FoodCo Supports Host Communities With CSR Outreach Program

In line with its commitment towards empowering its host communities, FoodCo, a Top-5 retailer and two-time honouree on the Financial Times’ annual Fastest Growing Companies in Africa ranking, has organized a special outreach program for residents of Idi-Ose and Ojoo communities in Ibadan, Oyo State.

During the program, Food packages were distributed to inresidents of the communities.

According to Funmi Aiyepeku, the company’s Head of Innovation, Growth and Business Transformation, the outreach is a part of the company’s wider Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) thrust designed to cushion the effects of the current inflation on the most impacted population. It also aligns with the country’s quest towards attaining the United Nations Sustainability Development Goal 2: Zero Hunger, which aims to create a world free of hunger by 2030.

Aiyepeku said: “In over 40 years of operations, we are privileged to have enjoyed a strong affinity with our network of host communities who continue to provide us with a peaceful and secure environment to do business. This relationship has been largely fostered by FoodCo’s CSR thrust which emphasizes a win-win approach to community partnerships. This outreach is one of the expressions of that thrust, and we will continue to explore other high-impact channels to deepen mutuality with our communities.”

Calling on well-meaning stakeholders to key into efforts aimed at reducing hunger among indigent populations in the country, Aiyepeku disclosed that FoodCo will be broadening its interventions across other value chains to offer holistic support for the most impacted.

“According to UNICEF, over 25 million Nigerian children faced hunger in 2023 and there are genuine concerns that the situation may escalate given the galloping inflation and depleting disposable income of the majority of people in the country. We believe that only a concerted effort from well-meaning stakeholders can effectively combat this threat and we are committed to working alongside local stakeholders to create a future where food security is a sustainable reality for all.

“Since inception, FoodCo has been actively empowering vulnerable communities through education, skills development and access to economic opportunities as well as fostering long-term solutions through community engagement and partnerships and we intend to continue in that direction,” she added.

Established in 1982, FoodCo is a diversified consumer goods company with interests in retail, quick service restaurants, manufacturing and entertainment. With 21 outlets spread across Oyo, Lagos and Ogun States, the company operates the largest supermarket chain brand in South-west Nigeria, outside Lagos. In addition, it is one of only two omni-channel retailers in the country.

The company was listed in the FT annual list of Africa’s Fastest Growing Companies for the consecutive years 2021 and 2022.