The French dairy company Danone and the Grameen Group signed a joint venture in 2006 whereby
a social business was created with an initial capital of $1 million. The business would manufacture
and distribute fortified dairy products in Bangladesh without incurring losses and maximizing the benefits
of the clients served. What are these benefits? According to Danone's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Franck Riboud the benefit is "To bring health through food to the largest number of people in Bangladesh" (Financial Express, 2006).
The initial factory was set up in Bogra, 230 kilometers north of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.
The business plan targets the construction of 50 plants over the course of a 10 year period. Riboud confirmed
on 29 April 2008 that Danone and Grameen would seek to build a second factory in 2009. The new facility
would generate 3,000 tons of dairy products every year (France-Press, 2008).
I decided to travel to Bogra during my one week visit to Bangladesh. The Grameen Danone social
business is a pioneer of what could become a default approach to doing business with the extreme poor
in a new capitalist paradigm. At 3pm on Wednesday 4 March 2008 I was picked up from the Grameen Tower
in Dhaka and headed off towards Bogra, a five hour car ride on Bangladesh's crowded roads. I spent the
night in room 305 at the Naz Garden Hotel and met with the Grameen Danone managers the next morning.
Khandoker Mohammad Abu Sohel is the Sales & Distribution Manager at Grameen Danone Foods Ltd. I met Sohel
at 9:30am on Thursday 5 March 2009. Sohel and his team - including Brice Lewillie and Remi Carpentier - showed
how the way the social business is structured helps the extreme poor: from the ladies that deliver the 50 or
100 cups of yogurt in four hour shifts every day to the local farmer and his seven cows that provide the milk
to keep the factory operating. I remain convinced the pilot I saw will become mainstream and help the bottom
billion get on the ladder of prosperity, once and for all. What is the next step if the first pilot is successful?
In 2007 Danone proposed a mutual fund that would raise $135 million and pay an interest rate of 3% to 4% annually.
The investment fund, named danone.communities, allows to finance the expansion of Danone's social business in Bangladesh
as well as to start new social businesses that fight malnutrition and poverty mainly in emerging countries.
Asad Kamran Ghalib and Farhad Hossain of the University of Manchester review the case of Grameen-Danone Foods Limited.
The authors review the benefits a social enterprise brings.
For the Manchester scholars the Danone-Grameen joint venture brought about a merger of the values of Grameen
Bank and Danone Foods. The authors point out that "Social entrepreneurs do not call for the abolition of capitalism
altogether; they do not suggest an entirely different business model to run markets; they do not advocate that
philanthropy alone can run the world's social markets" (Ghalib et al, 2008). Capitalism is however understood
as a tool to serve the poor, a tool to serve the bottom billion. The authors conclude that "This paper has
seen how communities within the proximity of the Bogra facility, a fraction of the bottom billion, have benefited
in a number of ways: health, nutrition, employment and greener environment, all with the possibilties of expanding
the operations further afield" (Ghalib et al, 2008).
a social business was created with an initial capital of $1 million. The business would manufacture
and distribute fortified dairy products in Bangladesh without incurring losses and maximizing the benefits
of the clients served. What are these benefits? According to Danone's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Franck Riboud the benefit is "To bring health through food to the largest number of people in Bangladesh" (Financial Express, 2006).
The initial factory was set up in Bogra, 230 kilometers north of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.
The business plan targets the construction of 50 plants over the course of a 10 year period. Riboud confirmed
on 29 April 2008 that Danone and Grameen would seek to build a second factory in 2009. The new facility
would generate 3,000 tons of dairy products every year (France-Press, 2008).
I decided to travel to Bogra during my one week visit to Bangladesh. The Grameen Danone social
business is a pioneer of what could become a default approach to doing business with the extreme poor
in a new capitalist paradigm. At 3pm on Wednesday 4 March 2008 I was picked up from the Grameen Tower
in Dhaka and headed off towards Bogra, a five hour car ride on Bangladesh's crowded roads. I spent the
night in room 305 at the Naz Garden Hotel and met with the Grameen Danone managers the next morning.
Khandoker Mohammad Abu Sohel is the Sales & Distribution Manager at Grameen Danone Foods Ltd. I met Sohel
at 9:30am on Thursday 5 March 2009. Sohel and his team - including Brice Lewillie and Remi Carpentier - showed
how the way the social business is structured helps the extreme poor: from the ladies that deliver the 50 or
100 cups of yogurt in four hour shifts every day to the local farmer and his seven cows that provide the milk
to keep the factory operating. I remain convinced the pilot I saw will become mainstream and help the bottom
billion get on the ladder of prosperity, once and for all. What is the next step if the first pilot is successful?
In 2007 Danone proposed a mutual fund that would raise $135 million and pay an interest rate of 3% to 4% annually.
The investment fund, named danone.communities, allows to finance the expansion of Danone's social business in Bangladesh
as well as to start new social businesses that fight malnutrition and poverty mainly in emerging countries.
Asad Kamran Ghalib and Farhad Hossain of the University of Manchester review the case of Grameen-Danone Foods Limited.
The authors review the benefits a social enterprise brings.
For the Manchester scholars the Danone-Grameen joint venture brought about a merger of the values of Grameen
Bank and Danone Foods. The authors point out that "Social entrepreneurs do not call for the abolition of capitalism
altogether; they do not suggest an entirely different business model to run markets; they do not advocate that
philanthropy alone can run the world's social markets" (Ghalib et al, 2008). Capitalism is however understood
as a tool to serve the poor, a tool to serve the bottom billion. The authors conclude that "This paper has
seen how communities within the proximity of the Bogra facility, a fraction of the bottom billion, have benefited
in a number of ways: health, nutrition, employment and greener environment, all with the possibilties of expanding
the operations further afield" (Ghalib et al, 2008).
That had become badly deteriorated and the government could not fix the problems due to corruption
in the Bangladesh government. Three thousand five hundred workers, organized into Grameen Style
solidarity groups provide the labor for the fishery and ...
in the Bangladesh government. Three thousand five hundred workers, organized into Grameen Style
solidarity groups provide the labor for the fishery and ...
In partnership with France's Groupe Danone to bring nutritious, affordable food to the poor villagers of Bangladesh, is up and running with our first plant in Bogra in full operation. Around four hundred small milk producers and 250 'Grameen ladies&# ...
Md. Imamus Sultan, Managing Director of Grameen Health Care Services Ltd in Dhaka and then went to the Grameen Eye Care Hospital in Bogra and was hosted by Mahbubul Haque the Manager of the Hospital. Located on the same piece of land as Grameen Danone, ...
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