Social Business: Grameen Danone and Grameen Eyecare

 Grameen Danone is a social business initiative between Grameen and Danone Yougurt. Grameen Danone aims to make no profit but to provide vital services to the poor at the lowest sustainable cost. The partnerships objective is to reduce poverty while providing nutrition to poor. Both companies contributed 50% to the startup cost of the projust. Danone provides the yogurt making expertise and plant while Grameen works to satisfy local regulations and distribute consumer education about the product. The product, “Shokti” is a nutritional yogurt that is fortified with calcium, protein, and several vitamins and minerals that Bangladeshi children are deficient in. Shokti is sold for 6 taka in the rural villages and 12 taka in Dhaka city grocery stores. In the rural villages the yogurt is sold door to door by Shokti ladies who make a 1.5 taka commission from every sale. This project employees 370 local farmers who provide the milk used to make the yogurt and another 40 employees who work within the factory. The Junior Project Manager, Amaud Riegert, that I spoke with predicted the factory would be running at zero-cost by 2011 – meaning that the sales proceeds from the yogurt would be equal to the cost of running the factory. Grameen Danone is doing everything it can to keep costs down and to be as environmentally friendly as possible: Rainwater is collected and used to make the steam necessary to sanitize the yogurt and packaging, expired product is composted and used to make gas that provides light to the entire facility, and any excess water that has been used throughout the process is used to irrigate the farmer’s fields behind the factory.

            Grameen Eyecare is a part of the Grameen Healthcare Initiative. The eyecare clinic is located in Bogra and provides services to an area containing a population of 3.5 million on a sliding scale basis. The clinic provides routine eyecare, eyeglasses, and surgery in their facility. The most common surgery is corrective cataract surgery.  The facility also hosts Eyecare Camps in the rural villages. A group of workers and a doctor drive out to the villages and offer free eye exams to anyone who would like to participate. If someone needs eyeglasses, then they are only charged a very small amount to cover the costs. If someone needs cataract surgery, then they are placed on a bus and driven back to the clinic where they will have the surgery and spend one night in the facility. These patients are only responsible for their food costs during this trip. Grameen Eyecare is already operating a sustainable level and has plans to open more facilities soon.