Wawira Njiru Wins 50 Best Icon Award 2022

Kenyan nutritionist, social entrepreneur and founder of Kenya’s Food for Education, Wawira Njiru, has been picked as the winner of the Icon Award ahead of the World's 50 Best Restaurants 2022 ceremony on 18 July.

Njiru believes that no child should have to learn on an empty stomach, and has worked tirelessly to provide nutritious meals to school pupils across Kenya for the past six years. In a country where an estimated 80% of children do not recieve a school meal, she says: "Every day we are working to ensure that more and more school-going children have access to nutritious meals, and I am grateful for this award that recognises the critical work we are doing to end classroom hunger." 

Take a look at Njiru's work in the video below:

Setting up the non-profit Food for Education in 2016, after majoring in food science at university in Australia, Njiru started out by making a modest 25 meals a day. Fast forward to today, and the organisation now feeds 40,000 children across 41 schools in Nairobi, Mombasa and Kiambu counties daily, delivering over seven million meals to date. Njiru and her team have also developed a digital mobile platform,Tap2Eat, which allows parents and children to pay for their meals using secure wristbands and virually stored money.

Njiru's work has already been recognised internationally, being named UN Person of the Year in 2021, and her positive impact on pupils has been proven with improved nutrition, academic performance and higher high-school transition rates. 

Njiru hopes to feed 100,000 pupils by the year-end, and is looking to expand in other African countries. She also wished to obtain a national school lunch subsidy to give all pupils access to nutritious meals. In the next five years, she hopes to provide meals to one million children.

Njiru will receive her award at The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2022 awards ceremony, sponsored by S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna, to be held at Old Billingsgate market in the City of London on Monday 18 July.