heartattack

In a small village near Bogra in Bangladesh, a woman walks in with an umbrella and an insulated blue colored bag. In a scene reminiscent of the Pied Piper story, about a dozen children follow her. No, the bag does not have 3G iPhones in it! Instead, the bag contains 20 cups of Shokti Doi (Bengali for “Power Yogurt”), a cup of 80 grams of fortified yogurt that might just be a new social movement.

The foundations of this movement were laid in October 2005, when the Bangladesh based Grameen Group of Companies, lead by Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus, and Group Danone of France, a food and beverage powerhouse, decided to come together to improve the diet of rural Bangladeshi children. Shokti Doi was born in early 2007 out of this joint venture, conveniently called Grameen Danone.

Shokti Doi is no ordinary yogurt. From its ingredients, to pricing, to packaging, it is a remarkably well-designed product that offers something new to its target consumers – children.

First, the yogurt contains exactly the nutrients deficient in the daily diet of the Bangladeshi children. Danone conducted an extensive study of their eating habits from which it determined the nutrients they lack most. Shokti Doi was then fortified with these nutrients, which include vitamin A, iron, calcium, zinc, protein, and iodine.

Furthermore, the taste of the yogurt is in line with the tastes of the generally sweet-toothed Bangladeshis. To offset the “off” taste acquired from the fortifying ingredients, sugar from dates was added to the yogurt, a violation of the sugar-free policy of Danone yogurts worldwide. A number of permutations were worked on to get the taste right. This move ensured that the children would want to eat the yogurt.

Next, the product is affordable. Priced at 5 taka (approx 7 cents), Shokti Doi is much cheaper than normal yogurts in the market, let alone fortified ones.

So now, children in Bangladesh have access to an affordable health food that not only satisfies their nutritional needs but is tasty as well. This is unprecedented.

The wonder of this venture does not end there. Besides malnutrition, the Shokti Doi project aims to fight poverty by creating opportunities for local manpower.

The business follows a proximity model. This means that factories are small and service only a small area. The idea is to scatter many such factories across the country. This allows for distribution of the yogurt by local ladies instead of trucks. The automation in these factories is limited to increase the scope for employment. Furthermore, the ingredients of the yogurt like milk and dates are procured from farms run by the locals with the initial financing coming from the Grameen Bank itself.

The venture is also environmentally aware. The yogurt factories are solar powered and the yogurt cups are made of biodegradable cornstarch as opposed to plastic.

The fact that it is able to address such a multitude of issues makes Grameen Danone’s Shokti Doi initiative a form of social revolution. In fact, there is potential to do even more. Grameen Danone, for example, could use the Shokti Doi packaging to educate children. Simple thoughts like “Be Honest” and “Girls and Boys are equal” printed on the yogurt cup can be very effective pedagogical tools.

This is just a start. Malnutrition is a global problem. So far Grameen Danone has set up one factory in Bangladesh that serves just the district of Bogra. The road ahead for the venture will be to build more factories in Bangladesh and create a system that allows this venture to be scaled to other third world countries effectively.

One can also expect additions to the Shokti Doi family to fight typical forms of malnutrition in women and infants.

From the economics point of view, Grameen Danone is run as what Dr Yunus calls a “Social Business,” i.e., a “No Loss No Dividends” company with a social objective. Such a company works like a profit making company, but the margins are minimal and all the profits are channeled back to the business.

Social businesses, as exemplified by Grameen Danone, allow corporations to integrate social objectives with their core competences. Companies, instead of simply donating money to charity, can contribute to the society much more by using their know-how to build products for the poor.

Grameen Danone has opened up a market for food and beverage products aimed at the rural population, a segment of the market often ignored by the topmost players owing to the segment’s low purchasing power. One can now expect other players like Nestle and Unilever to introduce competing products, either as their own social businesses to fulfill their social responsibilities, or as traditional profit-making businesses if Grameen Danone does turn out to be a profitable venture.

This competition will allow for an expedited introduction of such products globally, more rural employment at better wages, more products, and more competitive prices. Poverty can be wrestled with and knocked out faster.

But until that happens, Grameen Danone is fighting it “one cup of yogurt at a time.”