Edesia’s Navyn Salem Defines Humanity
Navyn Salem, founder and CEO of the malnutrition social enterprise Edesia, discusses our shared humanity in caring for children all...
About This Episode
Navyn Salem, founder and CEO of the malnutrition social enterprise Edesia, discusses our shared humanity in caring for children all over the world. Edesia produces fortified, peanut-based products like Plumpy'Nut for international humanitarian agencies working in emergency and conflict zones. “We feed children everywhere because that's what humanity is, and we do not want to lose our humanity. We are smart enough. We have enough resources. We're creative and innovative enough to feed every child on planet Earth,” Salem asserts. Edesia has been impacted by Trump Administration decisions around foreign aid in the last seven months. “I started speaking up and explaining to people that huge parts of humanitarian assistance that the US government does are a win-win for the world and they have to be continued,” she says.Resources and Mentions:
Navyn Salem
Founder and CEO
In 2009 Navyn set out to help end the crisis of global malnutrition by founding Edesia, a U.S. non-profit, social enterprise, with a mission to treat and prevent malnutrition in developing countries worldwide. Her factory in Rhode Island produces a range of fortified, peanut-based products like Plumpy'Nut for humanitarian agencies like UNICEF, World Food Programme, USAID and other NGOs working in emergency and conflict zones. Since 2010, Edesia has reached over 25 million children in 65 countries, including Somalia, Venezuela, Yemen and Syria. Navyn is a 2022 McNulty Prize Winner, was a Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year/New England in 2018, New Englander of the Year by the New England Council in 2017 and New England Business Woman of the Year by Bryant University. She was awarded honorary degrees by her alma mater, Boston College (2012) as well as Bryant University (2014), Providence College (2017), Curry College (2018), University of RI (2021) and Salve Regina University (2022). She is a Trustee of Boston College. She is a 2014 Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. Navyn’s father is from Tanzania and she has four daughters, all of whom were the inspiration for the creation of Edesia. ,
Edesia
Named after the Roman goddess of food, Edesia is on a mission to end malnutrition. We have the team, the factory, and the life-saving foods to make that a reality. To date, we have produced ready-to-use foods for 30 million children and mothers in 65 countries. We will not stop until malnutrition is a condition covered in the history books, not the nightly news.
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