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http://www.danonecommunities.com/?page_id=145Extract from Transcript of Dr Yunus speech London School of Economics 15 Feb 08One of the issues that
I raised with Grameen Danone, when I was asking what kind of cup do you use in selling yogurt because they sell yogurt all
over the world. They showed me the cup I asked is it biodegradable, they said no its not. So I said why cant you make biodegradable
cups I dont want to see Bangladesh rural areas littered with
plastics just because we sold yogurt. They said well we will have to do some research. I said go out and do the research.
So they went out around the world to figure out how to make biodegradable cups
Finally they come back very excited,
we have found it where what. In China, cups made of corn
starch –very good material, which satisfies all of our conditions, and they brought some cups made of corn starch. And
I said can I eat it. Why should you want to eat it. Because poor people are paying for it, why should they pay for something
which they have no use for. Why cant you find a material that kids can eat alongside the yogurt.
Their money shouldnt
be wasted, They said we cant find this thing; I said you’ll find it. I said when I buy ice cream I get a cornet. And
I love cornets. Why cant you find something like that. They said no cornets wont work. I said find the one that will work
because that cup should also carry nutrition as they are paying for it. So finally they got convinced and said that they would
ask their research facility in Paris. We will give the
task to our scientist to find it. I said how long will it take. They said a year or so. I said can we make it 6 months. Because
otherwise there will be useless expenditure on these cups people will be making but with no nutrition.
The reason
I mention all this is that the moment you design something as a social business a lot of other issues come
up. In the profit maximising business you dont see that because you are busy to make the money, the bigger you make the container
the bigger it is the more money you make ,so you make it bigger unnecessarily, you spend a lot of money
on packaging just to lure you are in , you dont get anything out of it but they get the money in the process you waste resources.
================================== discussion guide contributed
by networkers at world class brands, africanidol, universityofstars, needsmarketing
consumer goods markets for viilagers in poorest half of world:
? dont need advertising
? do need franchise
for local product
? dont need variety
? do need safe product, and quality defined round communal sustainability
and target costing at affordable price
? love occasional world icon visit to show world cares as well as commit trust
to brand's claims
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