1. GRAMEEN DANONE FOOD Ltd Social innovation to bring nutrition to the poor in Bangladesh & to valorize and professionalize local populations

2. Our Business model in Bangladesh
This model relies on a yoghurt called Shokti Doi, specifically designed to bring health at affordable price to poor populations in Bangladesh. Each cup of ShoktiDoi brings (~ 12.5% of RDA in) Calcium and is fortified with 30% of RDA in Zinc, Iron, Vitamin A and Iodine, micronutrients which local population lacks. Each cup is sold at 6tk per cup, ie around 6 cents of Euros, only.
Today we sell about cups / month.
This yoghourt is made in a simplified micro- factory that is 100 times smaller than a normal dairy factory. Yearly capacity of this micro plant is 3000 Tons.
This factory is settled in Bogra, 250 km north from Dacca. 50 employees from local villages.
It has been designed in an environmental way (collecting rain water, partially working with solar energy)
Simplified equipment to use manpower but still same quality standards as Danone
Run by Bangladeshi
Autonomous but networked, to be able to replicate to 50 factories
Using milk of 60 local farmers.
Milk is bought from local supply. Average Bangladeshi farmer has 2 cows producing 2Liters / day (compared to 40 Liters / day in Europe). Factory helps improve productivity of cows and improve quality of milk, buys the milk at good price and helps increase income of these farmers. Number of farmers : 60.
Product is delivered in 30 to 50 km radius around factory, through ecological vehicles, mainly rickshaw vans.
Distribution is through small urban shops but also through sales ladies. 30 ladies today. (Sales ladies network has reached 300 ladies.) This women have one day credit on the sales, reimburse products and get an income from the margin. They are often Grameen borrowers.

3. A Social Business model with 5 objectives
Health through nutrition at a very affordable price for all Bangladeshi children
Improve living conditions of the poorest in the community by involving them in all stages of the business model
Preserve natural resources as much as possible
Profitability to ensure return on capital and sustainability
1/ Impact on health will be measured by GAIN. (The NGO is even financing the USD of this efficiency study.)
2/ The same local community is supplying milk, producing and distributing through the ladies to its own children. We are at early stage but probably 150 people live from and grow from this business.
3/ Eco-designed factory
4/ Losing money today – small profit at full capacity to be reached in 3 years
5/ we always fear we cannot alleviate poverty, but here if we show we are sustainable at micro scale, then we will be able to replicate at macro scale and this will create significant social impact.
Micro / proximity business model to ensure ownership and learning by local population, and macro replication
With networked autonomy

4. Bangladesh background: population pyramid
Total population:
144 million - 80% rural
41% aged below 14
Average family size: 4.9
GDP / cap : 600$ a year
(Indon.: 1,200$)
Density 1000 p. / km²
>€4.1 a day
(>333Tk)
14%
€ a day
( Tk)
11%
€2-2.9 a day
( Tk)
16%
€1-2 a day (83-166Tk)
Grameen Danone
Project
AS:The Bangladesh population is a “heavy base” pyramid with almost 60% living on less than 2 Euro per day per household.
37%
<€1 a day
(<83Tk)
22%
Sources : statistical yearbook of Bangladesh, 2005 estimates on total population, household income per day

5. Key health/nutrition concerns in Bangladesh
Health Concerns
Stunting (41% of young children)
Diarrhea
Polluted water (arsenic, bacteria)
Macro Nutrition Issues
87% of protein source is vegetal (lentils and beans), deficiency in essential amino-acids likely
Overall energy deficiency, particularly among young children (between 24% and 40% gap vs RDA)
Protein deficiency
Micro Nutrition Issues
Iron (49% among young children)
Vitamin B2
Calcium
Vitamin C
Vitamin A
Iodine and zinc likely
AS: There are major health issues – both macro and micro. On the macro front – there is a high level of energy deficiency that varies between 24 and 40% based on the age of the kids (highest for 1 to 3 year olds). Also deficiencies in the area of protein with most protein being from vegetal sources (20-30% protein deficiency for kids). On the micro nutrition front….
In terms of health concerns – stunting (resulting from energy and protein deficiency) is a major problem as is diarrhea (leading cause of death after respiratory illnesses) 20 million kids die of diarrhoea every year.
Source: Grameen/local NGOs

6. ShoktiDoi, a yoghurt full of nutrition
ShoktiDoi has been specifically developed by Danone’s experts in R&D, with technical help of GAIN, to fulfil the nutritional needs of children in Bangladesh and to contribute to their healthy growth by bringing them the benefits of milk, live cultures and other micronutrients they lack.
ShoktiDoi contains milk, sugar, date molasse, starch, Zinc, Iron, Vitamin A, Iodine and Danone special blend of yoghurt cultures (Lactobacillus Bulgaricus, Streptococcus Thermophilus).
Each 60 g cup of ShoktiDoi brings ~ 12.5% of RDA in Calcium and is fortified with 30% of RDA in Zinc, Iron, Vitamin A and Iodine.
ShoktiDoi is produced by Grameen Danone Foods Ltd in a small modern factory in Bogra, built with the Danone know-how on quality and food safety.

7. Benefits of micronutrients and live cultures

8. Efficacity study currently on going with
Objective :
Evaluate the impact of a fortified vs non-fortified yogurt
Evaluate the impact of a fortified yogurt vs no regular yogurt consumption at all
Specifics :
Evaluate the impact of the fortified yogurt on morbidity, growth, cognitive development and status indicators
Over periods of 6 months and one year
Principal investigator: Sunil Sazawal MD, MPH, PhD
Primary Institution: Johns Hopkins university, USA
Collaborating Institution: Center for Micronutrient Research, India
Partnership: GAIN (funding and technical advising)

9. A mission: support social businesses such as GDFL
bringing health through food to as many people as possible
in areas where Danone can concretely add competencies
Projects: Grameen-Danone + 3 others projects in incubation phase in Africa and Asia, in Water, Baby-Food and Dairy
A Financial tool : French SICAV: to finance those social businesses (10% of 65M€)
A Network : Danone, NGOs, suppliers, subscribers, local teams, academics… who want to engage into social business solutions (

10. A network with complementary knowledge
50%
Technical expertise & assistance in local regulatory environment, micro-credit financing, agriculture mgt, distribution and consumer education
50%
Technical expertise in R&D, nutrition, manufacturing, quality, marketing
Technical expertise in fortification, nutrition marketing,
efficacy study

11. Professor Muhammad Yunus about training
Video
Source : youtube.com

12. Little stories of empowerment : experience to educate
Sales’ladies
Autonomous
factory
danone.communities
network
Impactful
volunteers
Sales’ ladies in continuity of the Grameen borrowers
Empowered and professionalized
Overcome social barriers
How a factory reaches its autonomy
Guy Gavelle alone first, a doer and a teacher with 30 years of experience
A Bangladeshi plant manager (Probir) & a local team
Operational autonomy in 3 months
Simplified esay-to-operate (and maintain) factory
some technicians left the company because they now have valuable skills
Networked and therefore able to overcome big challenge - ex : reformulation through R&D from Danone in India
Impactful volunteers : young people coming for one year, ex : Rémi
Bring competencies & better use of technologies
A connecting point with the Danone network, and broader through d.c blog
Tomorrow Probir should be autonomous to access the network via virtual share of experience on danone.communities.com
danone.communities : create a network able to bring nutrition & alleviate poverty, in which each one founds a way to optimize its work. Aim is to empower and to make local populations develop themselves.

13. Social Innovation for nutrition Autonomy & Learning
1/ Build a network of complementary knowledge
2/ Experience to educate
Thank you for your support!