Rossers are all over the world right now embarking on the great adventure known as the summer internship - working in finance to consulting, working on brand strategy to clean tech development, working at offices from Chicago to China.
For my internship, I'm working on as a WDI Fellow at CARE Bangladesh, country office of NGO CARE International. I got placed here at an amazing time. CARE BD is in the process of separating its innovative Rural Sales Project from the non-profit to form a joint venture with French consumer product goods company Danone (yes, like Dannon yogurt). I get to work on final business plan and governance structure! The new social enterprise will be launched this fall.
Background on RSP
The Rural Sales Project is an
initiative started in CARE BD’s Economic Development Unit that equips CARE BD's infamous "Aparajitas" (women who do not accept defeat) with training and products to sell to villages in rural Bangladesh. The program employs more than 2,000 women who source products at more than 50 hubs.
The model is based on CK Prahalad’s
BoP concept and is similar to the Shakti model
run by Hindustan Unilever. The
big difference is that it was set up by an independent organization,
allowing them to engage a range of for-profit companies and keep
close measurement of social impact.
As a result, the Aparajitas sell a
range of products, which ultimately mitigates risk. They sell shoes (Bata),
daily packets of soap (Bangladesh Unilever), sanitary napkins (Square),
chocolates, seeds, animal feed, phones/minutes
(Grameenphone), yogurt (Grameen-Danone Foods), and will soon be selling garments. Shoe sales, which earn the women the largest
commission, fluctuate in a cycle of about one-two months, while soap sells
daily but provides less commission. In the end, it balances out into a steady
income stream for the women.
In 2009, RSP generated $1M in sales for the
companies it partnered with and is projected to generate $10M this year, almost 700 million Bangladeshi taka. In addition to providing the women with a regular income, the project also empowers the Aparajitas to become income generators, and thus decision-makers, in their families. RSP targets rural women who are the most marginalized in their social structures, so the impact of this empowerment can be quite significant.
As one woman told us on a field visit, before she became an Aparajita, she couldn't approach even the poorest house in a village she lived near; now she is welcomed at the home of wealthiest in the village.
Here are some photos from my first field visit where I got to see RSP and a partnership initiated by CARE BD between a local entrepreneur and a group of women to create naturally dyed fabrics for sale to high-end retailers (they already have orders booked for the whole year!).
Slideshow: My first field visit, May 17, 2010
