PepsiCo Highlights the Importance of Collective Action on Sustainability as AMWAJ Forum Opens in Jordan

PepsiCo, the global food and beverage company, has called on all stakeholders to work together on common solutions for challenges and opportunities that face the region and the world as a high-level forum on sustainable development gets under way.

AMWAJ, meaning ‘waves’ in Arabic, is an international sustainability and entrepreneurship forum. Organized by PepsiCo, in partnership with Revolve Media, Ahead of the Curve and WAMDA, it will be held on November 28 and 29, 2016, in the Jordanian capital, Amman. It is aimed at catalyzing a culture of partnership between governments, communities, entrepreneurs, media and the private sector to make the world more sustainable and strengthen links between business and society.

As part of AMWAJ, MENA leaders from across the private and public sectors, as well as civil society, will share socially innovative ideas and best practices as part of efforts to identify practical solutions that create an inclusive, sustainable future for the region.

AMWAJ, led by PepsiCo, follows the recent launch of the company’s ‘2025 Sustainability Agenda’, designed to foster continued business growth in a way that responds to changing consumer and societal needs. The initiatives under the new agenda continue PepsiCo’s decade-long commitment to delivering ‘Performance with Purpose’ which is creating shareholder value while, at the same time, taking important steps to address environmental, health and societal priorities all around the world.

“We designed AMWAJ 2016 to create a shared understanding of the importance of sustainable development in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). At PepsiCo, we unveiled last October our Sustainability 2025 Agenda, an ambitious set of goals designed to foster continued business growth in a way that responds to changing consumer and societal needs. This agenda focuses on creating a healthier relationship between people and food. The goals commit us to continue transforming PepsiCo’s food and beverage product portfolio, contribute to a more sustainable global food system and help make local communities more prosperous,” said Ahmed El Sheikh, Vice-President and General Manager, Egypt and Jordan, PepsiCo.

“We have a fundamental belief that business success is inextricably linked to the sustainability of the world we share. In MENA, sustainable development and transformative solutions can only be achieved when companies become model development partners for governments and communities. Together, industry, governments and communities can work to build a sustainable future. That is the basis for AMWAJ 2016,” he added.  

AMWAJ is convening leaders across the private and public sectors, media, as well as social entrepreneurs, to come up with solutions for action in key areas for society, including the environment, health, skills-building, gender parity and unemployment. Under PepsiCo’s ‘2025 Sustainability Agenda’, PepsiCo has set specific global targets across products, planet and people. In these pillars, PepsiCo has goals in key areas that specifically impact MENA, including responsible water stewardship, reducing added sugars, saturated fat and sodium levels in products, improving crop yields and growers’ livelihoods, and boosting women’s participation and pay in the workforce.

Under ‘Performance with Purpose’, PepsiCo has already made significant progress in the region in many of these areas. For example, in Jordan where AMWAJ will be hosted, PepsiCo has reduced water consumption per liter by 42% over the past five years by investing in water-saving technology and systems. In Saudi Arabia, PepsiCo employs more than 100 women on their production teams, and give women access to training programs to prepare them for senior management roles. Across the region, PepsiCo runs several skills and training programs for women and young people, including the ‘Hadafi’, ‘San3ety’, ‘Skills for Success’ and ‘Tomooh’.

AMWAJ will host the final round of the PepsiCo Social Impact Competition, with a panel of distinguished judges choosing the winners following a competitive pitch of their business start-up ideas. The competition, run in partnership with WAMDA, is designed to strengthen the ecosystem of social entrepreneurs in the region and raise awareness of the importance of delivering profitability sustainably by integrating society and the environment into the business model. PepsiCo will offer prizes up to US$20,000, as well as skills-building mentorship and investor matchmaking.

The keynote speeches at AMWAJ will be delivered by Ahmed El Sheikh, PepsiCo; Ahmad Al Hendawi, United Nations Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth; Ambassador Andrea Matteo Fontana, EU Delegation to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan; Dr Tarek Youssef, Director of the Brookings Doha Center; and Ruba al-Zu’bi, CEO of Energy, Water and Environment Association.