About Us
About Us
THE ORIGINS OF GIWWA
It started as a Central American adventure back in 2016, when the Danish company, Sera-Scandia, provided dried hemoglobin-fortified cookies to Operation Smile, the international non-profit program that treats children's cleft conditions in Nicaragua. The goal of the program was to eliminate iron deficiency anemia in children with cleft lip so they could be eligible for surgery. After a few weeks of eating the fortified cookies, the number of children eligible for operation increased significantly.
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With the objective of taking the success of this project into other populations, Sera Scandia has created the Global Initiative for a World Without Anemia (GIWWA). The main goal of GIWWA is to utilize the unique nutritional qualities of dried hemoglobin to develop nutritious and affordable fortified products to fight anemia and other nutritional disorders in developing countries.
Photo by Nathaniel Tetteh on Unsplash
Our Partners
Since our collaboration with Operation Smile, we have been excited about the potential of heme-iron and its benefits in combating anemia.
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In addition to taking on malnutrition, our unique solution provides a lot of environmental, economic, and social benefits. Reusing the waste from slaughterhouses means being able to redirect it from polluting the environment. Additionally, products developed using our heme-iron can be adopted in developing countries, creating more self sufficient economies.
We are proud of this multifunctional solution and feel that our philosophy goes hand in hand with many of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In total, we are targeting 8 SDGs in our efforts to fortify food items in developing countries. Check out the video below with our CEO, Stefan Michelsen.
Our Partners
Photo by hossein azarbad on Unsplash
Our Team
Meet the Team
Stefan Bødtker Michelsen
CEO, Sera Scandia
Stefan has a wide array of experience in leading international organizations. Currently, as the CEO of the Sera Scandia group, Stefan has been committed to the fight against poverty by using sustainable solutions. In 2019, Stefan created GIWWA as a way to bring together different stakeholders towards the goal of combating malnutrition and make a real impact.
Alyssa Renner
Personal Assistant, Sera Scandia
New to Sera Scandia, Alyssa joins the company with a multidisciplinary background specializing in Cultural Anthropology and Sociology. Alyssa has carried out research in Southeast Asia, where she conducted research about the use of animal proteins in Nepal. She will be carrying out future feasibility studies for GIWWA, project coordination, conducting research, and any other odd administrative tasks that come her way.