Manuelita S.A
In 2021, Manuelita launched two initiatives supporting local communities. Compromiso Valle is providing 350 people in Valle del Cauca – Colombia’s main sugar-producing region – with the opportunity to realise their own life projects, whether through education, training or supporting them to start their own businesses. Rural Commitment is a public-private initiative that seeks to generate employment opportunities in the sugarcane-growing municipalities, with the goal of creating 185 new formal jobs.
On the environmental side, Manuelita planted 3,250 trees on its own land, establishing ecological corridors so wildlife can safely reach water sources. To support its vision of a circular economy, the company installed a composting facility with the capacity to transform 50,000 tonnes of organic waste into compost to fertilise sugarcane crops. Drip irrigation was also installed across 76 hectares to optimise water use.
Inspire Awards
Our annual Inspire Awards recognise members who are going above and beyond. Reporting on continuous improvement is one of the categories we honour, by evaluating the transparency and robustness of all the continuous improvement reports that members submit to identify the top performers.
This year’s winners were PepsiCo and Usina São Lui S/A, Brazil. PepsiCo provided comprehensive answers with generous detail and links to examples of public communications and commitments.
All the refined sugar PepsiCo sources is Bonsucro certified. The company also shared details of a range of improvement projects it’s invested in and showed how these align with all Bonsucro’s strategic aims and impact areas.
Usina São Luiz answered all questions in detail, demonstrating how its activities align with our strategy, and provided additional evidence via internal documents and external comms material, including a YouTube video. The mill, based in São Paulo state, also reiterated its commitment to extend its Bonsucro-certified area.
