FAF's sustainable food rescue initiative wins Maxis Awards third round

SHAH ALAM - Food Aid Foundation’s (FAF) sustainable food rescue initiative has won the third round of the Maxis Awards.

The initiative to reduce wastage and alleviate hunger and malnourishment called Digitising Food Aid for the Needy won the hearts and minds of Maxis’ panel of judges at the annual SME and Entrepreneurs Business Award 2022 (SEBA 2022) Central Grand Awards Presentation Gala held in Kuala Lumpur.

FAF received the award from Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil accompanied by Maxis’ chief executive officer Goh Seow Eng.

Maxis chief marketing officer Loh Keh Jiat said with every installment of the Maxis Awards, many compelling tech-driven ideas that can positively impact Malaysian communities, emerged.

"We were especially impressed by FAF’s systematic approach to reducing wasted food and its associated impact.

"We are excited to be supporting FAF with their project through our own solutions and look forward to being part of this noble initiative," he said.

FAF’s winning idea is a food rescue initiative that collects food donated by manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers and companies for distribution to charity homes, volunteer welfare organisations, refugee and indigenous communities, soup kitchens and B40 families.

By leveraging technology and forward-thinking solutions, FAF aims to scale their efforts in serving the underprivileged so that more communities can benefit from their mission to nourish hope and eventually eradicate hunger and poverty.

FAF chief executive officer Dr Dalphine Ong said according to SWCorp, the 4,005 tonnes of edible food thrown away daily can feed 2.9 million people three meals.

As such, she said awareness on food poverty is FAF’s priority.

“As our initiative involves many stakeholders, inventory and data management as well as logistic resources are the key to our business operations, together with Maxis, we are excited to streamline these processes effectively and further the journey of food rescue to eradicate hunger and poverty,” she said.

The third round of the Maxis Awards was organised in collaboration with Yayasan Usahawan Malaysia’s SEBA.

SEBA founder and Yayasan Usahawan Malaysia chairman Nitesh Malani said SEBA has always sought deserving SMEs and entrepreneurs which can accelerate the growth of Malaysia’s economy.