Chowberry on a mission to end food wastage and hunger in Africa

shakirudeen taiwo

July 6, 2017 6:25 PM

The tech company uses its app to connect supermarkets with NGOs and low-income earners, allowing them to buy about to expire food at a lower price or have them for free.

Chowberry on a mission to end hunger through reducing food wastage and involving all.

One basic feature of Africa as a continent is that it is synonymous with high-level poverty. The government of many countries in the continent are finding it hard feeding its fast-growing population.

Leveraging the opportunities provided by technology, Chowberry is on the mission to end hunger in the continent, through curtailing food wastage.

According to Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), over 222 million tonnes of food go uneaten, with Africa contributing around 150kg/person to the global basket of wastage. This level of waste could have fed about 300 million living in Africa.

With the high level of hunger in Africa and the possibility of experiencing famine in 2017, a tech startup Chowberry has adopted an innovative approach towards ending this surge.

The tech company uses its app to connect supermarkets with NGOs and low-income earners, allowing them to buy about to expire groceries at a lower price.

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Oscar Ekponimo, the founder of Chowberry was inspired by the challenges he faced while growing up. He stated during an interview with Cable News Network (CNN), "I remember most times there was little or no food [in the house]. I had to go to school without food and got by with snacks friends shared with me."

"I always said in the future I would do something to ensure others wouldn't go through what I went through," he told CNN.

Chowberry partners retailers to use information pulled from the barcode scanners of the products. With this information, the apps would notify the retailers when the products are close to expiring. The retailer can then either offer the products at a reduced price or donate for humanitarian purpose.

Stating its achievements during a three-month pilot of the project, Ekponimo said: "We met one lady who has six children and survives on 400 nairas ($1.05) a day."

“She sells firewood and kunu (a local drink), which was seized by the task force and she had nothing to feed her family. So it's nice to see the impact of what we're doing."

About 150 children in need were also catered for during the pilot program.

At present, the apps are only functional in Nigeria and hope to expand its scope of operation to other Africa countries.

shakirudeen taiwo