how to create a new product and get it to market, understanding food safety standards, legislation and identifying affordable resources — she has made up for it by creating a local Zambian brand, she told Devex’s Kelli Rogers in New York. “People connect with us, and this gives us the opportunity to bring more nutritious products to the market,” she said. “People now think it’s their brand and trust the brand.” Creating strong community buy-in might even be an area where Java Foods can share knowledge with bigger, more established companies. And Musonda is not averse to learning from others, either. The success of creating and distributing nutritious products depends on partnerships, Musonda said, whether that means technology transfer, sharing human capital, or assisting in greater product range or distribution techniques. Watch the video to find out what Musonda said it takes to sustain nutrition efforts, why the private sector can’t be left out of the equation and how the Scaling Up Nutrition Business Network is helping business and government work together. Future Fortified is a special online series exploring the impact and importance of food fortification to meet global development objectives. Join Devex — and our partner GAIN — in the conversation using #FutureFortified.