Date : 08.12.2007
Printable version

A Peruvian project which grows more than 3000 native varieties of potatoes has won a major global competition which rewards businesses and projects that put something back into their communities.

‘T’ikapapa’, based in Peru, beat nearly 1000 other projects from around the world to win World Challenge 2007. A special programme will air on BBC World this weekend, showcasing the awards ceremony where the winning initiative receives its US$20,000 grant from Shell.

The farmers of Peru’s high Andes are among the poorest in the country, with an average income of under US$1 per day. However, these farmers are sitting on a potential goldmine, as the region is home to three thousand varieties of potato. These native strains bear little resemblance to the regular potato, as many are brightly coloured – inside and out – and strangely shaped, but are packed with vitamins and are organically grown.

‘T’ikapapa’ was set up to bridge the gap between the Andean farmers and the potato market, allowing them to reap the benefit of their premium goods. The project’s ‘participatory market chain approach’ is now being applied to potato chips and other value-added products.

The number of families involved in the ‘T’ikapapa’ supply chain has grown from 72 families from three farmer organisations in 2004, to more than 200 families from seven farmer organisations in 2006.

More than 107,000 people around the world voted online – up from 33,000 in 2006 - in the World Challenge 2007 competition which is run by BBC World, the BBC’s international news and information television channel and Newsweek, the weekly global current affairs magazine, in association with Shell. The competition searches for, highlights and rewards individuals or groups that have used enterprise and innovation to the benefit of local communities.

‘T’ikapapa’ was voted as the winner while the two runners-up, which each received US$10,000, were ‘Fondation Paradis Des Indiens’ in Haiti (an education project) and ‘Foundation for Sustainable Technologies (FoST) – Nepal’ (a sustainable energy project).

The three companies were presented with their prizes at a special awards ceremony, filmed by BBC World, in The Hague on Tuesday 4 December. The World Challenge 2007 Awards ceremony will be shown on BBC World on Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 December.

The World Challenge series began in 2005 and has been a huge success. BBC World, Newsweek and Shell have continued and expanded the competition into its third year in 2007.

Twelve finalists from Afghanistan, Brazil, Columbia, Haiti, Indonesia, Mexico, Nepal, Peru, Uganda and Vietnam were chosen by a panel of expert judges as the best examples of community-based business, development or environmental projects. Their stories featured on BBC World globally in October and November 2007 and the channel’s 76 million weekly viewers were then invited to vote online for the most commendable and inspirational project.

Newsweek also mirrored the programmes’ content in a six-part series of advertorials about the 12 nominees, aimed at driving its readers to the online voting site. The campaign reached 1.3 million weekly readers across Europe, Asia and Latin America.

Richard Sambrook, CEO, BBC World says: “We are pleased that World Challenge has developed into a bigger and better initiative and this year we’ve seen more nominations and votes than ever before. This demonstrates the increasing international awareness and interest in outstanding global initiatives in the field of sustainable development and we’re proud to be associated with the World Challenge competition.”

Roxanne Decyk, Director of Corporate Affairs, Shell says, "The winning project is a great example of sustainable business in practice. Each year, World Challenge highlights the great and varied endeavours of 12 companies that benefit their local communities and the environment. The quality of of all finalists this year has been exceptional and should inspire many other entrepreneurs."

Watch the World Challenge 2007 Awards ceremony on BBC World on Saturday 8 December at 0930 GMT and 2130 GMT, or on Sunday 9 December at 0330, 1330 and 1830 GMT.


For more details contact bbcworldpressoffice@bbc.co.uk