Dr. Kwon Soon-Young, founder and CEO of NEI visited GIA Minerva Baccalaureate on October 17 to communicate and to help students be aware of the seriousness of malnutrition in Afghanistan and other countries around the world. Dr. Kwon also gave a lecture on his life’s missions and goals.
Dr. Kwon shared with the students how his work in Afghanistan began.
It was in September 2002 that Kwon, who was a "good" American compatriot, saw the horrors of Afghanistan. In the aftermath of the U.S. military intervention to punish the Taliban and the long civil war, he came across the news that "one in four newborns dies of malnutrition before the age of 5."
Dr. Kwon moved to the U.S. after graduating from Korea University's Department of Agriculture and Chemistry, studied for a Ph.D. in food biochemistry at Ohio State University, and worked as a nutrition director at Nestle. After hearing the news, he thought nutrition was a field he was best at. Since then, Dr. Kwon’s mind about Afghanistan’s mission began to grow.
Dr. Kwon's dedication to helping malnutrition in Afghanistan led him to establish "NEI," despite safety concerns. Leaving his Nestle executive position in 2008, he mainly focused on NEI's initiatives, including a successful soybean project. This earned him the titles "The Father of Beans" and "Dr. Bean" in Afghan media.
Regarding the reason for choosing soybeans, Dr. Kwon addressed, "It's a crop that can easily solve the problem of protein shortage, which is the cause of malnutrition, and it also suits local tastes." When he started the project, few farmers grew soybeans in Afghanistan. Dr. Kwon brought in seeds suitable for Afghanistan's climate then taught them how to farm, and introduced various processing facilities such as soy milk manufacturing facilities. Thanks to this, all processes surrounding soybeans, including "Production-Processing-Sales-Consumption cycle," have been localized.
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Dr. Kwon also mentioned that his next goal is to increase Afghan soybean production to 300,000 tons by 2030. He also planned to start the second soybean project in the Philippines as early as next year.
After the event, there was an award ceremony to deliver a plaque of appreciation to HyunMin_Park(male), a student in GIA who has a mission to save people from hunger and malnutrition along with GIA's Chairman, Lee Myung-Hwa, who served in Afghanistan and supported NEI for a long time even after returning to Korea. [PHOTO!!!]
