SOUTHERN AFRICA – Illovo Sugar Africa, a Pan-African consumer centric agri-business with roots in growing and making sugar and related products, has launched the Making Sense of Sugar campaign in Southern Africa region aimed to inform and educate people on the role sugar can play in the diet.
Illovo Sugar is Africa’s largest sugar producer and has extensive agricultural operations in six southern African countries i.e. Eswatini, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia manufacturing sugar and downstream products from cane supplied by its own agricultural operations and independent growers.
Making Sense of Sugar campaign was first launched by AB Sugar, the parent company of Illovo Sugar Africa as a UK campaign in 2014 and is now being rolled out in other countries.
The campaign has already been launched in Malawi with the next roll out to Zambia later this year and in South Africa in early 2020. Other countries where AB Sugar operates will follow later in 2020.
Central to the campaign is addressing the myths around sugar, providing information on the different types of sugar and how they are used, as well as giving consumers guidance on how to interpret labels on food and drinks.
The campaign is aligned to Illovo Sugar Africa’s Thriving African Community purpose of the different countries they operate in.
The different communities are faced with varying social and economic determinants which have a significant influence in terms of people’s diet choices, nutrition and prevalence of Non-Communicable Diseases.
Commenting on the launch of the campaign in Malawi, Gavin Dalgleish, Group Managing Director, Illovo Sugar Africa said, “For many years, Illovo Sugar Africa has been supporting local initiatives in the sugar and health space; the launch of Making Sense of Sugar is a natural next step.”
“Extending Making Sense of Sugar into Southern Africa demonstrates our continued commitment to being part of the debate on food security, good nutrition as well as helping consumers understand our ingredient,” he added.
Other initiatives Illovo Sugar has undertaken to support the communities in Southern Africa include access to quality health care by running health care clinics, hospitals and provision of medical insurance.
