Sanku

Sanku combats hidden hunger and saves lives by giving small mills the tools needed to fortify maize Sanku has the solution.

Worldwide, 8,000 children die every day and 2 billion people suffer from preventable illnesses because their diets lack basic vitamins and minerals. Our vision: a world where everyone, everywhere, has guaranteed, affordable access to the nutrients they need to survive and thrive. Billions of people rely on small flour mills for their daily food. Empowering these mills to add lifesaving micronutrie

nts to their flour will end malnutrition forever. Our award-winning technology makes adding nutrients into flour simple. Our innovative business model incentivises millers by neutralising the cost of these added nutrients. Because of Sanku, millers can produce quality nutritious flour, and families can access affordable healthy food every day. In just a few years, we have scaled to reach three million East Africans. We plan to reach 100 million this decade, which will prevent millions from death and disease, boost productivity, and save billions of dollars in GDP.

05/28/2026

This World Nutrition Day, we stand with communities everywhere still struggling to meet their nutritional needs, and we renew our commitment to building a future where better nutrition is within reach for all.

Across the world, food looks different. Different cultures, different climates, different soils, different ways of cooking and eating. Nature gives communities different nutritional realities, and not all of them are equal.

But while we cannot control geography, we can control what happens before food reaches people’s plates. At Sanku, we believe no one should suffer or die from malnutrition or micronutrient deficiency-related illnesses when solutions exist. That is why we work to ensure essential vmicronutrients are restored into staple foods at scale, helping communities not just survive, but thrive.

Access to nutritious food is not a privilege. It is a basic human right.

05/26/2026

Last week at the 79th World Health Assembly in Geneva, one message stood out: food fortification is no longer viewed as a side intervention. It is becoming core public health infrastructure.

That shift matters.

More than 1 billion women and hundreds of millions of children still lack essential vitamins and minerals, despite the fact that food fortification is one of the safest, most proven, and most cost-effective nutrition interventions we have.

The conversations at built on the landmark 2023 World Health Assembly resolution supporting large-scale food fortification, a moment strongly backed by the global fortification community, including Sanku.

Across East Africa, this is the work we do every day: helping millers fortify staple foods at scale and making better nutrition part of everyday life for millions of families.

Encouraging to see growing momentum from governments, donors, and partners including GAIN, Helen Keller Intl, UNICEF, WFP, WHO, Nutrition International, FFI, and others pushing this agenda forward.

05/22/2026

DID YOU KNOW?

Food fortification has been saving lives for more than a century. It began in the 1920s across the United States and Europe as a public health response to diseases caused by nutrient deficiencies, including rickets and goiter. The iodization of salt is widely recognized as the start of modern, large-scale fortification.

The idea was simple: add missing nutrients to foods people already eat. And it works. In 2023–2024 alone, fortified foods helped prevent about 12 million cases of anemia worldwide. Yet despite its proven impact, hidden hunger still affects billions of people worldwide.

More than 100 years later, one of the world’s most effective health innovations is still hiding in plain sight.

05/10/2026

The Sanku Running Club is officially off the starting line.

More than a fitness initiative, it reflects our commitment to the well-being of the people behind our mission to end hidden hunger. Alongside our staff wellness clinics, it is one way we invest in the health, resilience, and camaraderie that sustain our work.

For a moment, colleagues swap laptops for running shoes, and you see a different side of the team. Hidden speed shows up. Competitive spirit too.

Because the work of strengthening food systems and improving nutrition depends on people. And people perform at their best when they are healthy, connected, and energized.

05/04/2026

Staple foods are the backbone of diets across Africa, reaching hundreds of millions of people every single day.

That is the opportunity.

By fortifying the foods families already eat, we can turn everyday meals into a powerful delivery system for better health, stronger communities, and brighter futures.

Through deep collaboration with governments, donors, millers, and regulators, Sanku is helping build the systems that make this possible at scale, reaching millions today and unlocking impact for generations to come.

04/20/2026

MILLER OF THE MONTH: MENENGAI GRAIN MILLERS, NAKURU

For nearly two decades, Menengai Grain Millers has been a steady presence in Nakuru County, producing nutritious maize flour for the communities they serve.

They were early adopters of fortification, sparked by curiosity and close engagement with Public Health Officers. By listening and learning, they understood fortification as a practical way to protect community health. This carried influence, as they were serving as Chair of the Nakuru Millers Association at the time, helping build confidence among fellow millers.

Their partnership with Sanku made that commitment easier to sustain through reliable technology and consistent access to quality premix. At 25 cents a kilo, Director Boniface Macharia says fortification is a modest investment with life-changing benefits. Backed by Sanku, Menengai is now a trusted partner for organizations supplying nutritious flour to schools, hospitals, and community feeding programs.

We are proud to work alongside Menengai Grain Millers as they continue to nourish communities and strengthen health across Kenya.

04/14/2026

PARTNER SPOTLIGHT : BethanyKids

At BethanyKids, dignity is built through both world-class care and practical innovation. Their pediatric surgical centre at AIC Kijabe Hospital in Kenya provides life-changing treatment for children with conditions like hydrocephalus and spina bifida, neural tube defects often linked to folate deficiency, restoring hope for families across the country. But their impact goes beyond surgery. Through Appropriate Paper-based Technology (APT), teams turn recycled paper into custom chairs and standing supports, helping children sit, stand, learn, and fully participate in daily life.

Alongside this work, Sanku supports these communities by providing free fortified flour with essential nutrients that help prevent these conditions in the first place. Together, we’re connecting prevention, treatment, and daily care, ensuring children not only survive, but thrive.

04/10/2026

DID YOU KNOW?

Sanku is named after the small Nepali hilltop village of Sankhu, where our first Dosifier prototype was tested and proved to work. In that quiet place, far from laboratories and boardrooms, the idea that everyday food could deliver better nutrition at scale, even in the smallest village, first became real to us.

Coincidentally, Sankhu is also a Sanskrit word meaning “measurement” or “gauge,” a fitting reflection of food fortification, where adding the precise amount of essential nutrients can transform everyday food into better nutrition.

The name honors that village, and every village around the world where families deserve the basic human right of good nutrition, delivered with the same care, precision, and purpose.

04/07/2026

Mr. Mapunda, a miller in Dar es Salaam, sees fortification as a responsibility, not an add-on. Producing sembe (maize flour) showed him how central this food is to daily diets and how much nutrition families are missing.

“So many people depend on sembe,” he says, “but they don’t know what is missing.”

That realization turned into action when he stopped a passing vehicle delivering nutrient premix. That moment led him to Sanku. Today, his mill produces fully fortified flour using Sanku’s IoT-enabled Dosifier technology. “This has given me confidence and strength to move forward,” he says.

Having seen the effects of malnutrition up close, Mapunda believes fortified flour is one of the most practical solutions for families, improving nutrition through the foods people already eat.

Mapunda is one of 1,160 Tanzanian millers working with Sanku across all 26 mainland regions, helping turn everyday milling into better nutrition for millions of families, one bag of flour at a time.

04/02/2026

Sanku Board Member Spotlight: Jehiel Oliver

Jehiel Oliver, a member of Sanku’s Board, has spent over a decade building Hello Tractor on a simple but powerful belief: Africa’s agricultural potential is limited not by effort, but by access. His solution was practical: use technology to connect farmers to tractors through a shared economy model, unlocking productivity at scale. Today, that model has connected approximately 8,000 tractors and combines, serving more than 2.5M farmers and engaging over 7 million acres of farmland.

What defines Jehiel’s leadership is the discipline behind that idea. Hello Tractor took nearly eight years to break even. In a sector where many chase rapid growth, he chose patience. Drawing on his background in finance, he focused on capital efficiency, built strong systems, and ensured the model worked before scaling. He understood that in agriculture, trust and adoption take time.

That discipline paid off. Today, Hello Tractor operates across 18 countries, expanding access to mechanization and financing for farmers across five African countries, with a strong focus on youth and women historically excluded from financial systems. His work reflects a commitment to building solutions that drive economic independence, not dependency.

He brings that same lens to Sanku’s Board. Alongside Sanku CEO Felix Brooks-church, he is a Mulago Fellow, part of a global network of leaders designing solutions to poverty and climate challenges that are built to scale and endure.

Address

Project Healthy Children Inc 45 Lyman Street/Suite 14
Westborough, MA
01581

Website

http://www.sanku.com/

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