Keki-Mawe Incorporated
Corporate Mall 2nd floor , Chilambula road, Mhub, 00000 LilongweAbout
Location :
Added by Jopie, at 01 January 2020
Description
With Collaboration Universal Industries, a biscuit manufacturing company in Malawi, Keki-Mawe will produce a soil-like iron and folate rich organic cookie called Keki-Mawe, that will model the soil eating habits of women, geophagy, to form a cookie/powder that will look, smell and taste like soil with an aim of increasing the intake of iron and folate, and possibly reducing iron deficiency among women and children.
Background Research
According to studies done by E. Nyanza M. Joseph, S.Premji, S.Thomas and C. Mannion (2014), it showed that, Geophagy, the deliberate consumption of soil, is prevalent among pregnant women across Sub-Saharan African countries, such as Kenya, Ghana, Malawi, Rwanda, Nigeria, Tanzania, and South Africa. This research also showed that prevalence of geophagy varies between and within countries, but is estimated between 10-75%. Africa and that 65% of pregnant women in Kenya eat soil, 45% in Tanzania and 37% in Ghana.
According to the World Health Organization, Iron deficiency is one of the most prevalent nutritional deficiencies in the world and is reported to affect four to five billion people. Approximately 50% of all anemia is estimated to be due to iron deficiency, a condition of deteriorating iron reserves in the body caused by low dietary intake of iron, poor absorption of dietary iron, or blood loss (for example, from hookworm, repeated childbirth or heavy menstruation) which leads to loss of iron. On average, 45% of pregnant women and 49% of children under five years of age are anemic in developing regions (USAID and Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance project report, 2006).
WHO’s 2002 Global Burden of Disease Report identified iron deficiency as the 12th most important risk factor for all mortality globally, and the 9th most important risk factor for the global burden of disease. According to USAID and Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance Project 2006 report, it showed that the risk of maternal mortality decreases by about 20% for each 1 g/dL increase in Hb.
Mason, Rivers and Helwig (2005) pointed out that the consequences of anemia include: • Increased maternal and perinatal • Increased numbers of preterm birth and/or low birth weight • Impaired cognitive development in children • Reduced adult work productivity Therefore, anemia prevention programs, such as iron provision programs eg Keki-Mawe, if successful, can contribute significantly to achieving many of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) including MDGs 2 (Universal education); 4 (Child mortality reduction); and 5 (Improved maternal health).
The Challenges of eating soil
The US Centers for Diseases Control (CDC) in kenya confirmed that geophagy is indeed big problem for women. As a summer intern at CDC last summer, James was able to gather these details about geophagy in Kenya.
1. It can accumulate in the digestive system and interrupt some vital process in the Digestive tract such as absorption
2. It usually causes constipation
3. It can contain very dangerous worms such as earth and hookworms, which can be fatal sometimes
4. Depending on where the soil was picked up, it can contain high levels of lead, which can cause low IQ’s for children in the mother ate it during pregnancy, poor child brain development, kidney damage for the mother, hearing problems and abdominal pain
5. If it contains high levels of potassium it can lead to hyperkalemia - a sister fatal disease of renal failure.
Kake Mawe Product Organic Cookie/Powder, made from natural nutrient sources and manufactured to look and taste like soil, so that those who eat soil can use it as a healthy-iron source alternative.
Just like any other cookie, Keki-Mawe will undergo similar procedures in cookie production by a Cookie Manufacturing company. The only difference between Keki-Mawe and other cookies will be on the ingredients, the shape, texture and the intern of the product on the market.
We are still reviewing the specific amount/content of our minerals in the ingredients with our Manufacturer and Food Specialists to make sure we are adhering to the US Food and Drug Administration and the Malawi Bureau of Standards.
Proposed Ingredients/Mineral Sources:
We will mainly focus on Iron, Calcium and folate sources with other minor ingredients for the texture, color and flavor of the cookie.
Dried Cassava flour, sesame seeds flour, a small amount FDA recommended dose of yeast extract, dried fructose from apricots, dried flour from brown beans for the color and some millet flour to make it dusty just like soil.
Keki-Mawe Goals
We hope to achieve the following goals
1. Provide awareness to school children and pregnant women about their recommended daily nutrition needs, especially in Iron, Calcium and Folate, and how they can use local methods or foods to meet these standards.
2. Design and Implement a culturally compatible intervention (Keki-Mawe) that will help in the daily intake of fundamental nutrients eg Iron, Vitamins, Folate , Proteins and Zinc.
3. Work with Rab Processors to design Keki-Mawe samples and follow any food Legal and Health procedures that are done with any other cookie that they manufacture.
4. Make them available on the market as new product from Rab Processors. CGIU Funding will subsidize almost all costs for the first 550 customers who shall taste our cookie.
5. Execute Keki-Mawe cookie and Follow up our customers to see how they like the product and get any feedback that may help us to improve the product.
6. Determine appropriate prices for our cookie to make it affordable for almost anyone in Malawi, depending on the packages they wish to buy and the sector of the market. The rich will subsidize costs for the poor. Buy 1 in the city at a premium price and help us donate 2 to the poor women in rural Malawi.
7. Design a study that will measure and compare the effectiveness of our product versus soil and how women can benefit from it in the future
8. Conduct Impact Evaluation Studies on the Cookie and our customers and determine the Social Impact of Keki-Mawe in Malawi.
Plan of Action
1. Gather cookie companies and pitch the idea to them for a possible business partnership. Identify one company that is willing to work in Southern Africa (Malawi or South Africa). Make clear and fair shares between the cookie manufacturer and us
2. Coin a cool name for the cookie, something that is culturally connected and that can grab the appetite of women
3. Produce about a 1000 samples of the cookie, promote the cookie to women in the three major cities of Malawi or Kenya. Sell it to office women and in some major shops.
4. Based on the first feedback from the first sample, refine the product and make it better, preparing for actual production.
5. Make about 100,000 cookies for sale. Promote it on the local television, radio and other media platforms, explaining to women the health advantages of eating our cookie as opposed to eating fresh soil. Make the cookie available for purchase on local markets
6. Assess the customers for about 6 months to a year and get feedback from them on the
soil, finding out if there are any other benefits or problems associated with our cookie.
7. Partner with health institutions to use the cookie as a medical drug against nausea, soil addicts and other digestive problems to pregnant women in most public and private hospitals.
8. Establish a long-term company in the USA, Malawi and across southern Africa for the product
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