Navyn Salem

At 40, wife and mother of four girls, Navyn Salem is making her mark by fighting childhood malnutrition on a global scale. She is the founder and Executive Director of Edesia (edesiaglobal.org), the U.S. nonprofit manufacturer of Plumpy’Nut® and other ready-to-use, nutrient-rich, peanut pastes that effectively treat and prevent acute malnutrition. Inspired to action in 2007, after attending a Clinton Global Initiative meeting, Navyn first founded a factory in her father’s home country of Tanzania. She now operates a state-of-the art facility in Providence, Rhode Island, employing 37 people in a US state with one of the highest unemployment rates. Since the RI factory opened in March 2010, Edesia has reached over 820,000 malnourished children in over 26 countries. In April of 2012, Navyn was named New England Business Woman of the Year by Bryant University. In May, she received the Roger E. Joseph Prize from Hebrew Union College for being an outstanding humanitarian, and an honorary doctorate in social sciences from Boston College, her Alma Mater.