Becker Underwood Ups Sustainability Ante in South Africa
25 March 2013 
Becker Underwood’s Sustainability Venture Program has announced a joint research grant partnership with South Africa’s University of Pretoria and Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF). The U.S.-based company awarded $200,000 over the next four years to support approximately eight agricultural sciences students’ research grant projects at the University of Pretoria. According to Becker Underwood, the grants awarded today will help develop a network of qualified staff for agricultural product registrations.
Becker Underwood, which has a manufacturing facility in Durban, South Africa, believes there are many opportunities for companies to invest in the developing nation. “We focused on education specifically because it is important to the long term growth of our business,” explains Daniel Krohn, global sustainability lead for Becker Underwood.
“We spent almost a year looking at investment opportunities in the educational systems located in the communities we operate in and we identified an opportunity to partner with the University of Pretoria to address a skills shortage in the South African agriculture market,” says Krohn. “We feel that our investment will produce a younger generation of educated, research-driven leaders in agriculture which is essential to the country’s competitiveness globally.”
Furthermore, Krohn says that although tuition, scholarships, living stipends, and other education related expenses are funded by DAFF, research grants can be difficult to come across for students in the area. “Without our funding, these students would not be able to attend school and achieve their goals.”
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