She's Honored for Fighting Malnutrition

Navyn Salem of Barrington, the founder and executive director of the nonprofit business Edesia, which produces ready-to-use foods for malnourished children primarily in Africa, was honored Thursday as the Businesswoman of the Year in New England.

Salem was recognized at the 15th annual Women’s Summit® at Bryant University in Smithfield. The award recognizes excellence in leadership by a business or professional woman who is either the founder, president or CEO of a multimillion-dollar business or organization in New England.

In addition, the recipient or her institution must be engaged in service projects that improve the lives of others, according to Bryant.

"I saw it (malnutrition) a lot in Tanzania and Rwanda," said Salem, whose father's homeland is Tanzania. "And not a lot was being done. So I did the research and decided that it was an area that needed a lot more attention."

Salem had been a stay-at-home mom with four children, twins Halle and Zara, 11; Maya, 7, and Jolie, 6, until she launched Edesia in Tanzania in 2007. 

"I combined my business experience (advertising), my interest in children, and malutrition," said Salem. "The company created jobs and a solution to a problem."

Edesia partners with Nutriset -- a French company that makes ready-to-use (RUF) food -- to produces its paste-like foods in foil pouches that require no water or refrigeration. The foods treat and prevent malnutrition in the developing world. (See the video above.)

Salem found someone to run the factory in Tanzania and then opened a similar factory in Providence in 2009 to focus on production, research and development, and support of local producers.

"I was doing a lot of traveling back and forth to Tanzania before I found someone to fun the factory there," she said.

The packaged foods are sold to organizations such as UNICEF, which distributes the food to malnourished children for free.

"They are our implementing partners," Salem said.

Edesia produces 12 million pounds of RUF a year, she said. That is enough to feed 750,000 children over 2 to 6 months.

The foods are made primarily for children under 5 years of age. But making sure children 2 and under are properly nourished is the key, she said.

"It's so important that they are properly nourished," Salem said. "If they don't have proper nutrition, they can't regain what they lose."

As a nonprofit, Salem said, “we charge only what we need to cover our costs. It’s much more important how many children we reach.”

Edesia takes donations.

“Fifty dollars will treat a child for six to seven weeks,” she said.

Click here to go to the Edesia website.