On 25 September, governments around the world officially adopted a set of global goals to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all, at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit, held in New York.Nile Breweries has stated its commitment to support the delivery of the Goals.

Last year, NBL adopted a new sustainable development strategy,Prosper, which integrates sustainable development into the business through five Shared Imperatives, which tackle the five most material issues for our business: 1) accelerating growth and social development through our value chains; 2) making beer the natural choice for the moderate and responsible drinker; 3) securing shared water resources for the business and local communities; 4) creating value through reduced waste and carbon emissions; 5) supporting responsible and sustainable use of land for brewing crops.

“Through these Shared Imperatives and the targets we have set ourselves we can have a direct and powerful impact on a number of the Global Goals.For example, through our global commitment to support over half a million small businesses in our value chain to enhance their business growth and family livelihoods by 2020, we will contribute to Global Goals focused onending poverty, achievinggender quality and supporting jobs and inclusive economic growth. Other parts of Prosper contribute to Global Goals on water, climate change and responsible consumption,” Onapito Ekomoloit the Corporate Affairs Director for NBL said.

Partnerships and collaboration are at the heart of Prosper, which is aligned with the philosophy of the Global Goals. Goal 17 is to establish the right partnerships to deliver the Goals.

NBL’s parent company, SABMiller has a wide range of initiatives around the world that will support the delivery of the Goals, including 4e “Path to Progress” programme in Latin America, which provides small neighbourhood shop owners with classroom training and in-store mentoring to help build their business, and aims to support 190,000 shop owners by 2020, 70 per cent of whom will be women.  Conservatively, it is estimated that these retailers support more than 750,000 people. 

In Neemrana, Rajasthan for example, SABMiller’s support for more water-efficient infrastructure and farming practices have led to increases in ground water levels in the project area of 23%, whilst farmers participating in productivity-improvement projects have on average increased productivity per hectare by 235.5%, and their disposable incomes by an average 21%.

NBL is supporting more than 20,000 farmers supplying sorghum and barley, which is used by the company as a raw material in beer manufacturing.Under the programme, Project Groundswell, NBL is empowering farmers with business organisation skills, Agronomic practices, entrepreneurship, health awareness testing and counselling, clean water, environmental protection skills and education scholarships.

Alan Clark, Chief Executive of SABMiller, said“Through our business and our partnerships, we are determined to take a leading role in demonstrating the way in which business can help tackle some of the world’s greatest challenges.”