The finalists were selected from over 1000 entries received across Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

These interventions each seek to address a growing need for Safe Water, Rural Development and economic opportunities.

The four candidates are, Ignitia Tropical, Saha Global, Moringa Connect and Farmeline.

Ignitia Tropical aims to improve farming in rural communities by helping to provide highly accurate 48-hour forecasts to small-scale farmers daily via SMS, thus helping them reduce loss and increase yield. Saha Global seeks to set up entrepreneurial local women in remote communities to help provide clean and affordable water. Moringa Connect helps empower farmers economically by integrating supply chain to improve farmers’ livelihood and turn their underutilized moringa seeds into beauty products. Farmerline seeks to improve rural development by connecting farmers to financial services, information and quality input to increase their yield and income.

An excited Rachel Way, Communications Manager for Ingitia said “It means so much to have been shortlisted for such a prestigious prize. It is heartwarming to be recognized for our efforts in addressing the challenges in rural development after all our hard work as a team. Our aim is to help as many farmers as possible with our services to increase yield. We are in the process of scaling up in West Africa, and it will be a great achievement to win the CSV prize as financial and technical resources from Nestlé could help make our product viable and successful”.

Kwami Williams, an Entrepreneur with Moringa Connect, shared his excitement for being shortlisted: “As a Social Venture in Ghana, we see this Prize opportunity to create jobs, help improve the lives of farmers and empower them economically”.

According to Mrs. Freda Duplan, Managing Director of Nestlé Ghana said the company was proud to havefour Ghanaians among the 56 semifinalists. "In the past years, most winners of the Nestlé CSV prize have emerged from Africa. It means that this continent is fast becoming part of the world’s power-hub of innovations”.

Mrs. Duplan congratulated the four Semi-finalists and urged more young Ghanaians to emulate their efforts to help contribute to building thriving and resilient communities in Ghana.

The prize, established eight years ago, supports social entrepreneurs tackling the world’s biggest issues in nutrition, water and rural development. Winners receive crucial funding to scale up their initiatives and make a lasting impact on people’s lives. In 2014, Honey Care Africa, in South Sudan won the prize, followed by Agro-Hub from Cameroon in 2016.

For this year’s prize, Nestlé is partnering Ashoka, the world’s leading network of systems-changing social entrepreneurs.

Out of the 56 Semi-finalists, five finalists will be chosen to attend an Ashoka-led Impact Bootcamp and to pitch their ideas at the 2018 Creating Shared Value Forum in Brazil. The winner will be announced on 16th March and receive prizes totaling CHF500,000 to help develop their initiative.