Feeding potential, not just mouths: a private-sector blueprint for child nutrition and community resilience
View(s):If we are honest with ourselves, Sri Lanka has tried to fight malnutrition with good intentions and sporadic drives. What changes outcomes is disciplined execution: the right model, repeated at scale, with transparent accounting and community ownership. A business-led approach to early-years nutrition matters not as charity but as nation-building. When a company puts its brand, logistics and data muscle behind a simple idea like “one nutritious preschool meal, every school day,” we do more than fill a plate; we protect cognitive development, school attendance and the country’s future productivity.
The Keells preschool meal programme is a working template. It blends what business does well awareness, funding, operational cadence, with what civil society does best: trust and last-mile mobilisation. In partnership with Sarvodaya, selected preschools run community kitchens where parents prepare meals to a standard plan while local public-health officers monitor basic indicators. Funding is simple and citizen-friendly: a Rs. 850 Meal Card buys five meals, sold in store and online, and Keells multiplies public support with a five-to-one match to a guaranteed minimum. Progress is reported regularly across owned channels so contributors see outcomes, not slogans.
Governance is the difference between a feel-good campaign and a durable system. Kitchens are funded for up to six months and then handed over, building agency rather than dependency. Where space allows, school gardens link nutrition to the environment and soften procurement costs. Public-health inputs are designed in, not bolted on: midwives and PHIs visit centres, children who fall behind expected growth receive targeted attention, and weekly meal plans align with national guidance. The result is a loop of data, accountability and continuous improvement, attributes we associate with high-performing businesses, now applied to public good.
Evidence of traction is visible. Since 2022, the programme has delivered more than 450,000 meals across 100 schools to 3,700+ children in over 15 districts. The current ambition is pragmatic and measurable: another 200,000 meals within the financial year. These are not abstract numbers. A reliable school-day meal lifts classroom attention, reduces absenteeism and helps teachers manage mixed-ability groups. For parents navigating irregular incomes and food inflation, it can be the difference between sending a child to school or keeping them at home.
Nutrition without safety is incomplete, so the design goes beyond the plate. Child-protection workshops for parents and teachers, delivered with national experts, cover early childhood development and the basics of recognising and responding to abuse. The initial 2 phases reached more than 583 parents. 32 teachers covering 18 locations. You cannot improve outcomes for children if the adults around them lack the knowledge, language or confidence to act, and the programme acknowledges that truth.
There are lessons here for any company that wants to back substance over spin. Pick a narrow problem and own it. Early-years nutrition is a high-leverage bet with decades-long returns, but the principle scales: a telco can “own” digital safety in schools; a bank can adopt financial literacy for caregivers; an agribusiness can underwrite school gardens with local seed and know-how. Build coalitions that reduce execution risk, Keells leans on Sarvodaya’s 25-district footprint for delivery, an audit partner for assurance, and technical allies for gardens and supply. Make customers co-investors: the Meal Card is a micro-contract between shopper and brand. Price it clearly, match it credibly, and report progress consistently. And measure what matters: count meals, yes, but also track attendance, growth trends, teacher feedback and parental engagement. Publish a simple scorecard not to self-congratulate but to learn in public and course-correct quickly.
There will be hurdles: supply volatility, occasional kitchen fatigue, data gaps and the friction of handovers. They are solvable with the same disciplines we bring to market launches, standard operating procedures, backup vendors, clear roles and real-time dashboards. Doing this work sharpens a company’s operational muscles. You cannot run a national retail operation without logistics excellence; here, the same capability lifts children out of hunger.
Sri Lanka’s growth story will be written in classrooms before it is written in boardrooms. The private sector can accelerate that story, not by replacing the state, but by complementing it where speed, simplicity and citizen trust are decisive. A clear promise, a practical model, transparent partners and a pathway for the public to participate: replicate that across sectors and we change the development curve, one school day at a time.
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